and the sin, so he inflicts his own punishment upon himself.His inward trouble drove him to practices more in accordance with the old, corrupted faith of Rome, than with the better light of the church in which he had been born and bred. In Mr. Dimmesdale's closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge. Often times, this Protestant and Puritan divine had plied it on his own shoulders; laughing bitterly at himself and while, and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh. It was his custom, too, as it has been that of many other pious Puritans, to fast,-not, however, like them, in order to purify the body and render it the fitter medium of celestial illumination, but rigorously, and until his knees trembled beneath him, as an act of penance. (Hawthorne- 79) Dimmesdale uses physical pain to temporally escape from the mental anguish that he experiences on a daily basis. The constant defamation of his body never gives him more than and instant of relief, therefore he continually has to develop new ways to punish himself for the sin that he can not come to terms with. As Hester's suffering begins to end Dimmesdale's progress and he begins to realize that it is the act of hiding his sin that is causing his extreme pain. When asked by Chillingworth if Hester is less miserable because of the letter on her chest he responds, "There was a look of pain in her face, which I would gladly have been spared the sight. But still, methinks, it must needs be better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain, as this poor woman Hester is, than to cover it all up in his heart". (Hawthorne-74) Dimmesdale can feel the damage he is causing by holding on to his sin. If he could let it out the way Hester had to, his suffering would stop. Hawthorne wants Dimmesdale to be face with this choice. He wants the reader to see that it is his choice to make, and he can easily admit to what he has done. Consequences would follo...
