Later on in the novel, Hester is worried about Pearl being taken away from her so she decides to pay a visit to Governor Bellingham’s mansion. Dimmesdale, Reverend Wilson, and Chillingworth are all there also. Hester is trying to get the governor to understand why she should be able to keep Pearl yet the governor still seems doubtful. Hester begs Dimmesdale to convince them, saying, “Speak for me! Thou knowest,- for thou hast sympathies which these men lack!” (115) Dimmesdale knows Hester would do anything to keep Pearl and he understands, so he uses his eloquence to persuade Wilson and Bellingham and tells them Pearl has been sent by God as a blessing and a retribution for her sin; therefore, the child should remain with her mother. The governor and the reverend are convinced by Dimmesdale and let Hester keep Pearl. This scene shows that Dimmesdale is compassionate and sympathetic.
Meanwhile, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale have moved in together because of Dimmesdale’s deteriorating health. His health is a symbol of his inner condition. There is no medical cure for it. He knows that confessing would be healing himself but hurting the community because he is such a highly looked upon figure. In chapter ten, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth have an uncomfortable conversation about unconfessed sins and redemption. They notice Hester and Pearl out in the cemetery and Chillingworth asks Dimmesdale, "Is Hester Prynne the less miserable, think you, for that scarlet letter on her breast?" (139) Dimmesdale replies by saying “I do verily believe it… 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.” (139) Dimmesdale is saying this from personal experience since he himself has to cover up his sin. Instead of feeling shame, he feels guilt, which he considers to be worse. Chillingworth begins to be suspicious of Dimmesdale after this and even tells him that he thinks his spiritual health is causing the deterioration of his health. Dimmesdale becomes angry and gets out of the conversation making Chillingworth even more suspicious. A few days later, Chillingworth sneaks up to Dimmesdale while he is sleeping and lifts aside his shirt. The reader does not know what Chillingworth saw, but whatever it was, it made him rejoice.
Dimmesdale continues to suffer, but this suffering causes him to deliver some very powerful sermons. His suffering allows him to relate to human weaknesses. He wants to confess so badly, yet he doesn’t:
“I, whom you behold in these black garments of the priesthood, -I, who ascend the sacred desk, and turn my pale face heavenward, taking upon myself to hold communion, in your behalf, with the Most High Omniscience, -I, in whose daily life you discern the sanctity of Enoch, -I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a gleam along my earthly track, whereby the pilgrims that shall come after me may be guided to the regions of the blest, -I, who have laid the hand of baptism upon your children, -I, who have breathed the parting prayer over your dying friends, to whom the Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted, -I, your past, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie.” (148)
Dimmesdale also has nightly vigils. One night, in chapter 12, he goes out and mounts the scaffold. Hester and Pearl join him, and as they are standing there a meteor in the outline of an “A” appears in the sky. “Not but the meteor may have shown itself at that point, burning duskily through a veil of cloud; but with no such shape as his guilty imagination gave it; or, at least, with so little definiteness, that another’s guilt might have seen another symbol in it.” (161) The Puritans see this as a sign of Governor Winthrop’s death, but Dimmesdale thinks this is his own scarlet letter. His constant feeling of guilt causes him to see and interpret things differently. The meteor illuminates Dimmesdale both physically and mentally.
Later on, Hester wants to talk to Dimmesdale to let him know who Chillingworth really is. They meet in the forest and immediately join hands, showing affection towards each other. Hester tells Dimmesdale and he immediately becomes upset. He says, “Woman, woman, thou are accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee!” (204) Hester apologizes and eventually Dimmesdale forgives, showing that he is a forgiving person. They decide to escape and leave on a boat for Europe and be together with Pearl, where no one will know their story. This gives Dimmesdale joy and finally gives him something to be happy about. He is so inspired he goes home and throws away his old sermon he wrote for Election Day and writes a newer and better one.
After he gives his sermon on Election Day, Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold with Hester and Pearl. He says, “In the name of Him, so terrible and so merciful, who gives me grace, at this last moment, to do what- for my own heavy sin and miserable agony-I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now, and twin they strength about me!” (265) The crowd is in complete shock. As he continues his confession, he starts getting weaker and weaker and Hester for support. Even though this whole thing is taking place in front of the whole town, none of the Puritans have any control over the situation. Dimmesdale acts as his own prosecutor and his punishment is the loss of his life.
Dimmesdale is the character in “The Scarlet Letter” who has the biggest burden on him. He goes through seven, long years of holding in his guilt and sin, which would take a very strong person. Even though he is cowardly and hypocritical, he also has good qualities such as being strong and compassionate. He obviously knows how to touch people on a personal level, especially after they realized that even a seemingly pious person, like himself, sins.
