Is it acceptable to overlook your crimes and move on, or is it better to confess openly in front of your peers? In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, the main character, Arthur Dimmesdale, experiences both ends of the question. Initially ignoring the need to repent for his sin, his figure and character change drastically. Repenting the wrong way, Dimmesdale's character continues to worsen until he finally publicly atones for his mistakes. Hawthorne's views on the topic of repentance are embodied in the tragic and symbolic character of Dimmesdale, which he uses to demonstrate how repentance leads to a strong-willed and free being. Hawthorne uses visual and auditory imagery and metaphors in Dimmesdale's suffering to describe emotionality, mental and physical consequences that develop from not repenting of one's sins. About three years into the novel, Reverend Dimmesdale begins to deteriorate. People in the community noted that “his form had become emaciated; his voice, though still rich and sweet, had in it a certain melancholy prophecy of decadence; he was often observed…placing his hand over his heart…as a sign of grief (Hawthorne 117).” The visual image comes from the “emaciated” “form” of the reverend, depicting the devastation inflicted on Dimmesdale's body. The word “decay” gives a connotation of rotten and dying feelings in the voice of the reverend, who provides the auditory imagery. Hawthorne proves his point by saying that because Dimmesdale chooses not to repent of his secret sin, he undergoes a negative change in his figure. In addition to a transformation in appearance, Minister Dimmesdale also suffers emotionally and mentally. “While… suffering from a physical illness, and gnawed and… middle of paper… presents the final chapters of the novel causing Dimmesdale to finally atone for his long hidden secret, and ultimately redeem himself.” .Despite the tragic end of Dimmesdale's life, Hawthorne proves his point of repentance, and in doing so results in a free and strong-minded character. Because Dimmesdale neglected to make amends for his sins, he deteriorated inside and out. In his attempts at atonement, he still couldn't really do the penance right and continued to become unstable and weak. Before Dimmesdale's last breath, he finally repented to his society, freeing himself from the evils of Chillingworth and his own self-destruction. On that scaffold in his last moment, Dimmesdale accomplished the most difficult task he had ever performed, incriminating himself with Hester Prynne, the public symbol of ignominy in the Puritan community..