Along the course of the story, the characters Hester, Mr. Dimmesdale, and Mr. Chillingsworth have undergone extreme evolution. In a sense, her foliage is withering. She is now longer the beautiful rose that she was portrayed as in the beginning of the story. “ All the light and graceful foliage of her character had been withered up by this red-hot brand, and had long ago fallen away, leaving a bare and harsh outline, which might have been repulsive, had she possessed friends or companions to be repelled by it” (p. 169). Mr. Dimmesdale’s guilt overtakes him to the point where he actually gets sick. Mr Chillingworth's unnecessary obsession with revenge takes him to a place that is very hard to get back from. Mr. Chillingworth grows more evil every chapter. His intent on torturing Mr. Dimmesdale causes him to become both physically and psychologically monstruous. “Hester Prynne looked at the man of skill, and even then, with her fate hanging in the balance, was startled to perceive what a change had come over his features, …show more content…
Dimmesdale's guilt overtakes him. With the stress from the congregation viewing him as someone who is "holier-than-thou", and Mr. Chillingworth bating him, he becomes conflicted with his feelings of sinfulness and feels the need to keep this a secret from the congregation. The more his guilt overtakes him, the better his sermons got. Because he is so overwhelmed with remorse and shame his sermons have become famous. he connects more with the audience because he believes that he is more sinful than they are. These conflicted feelings on whether or not he should tell the congregation about his wrongdoings adds to his stress. " While thus suffering under bodily disease, and gnawed and tortured by some black trouble of soul"(p.146). Mr. Dimmesdale finds that the only way he can deal with the emotional pain and stress of his guilt is to inflict harm onto himself. He flogs himself as a punishment for his crime against Hester, Pearl, and the