Nevertheless, since Dimmesdale is too weak, craven, and religiously obligated at this point in the novel, he is unable to carry out his own beliefs. Moreover, Dimmesdale is hypocritical because he tells Hester that uncovering the sinner is better than retaining guilt-crucial advice that he himself fails to grasp. If he truly cared for Hester and his daughter Pearl, then he would have the courage to display his sin outwardly instead of causing Hester to bear twice the burden of their sin. Because he is too scared to disclose the sin himself, Dimmesdale can be seen as a weak and dispassionate father.

Furthermore, this statement by Dimmesdale also shows how he indirectly attempts to unveil his sin. Ironically, Dimmesdale is the father, so his statements receive different interpretations from Hester, who understands the true plea of Dimmesdale, and the hypocritical spectators, who see him as a morally instructive minister. Furthermore, Hawthorne magnifies the irony, cowardice, and hypocrisy through Dimmesdale's interrogating of Hester: '.though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life' (59).

If Dimmesdale had revealed his sin publicly at this point in the novel, then he may have prevented a great deal of suffering on his part. His 'self-restraint' comes from the idea of how concerned Dimmesdale is of keeping his high position in society, and, due to this fear, he restrains himself from confessing. By characterizing Dimmesdale as a man lacking courage, Hawthorne introduces the disadvantage Dimmesdale will later face-his inner struggle with hidden sin. Hawthorne manifests these characteristics of frailty through his descriptions of Dimmesdale during the first scaffold scene: '.apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and a vast power of self-restraint' (59). Unfortunately, Dimmesdale's positive change from a feeling of weakness and cowardice is belated thus, he is unable to evade his intensifying guilt and prevent his ultimate death.

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