To answer this question I would focus on the character of
Arthur Dimmesdale, which is the main focus of this chapter, and the way that he is
presented as struggling as a result of the conflict between his public image and his
private self. One of Hawthorne's themes that his fiction develops again and again is the
hypocrisy of Puritan society, and the way that even the most noble and morally upright
characters are shown to suffer from secret sins that they may or may not be able to
reveal.
This chapter shows the impact of Dimmesdale's grief
upon his teaching and preaching, and ironically his secret guilt makes him extremely
popular and gives his sermons new relevance that his congregation can readily relate to.
Note how it is described in this chapter:
But this very burden it was that gave him
sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind; so that his heart
vibrated in unison with theirs, and received their pain into itself, and sent its own
throb of pain through a thousand other hearts, in gushes of sad, persuasive
eloquence.
Ironically, it is
the very guilt that Dimmesdale is so ashamed of and which he feels he cannot be open
about that makes him successful as a pastor. He can speak compellingly and authentically
about sin because he himself is a sinner and understands the way that sin impacts a
man's life by separating him from others and forcing him to lead a miserable existence.
The themes of guilt and sin in the novel, and this chapter and its presentation of
Dimmesdale is key to understanding the complex message that Hawthorne is trying to
convey.
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