How Does Dimmesdale Die

You'll
remember that in , whencommits adultery, she refuses to name the father of
her unborn child.  It isthat argues, after 's (the baby's) birth, that Hester should be allowed
to remain in the community as her mother.

When Hester's long-lost husband, ,
appears in disguise, he befriends Dimmesdale, though they are very different, and with his
knowledge and background, passes himself off as a physician. (His intent is revenge on the man
that Hester was unfaithful with.)  Dimmesdale is unwell, often putting his hand to his heart;
his guilt eats away at him over the years, for his is the father of Hester's child.

At one point (while Dimmesdale is in a deep--perhaps drugged--sleep), Chillingworth
examines the minister; seeing something beneath the sick man's shirt, Chillingworth's need for
revenge and his hatred intensify.

By this time, Pearl is seven.  Hester talks
to Chillingworth and asks him to stop tormenting Dimmesdale, realizing why her
"husband" is staying so close to the minister.  Chillingworth refuses, so Hester tells
Chillingworth's secret to Dimmesdale, and the couple agree to leave, taking Pearl with them, to
start a new life.  Chillingworth discovers their plan.

The pair now know they
will never be free of Chillingworth.  As he leaves the church after services, suddenly,
Dimmesdale's vitality leaves him, and clutching at Hester and Pearl, he confesses his part in
Hester's fall from grace, shows the mark hidden beneath his shirt, which looks like an
"A," and Dimmesdale dies.

The "A" he "wears"
ties him to the adulterous affair with Hester, though she had never disclosed his identity in
all the years in which she lived as an outcast in this Puritan
environment.