"Would not the people start up in their seats, by a simultaneous impulse, and tear him down out of the pulpit, which he defiled? Not so, indeed! They heard it all, and did but reverence him more"(Hawthorne 131).
Dimmesdale's predicament is made all the more worse by the public's view of him. Countless times, he told the congregation that he was a wicked man, which the public responds to with reverence. Everyone has such a high opinion of Dimmesdale that they can not imagine him committing the tiniest of misdemeanors. This leads the public to believe that Dimmesdale's claims of being tainted by sin are a self-analysis based on pureness. The public then feels that if Dimmesdale where to analyze their sins, he would find them to be abominations. This could possibly motivate the people to try harder to be pure, but that is the only possible good that could come from their ignorance. Dimmesdale is really trying to confess his sins to receive punishment, but the public will not hear it. After seeing the public's devotion too him, it seems that were his true sin to be revealed, it would cause chaos. If Dimmesdale's secret is forever kept, only Dimmesdale would suffer. However, if his crime is made public knowledge, the whole society would suffer. After witnessing the fall of their idol, the whole town would be left without hope.
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