The Scarlet Letter: The Cowardly and Weak Dimmesdale In the book The Scarlet Letter, the character Reverend Dimmesdale, a very religious man, committed adultery, which was a sin in the Puritan community. Of course this sin could not be committed alone. His companion was Hester Prynne. Hester was caught in sin only because she had a daughter named Pearl. Dimmesdale was destroyed by Roger Chillinsworth, Hester Prynne's real husband, and by his own guilt. Dimmesdale would later confess his sin and die on the gallows. Dimmesdale was well known in the community and was admired by many religious people. But under his religious mask he is actually the worst sinner of all. His sin was one of the greatest sins in a Puritan community. Sin would eat him alive from the inside, making him weaker and weaker, until he could no longer bear it. In a final show of strength he announces his sin to the world, but dies shortly after. At first Dimmesdale is a weak and reserved man. Because of his sin his health gets worse and worse as the book goes on, yet he tries to hide his sin under a religious mask. At the end of the book he comes forward and tells the truth, but because he has hidden the sin for so long he is unable to survive. Dimmesdale also adds suspense to the novel to keep the reader more interested in what Reverend Dimmesdale is hiding and his hidden secrets. Therefore Dimmesdale's sin is the crux of the book to maintain the reader's interest. Dimmesdale tries to hide his sin by preaching to the town and putting more effort into his sermons, but this only makes him feel more guilty. At the beginning of the story Dimmesdale is described with these words; "His eloquence and religious fervor had already given serious eminence to his profession." (Hawthorne, 44). This shows that the people of the town admired him because he acted very religiously and was the last person anyone expected to sin. This is why it was so difficult for him to come out and tell people the truth. Dimmesdale often tried to tell people this in an indirect way when he said "...even if he (Dimmesdale) should come down from a high place and stand there beside you on your pedestal of shame, yet it would be better for it to be so than for him to hide a guilty heart for life.