Interestingly, his daughter Pearl is also the physical manifestation -- or at least the most incarnate presence -- of his redemption. It is after she kisses him that he dies, in a strange reversal where the sin, i.e. Pearl, shows her acceptance of the sinner, and the understanding this imparts to Dimmesdale frees his soul. It is not quite the happy redemptive ending the reader might feel he deserves, but after his years of torment it might actually be the biggest reward he could ask for.

Hawthorne uses Chillingsworth, too, to show another aspect of the relationship between sin, acceptance, and redemption. Chillingsworth ever even admits to himself that he has sinned -- he lives his life seeking only revenge, which is to say he lives his life only in the purpose of sin. When this purpose is thwarted by Dimmesdale's public confession and death, Chillingsworth quickly withers away and...
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