Arthur Miller's The Crucible and Nathanial Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter share notable parallels not only in their examination of early Puritan America, but also in the dilemma of the two main male characters, John Proctor and Arthur Dimmesdale. Both of these men had sinful relationships with another member of the city and had to face hardships resulting from their sin. Although both John Proctor and Reverend Dimmesdale become hypocrites in their society, Proctor overcomes his sin and is able to redeem himself, while Dimmesdale's pride and early death prevent him from fully experiencing redemption. Perhaps the greatest link connecting Dimmesdale and Proctor is their sin, and the guilt and self-loathing that comes with it. For Proctor, his entire life as an honest man from Salem is destroyed by one moment of sin and he later complains to his wife, “I can't go up on the gallows like a saint. It's a fraud. I am not that man… My honesty is broke,” (Crucible 136). Dimmesdale similarly sees himself as an impostor as he reflects, “I should long since have thrown off these robes of feigned sanctity, and shown myself to mankind as they will see me at the seat of judgment” (Scarlet 188). The contempt with which these men view hypocrites is equaled only by the contempt they feel towards themselves for their own hypocrisy. Miller, when first introducing Proctor, describes "that [he has] a sharp and biting way with hypocrites", and Hawthorne emphasizes Dimmesdale's stance on hypocrisy as when he shouts at Hester "What can your silence do for him , except tempt him – yea, compel him, as it were, to add hypocrisy to sin,” (Crucible 20, Scarlet 65). Dimmesdale makes a distinction between hypocrisy and sin, but believes they are... middle of paper... d is in the deepest darkness, but this only discourages him further, as Hawthorne explains, "all the terror of exposure public, which had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon him” (Scarlet 149). Because of this inability to overcome his pride, Dimmesdale does not experience the transformation into peace that Proctor has, while Proctor was able to put aside his pride when he saw that more than himself was at stake, not even the sight of Hester on the gallows can push Dimmesdale to confession. When he confesses, her death distances him from any outcome or consequence which results from this confession. By the end of the novel and the play, both John Proctor and Reverend Dimmesdale are dead. While Proctor dies a hero in defense of the truth, Dimmesdale dies a martyr, a testament to the destructive nature of hypocrisy and pride..