The Scarlet Letter: The Hypocrisy of Hester

Dimmesdale is perceived as being innocent and unfaltering simply because he is a minister. One can tell this is not true when reading from a limited omniscient point of view. The preacher preaches the word, then turns his back on it when it comes to his personal status. Hypocrisy: a pretense of having some desirable or publicly approved attitude that one does not possess. See also: Dimmesdale. How can you expect people to respect and follow your teachings, when you can't even apply them to your own life?
Dimmesdale has created an image of himself for the world to see, out of the public scaffold. The scaffold can be a podium of shame; hoisting all that is wrong with you high in the air for all the world to see. In this case, Dimmesdale's major flaw is that he is a hypocrite. The way Dimmesdale leads two lives causes him to be labeled as a hypocrite because behind closed doors he breaks the rules as much as he wants. In the case of carnal knowledge involving Hester, Dimmesdale is very open with his feelings. He proclaims his love to Hester because it is what he feels, then he shuns Hester in front of everyone else. He walks one way but talks another.
It's understandable why Dimmesdale is trying to hide his skeletons in the closet due to his highly revered position; it's frowned upon in modern society. Today, if a person like him were to reveal secrets such as this in a high ranking position, he would be under a tremendous amount of public scorn and scrutiny; society would turn their backs and feel betrayed. Throughout the book, the frail preacher struggles with his conscience. He knows what is right but wants to know if he can bear paying the price for being involved in the corruption of Puritan society by way of adultery.
On the other hand, Dimmesdale is interested in maintaining the relationship he has with Hester. He feels an overwhelming amount of responsibility for not being in Pearl's life. The constant struggle with his conscience is antagonizing him every minute of his day. The prestiged preacher seems to find comfort in physically beating himself up inside a closet, away from the rest of the world. It seems that the fighting and guilt in his mind are easier to relieve through cutting and brusing himself instead of actually revealing the truth to people. The man of the town manages to work through the pain but still wants to find a way to reveal his true identity in the easiest way possible.
Dimmesdale doesn't know what's right and what's wrong. He doesn't know which way is up and which way is down. Eventually he settles the battle by attempting to leave for Europe. Unfortunately he never makes it to Europe because he collapses and dies on the scaffold before he could set sail. Before his soul settled permanently, Dimmesdale got the chance to redeem himself and tell the entire Puritan community of his sin of adultery. It was kind of ironic that right after he confesses all his deadly sins and secrets, he actually dies.