resentation of his weakness. When he collects the courage to confess, he chooses to do so at night when no one is around to witness his confrontation, and cannot even remain solitary, but requests the presence of Hester and her daughter, Pearl. It is not even possible for Dimmesdale to hold his own composure, as he is “carried away by the grotesque horror of this picture . . . and to his own infinite alarm, burst into a great peal of laughter” (151). He is unable to acknowledge his sin during the day due to his fear of the reaction of the community in dealing with the fact that their well-respected minister has been a part of a great sin.When the minister does finally reach a point of confession, he does so in the manner of a weak and cowardly person. He holds his sin for seven years - seven years of silence and sinning, seven years of inflicting pain and torture. Once he reaches a point near death, he chooses not to confess out of goodness, but out of the knowledge that if he does, he will have a chance of forgiveness from God. His confession does not contain even a slight shred of dignity or courage - he has to coerce Pearl and Hester to join him on the scaffold for fear of being alone. Dimmesdale completely avoids confrontation by confessing before death. He does not suffer any public humility or embarrassment as Hester has. He does not witness the reaction of the community. Hence, he escapes all punishment. The confession of Arthur Dimmesdale only exposes his cowardice to his community and denounces his position, rather than strengthening him. Dimmesdale can evidently be characterized as a coward and false, not only to himself, but to his congregation as well. The fact that he his held above the rest in his community leads him to believe he is a model for those to follow, and he is not able to deal with the fact that he has broken the mold. Dimmesdale is aware that he has to still the voice of his conscience in order to ...
