Nathaniel HawthorneNathaniel Hawthorne, a brilliant author in American history, wrote numerous short stories and novels, including "The Scarlet Letter." Hester Prynne, Salem's adulterous wife, becomes an outcast after her sin becomes public. Minister Dimmesdale, the secret father of Hester's baby, leads a life of deceit and lies. Hawthorne uses a dual figure of sinner and savior to describe Dimmesdale's life. To begin the novel, Hawthorne provides evidence of why Dimmesdale is a sinner when Arthur begs Hester to tell him who the father of his child might be. “Hester Prynne,” he said, leaning over the balcony and looking into her eyes, “you hear what this good man says, and you see the responsibility under which I work. If you feel that it is for the peace of your soul, and so that your earthly punishment may thus be made more effective for salvation, I charge you to pronounce the name of your fellow sinner and your fellow sufferer! Do not be silent about all mistaken pity and tenderness for him for, believe me, Hester, even if he came down from a high place and stood there beside you, on your pedestal of shame, it would be better if to hide a guilty heart all life. What can your silence do for him, unless he tries it. - has granted you open ignominy, so that you may thereby openly triumph over evil within you and over sorrow without. Be careful how you refuse to someone who, by chance, does not have the courage to grasp it for himself. bitter, but wholesome cup, which is now presented to your lips! » (pages 46-47). Dimmesdale himself is a hypocrite. He asks Hester to bring her fellow sinner to the scaffold with her, but the sinner is already there. He knows that if he publicly admits his sin, the town of Salem will begin a downward spiral because he represents the Puritan Church and all of its beliefs. Later in the novel, during Dimmesdales' second appearance at the scaffold, he confesses his sin to Hester but no one else. “Come up here, Hester, you and little Pearl,” said the Rev. Mr. Dimmesdale. "You've both been here before, but I wasn't with you. Come back here and the three of us will be together!" (p. 105).