The Scarlet Letter
...gworth told Dimmesdale to confess what was troubling him and again, Dimmesdale refused to confess. Finally, the third time that Dimmesdale had a great opportunity to confess himself was at the end of the story during the festival on the scaffold. Standing there with Hester and Pearl, Dimmesdale was still too much of a coward to admit his sin and release the anguish from his burning chest. Another way in which Dimmesdale showed that he was a cowardice person is by not confronting Chillingworth. Chillingworth was plotting revenge on Dimmesdale for an extremely long time. In fact, Chillingworth’s life was devoted to getting revenge on Dimmesdale. Being told by Hester, Dimmesdale still did not confront Chillingworth. Throughout the book, Dimmesdale was an extreme coward. Dimmesdale’s actions in this story where not courageous, but strong. For roughly seven years, this man had to live with extreme guilt. Dimmesdale had many reasons to feel guilty. First of all he let Hester be labeled an adulteress, while he just looked on. Lastly, Dimmesdale felt guilty because he had not raised Pearl as his own. Dimmesdale showed this by being exceptionally affectionate the few times that he was around Pearl. An example of Dimmesdale showing affection towards Pearl is while in the forest, Dimmesdale softly kisses Pearl on th...