<Tab/>In Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale serves as both the protagonist and villain to display the hypocrisy of Puritan society as well as the pain that hypocrisy causes. Hawthorne, who was so disgusted with his Puritan ancestors that he changed his own last name (by adding a "w"), wrote the novel as a direct criticism of the Puritan society at its worst, using Dimmesdale as a tool for that criticism. Dimmesdale first villainizes the community with a heinous act, then tortures himself by hiding the act inside against his own will, until the guilt…
