Many characters go through transformations in The Scarlet Letter, and one of those characters is Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. Author Nathaniel Hawthorne writes of a puritan society, and it is the laws of that society, both written and unwritten, that Dimmesdale breaks and which causes the changes to occur. He commits the sin of adultery, and by sleeping with Hester Prynne, breaks the laws that he is supposed to represent. He cannot admit his sin because …showed first 75 words of 1292 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1292 total…sportive with the child-“dear little Pearl, wilt thou kiss me now? Thou wouldst not, yonder, in the forest! But now thou wilt!” (251) As “Pearl kissed his lips…a spell was broken” and his sin was forgiven (251). Arthur Dimmesdale finally dies in a way which all have forgiven him, including himself. Dimmesdale finally wins his battle against evil. He faces God and dies with an open conscience, knowing of his salvation and freedom from sin.