Rather than follow intuition, Reverend Dimmesdale’s lack of appealing to his intuitive side is what creates his situation of suffering inside. Laurie Sterling’s “Individual and Society in The Scarlet Letter” further analyzes the internal struggle occurring within Dimmesdale:
He [Dimmesdale] is a prisoner of societal codes: “At the head of the social system … he was the only more trammeled by its regulations, its principles, and even its prejudices.” Thus, even when he and Hester resolve to flee to Boston, Dimmesdale finds it impossible to leave his socially constructed identity. He is anxious to stay until he preaches the Election Sermon, and he thinks to himself, “At least they shall say of me … that I leave no public duty unpreformed, nor
He [Dimmesdale] is a prisoner of societal codes: “At the head of the social system … he was the only more trammeled by its regulations, its principles, and even its prejudices.” Thus, even when he and Hester resolve to flee to Boston, Dimmesdale finds it impossible to leave his socially constructed identity. He is anxious to stay until he preaches the Election Sermon, and he thinks to himself, “At least they shall say of me … that I leave no public duty unpreformed, nor