Dimmesdale is the “wretched minister! . . . Tempted by a dream of happiness, he had yielded himself, with deliberate choice, as he had never done before, to what he knew was deadly sin.” This choice is taking him down the road to hell and reviving a multitude of sinful impulses from somewhere. Even his affair with Hester seven years before had not been “a deliberate choice” and hence, although a sin, not a deadly one.
Dimmesdale works with great passion on his Election Sermon, putting this new energy to good use. When Chillingworth says that his congregation may find their ill pastor gone the next year, Dimmesdale agrees. In fact he answers Chillingworth, “Yea, to another world” with “pious resignation.” Hawthorne’s delicious sense of irony is evident when the reader senses that Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are not talking about the same destinations. Why is Dimmesdale so able to lie to his tormenter? Mistress Hibbins would say it is because his soul has been sold. Whatever the reason, it is definitely providing inspiration for the minister’s speech.
