in the lines, "In all things else, I have striven to be true! Truth was the one virtue, which I might have held fast, and did hold fast, through all extremity save when thy good--the life--they fame--were put in question! Then I consented a deception. But a lie is never good, even though death threaten the other side!" Even though Hester's sin is the one the book is titled after and centered around, it is not nearly the worst sin committed. Hester learns from her sin, and grows strong, a direct result from her punishment. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not go. "Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong..." Hester also deceived Dimmesdale, also committing the sin of deception. She swore to Chillingworth that she would keep him being her husband a secret. She even withheld this from Dimmesdale, who she truly loved. Hester finally insisted on telling Dimmesdale and clearing her conscience. In this passage, it can be seen how he grows angry at Hester: "O Hester Prynne, thou little, little knowest all the horror of this thing! And the shame! the indelicacy! The horrible ugliness of this exposure of a sick and guilty heart to the very eye that would gloat over it! Woman, woman, thou art accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee!" Dimmesdale does forgive Hester. She has done the right thing in telling him. Her sin of deception is then lifted off her chest. Hester's vow of truth is then kept. Arthur Dimmesdale's sin was the same as Hester's. He is Hester's silent partner in crime. The guilty one who has confessed nothing in order to save himself. Actually, Dimmesdale is a coward, a man who is too weak to confess his guilt, even though he desires to greatly. As a way of self-punishment, Dimmesdale has created a supposed "A" on his own chest by beating himself. Dimmesdale has committed the crime of hypocrisy. He is a minister and ev...
