Unlike , who
has violated a law of society but not a personal moral code (she is the one who claims
"what we did had a consecration of its own"),has violated the core of his being.
Hawthorne's description is telling: "In no state of society would he [Dimmesdale] have
been what is called a man of liberal views; it would always be essential to his peace to feel
the pressure of a faith about him, supporting, while it confined him within its
iron framework."
When Dimmesdale violated an central component of his
faith, he lost the structure that had been supporting him. Much like Hooper in ","
his acquaintance with his fallen humanity makes him more understanding of other's failures, and
better able to minister to them. But none of this external approval could change that fact that
he no longer approved of himself; without that approval, there is no thriving.
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