Arthur Dimmesdale, in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a character whose mind is torn between two desires. The quarrel between Arthur Dimmesdale's sense of duty and passion for his lover creates two compelling forces that drive him to the brink of insanity and a dismal death. As a result of showing the anguish that Arthur must go through while making his decision between his two desires and comparing it the relief …showed first 75 words of 580 total…

…showed last 75 words of 580 total…revolve around the theme of the novel for he is the character that exemplifies it best. Dimmesdale inner struggle between his two compelling desires of duty for the community and love for Hester is directly what the theme of the novel relates to. The unconfessed sin does destroy the soul, as it did Dimmesdale, but the confessed sin is the savior of the soul, as it did to Dimmesdale at the end of the novel.