Nathaniel Hawthorne showed Mr. Dimmesdale as the imaginary Puritanical order in comparison to Hester. Dimmesdale struggled to persistently appear as an “excellent” Puritan, but he failed to Continue his pretense. However the Puritans held the principle of good workings, they maintained that faith was the only savior of a person. Dimmesdale, as was lacking in that belief enough for salvation, leaned towards profanation when he tried to make his good deeds direct towards rescue. He convinced himself to the fact that fine works evaluate more profoundly rather than grace and thus he will be saved with the help of his ministry : “guilty as they may be, retaining, nevertheless, a zeal for God’s glory and man’s welfare, they shrink from displaying themselves black and filthy in the view of men; because, thenceforward, no good can be achieved by them (105) .” Reverend …show more content…
Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!(205).” Emphasizing on the importance of truth and confession Richard Harp says that : “ Confession is strongly emphasized throughout the story. It is what Hester is compelled to do every moment o her life wearing the Scarlet Letter , and it is what Dimmesdale is interiorly tortured for not being able to do . Perhaps his anguish is greater because he knows how efficacious confession may be(274).” A revitalizing character, Pearl enlighted sin and devotion that existed between Hester and Reverend Dimmesdale. Pearl worked as an extension of Hester and Dimmesdale by linking the bodily and divine triangle; with this action Pearl, hence, provided salvation for Dimmesdale. According to Harold Bloom : “It is only at this point that Hawthorne makes clear the extremity of stakes involved in Pearl,s relationship to her father. Praising god,s name Dimmesdale