The Scarlet Letter: Dimmesdale the Wuss"But (Hester) is not the protagonist; the main actor, and the tragedy of The Scarlet Letter is not the his tragedy, but Dimmesdales was the one who understood the pangs of death. His public confession is one of the noblest climaxes of tragic literature. "This statement by Randall Stewart does not contain the same ideas that I believe were contained in The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I, contrary to what Stewart said, think Dimmesdale is a coward and a hypocrite. Worse yet, he is a coward and a self-confessed hypocrite. He knows what he must do to quiet the voice of his conscience and make peace with God. Throughout the story his confession remains an obstacle. While Hester is a relatively constant character, Dimmesdale is incredibly dynamic. From his fall out with Hester, he moves, step by step, toward his public mention, at the end of the novel, of sin. He wants to vent his sin by revealing his sin to his congregation, but for some reason he never gets around to it. He is a typical example of an "idiot", using today's terminology. To some extent, Dimmesdale's story is that of a single man tempted into the depths of the hormonal world. This world, however, is a place where society treats sexuality with bad grace. But Dimmesdale's problem is enormously complicated by Hester's marriage (no technicality to him) and his own image of himself as a cleric dedicated to higher things. Unlike other young people, Dimmesdale cannot accept the loss of his innocence and move on from there. He had to fight in vain to get back to where he was. Torn between the desire to confess and atone for his sin and the cowardice that holds him back, Dimmesdale goes slightly mad. He adopts some morbid forms of penance, fasting and flagellation, but he can neither whip nor eradicate sin from his soul. In his agony, he staggers to the pulpit to confess, but his words come out as generalized, senseless declarations of guilt. The reverend seems to want to reveal himself, but Chillingworth's influence and his own shame are stronger than his weak conscience. Dimmesdale cannot give up an identity that brings him the love and admiration of his parishioners. He is too focused on his earthly image to willingly reveal his sin.