w but the suffering would stop. Dimmesdale is finally forced just like all the other characters to tell the truth. He makes several attempts and fails but finally when the end of his life is near his conscience forces him to finally tell the truth, "For an instant, the gaze of the horror-stricken multitude was concentrated on the ghastly miracle; while the minister stood, with a flush of triumph in his face, as one who, in a crisis of acutest pain, had won a victory". (Hawthorne 140) The main characters from The Imp of the Perverse, The Tell Tale Heart, and William Wilson along with Reverend Dimmesdale all struggle with varying degrees of inner conflict after committing their own personal sin. Poe and Hawthorne display that inner struggled in the different characters by fluctuating who they are as people. They created characters with varying wills and moral objectives therefore creating different struggles that each had to deal with in their own personal way. The attitudes, beliefs, and background mold them into separate identities. The four works of art are similar in many ways when examining the inner phenomenon of these main characters; they all maintain a secret sin, which they have chosen to keep to themselves, a period of inner struggle, and finally a break down, followed by the truth. The different types of characters coming from different backgrounds, time periods, and social situations prove that both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe Knew that there is some "Imp" in us all. ...
