What Is The Importance Of Purification In The Scarlet Letter

Although Hester committed adultery, and Chillingworth allowed hatred to consume his soul, Dimmesdale has a number of sins marked under his name including dishonesty, self-harm, and, of course, adultery that morbidly warped who he was a man and what he meant as a bringer of faith. These acts of impurification make him the worst sinner of them all. He committed the same sin as Hester, however he goes a little further into this same sin. Adultery is already treated as the ultimate shame in the Puritan community but, on top of this, Dimmesdale hides the truth of this affair from his followers, which makes him a false representation of faith and purification. For a Puritan, the only thing worse than committing a terrible sin like adultery is failing to admit to it due often to their ideal of “playing God” and punishing the sinner themselves for their transgressions. …show more content…
He questions so himself, with the words,"What can a...polluted soul [effect towards] their purification?"(Hawthorne ___). Dimmesdale is an evil man because even though he is a man of God, he cannot find the strength to admit openly that he sinned and, instead, continued to live a life of falsehood in front of the eyes of his followers. On top of all this, Dimmesdale continues further, committing self-harm, as a way of repentance. After his untimely death, “some affirmed that Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale…, had begun a course of penance… by inflicting torture on himself”(Hawthorne