Dimmsdale is a man riddled with guilt. In many ways he has been punished far more than Hester Pryne for their adultery. He is a man who talks of sin and God but can not find resolution for his own act of adultery. He carries the secret inside him as he interrogates Hester for her actions on the scaffold. He carries it in the pulpit, and he carries it each day. He is favored by the townspeople for his Godliness but inside he knows the truth of his deed. Yet, he does not confess.
Roger Chillingsworth is Hester's husband. He has befriended Pastor Dimmsdale and looks to him as a confident. Chilingsworth is a manipulative character. Dimmsdale states to Roger about confessing:
"Perchance,' said Mr. Dimmesdale, 'he earnestly desired it, but could not.(113)
""But still, me thinks, it must needs be better for the sufferer to be free to show his pain, as this poor woman Hester is, than to cover it all up in his heart."(117)
He does not really clarify why he can not build the courage up to report on his own actions except that he can not do so and that he still suffers.
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