Hester and Dimsdale are very similar hypocrites. To most people in Boston they are very good on the outside. They think that Dimsdale is a very good minister. The way he speaks inspires them all. Hester is also viewed as a good person. The people think that she has been purified by the scarlet letter. The two of them are very different on the inside than they are on the outside. Dimsdale is dying because of his secret about his affair with Hester. He is also being eaten up by the fact that he cannot help Hester and Pearl. Hester on the inside is very depressed. She has ideas about feminism that were unheard of in her time. Dimsdale’s hypocrisy is worse than Hester’s. In Boston at that period of time the citizens would have thought that Hester’s ideas were far worse than Dimsdale’s sin. Now, quite the opposite is true. Although neither would technically be considered illegal, Dimsdale hiding what he did is far worse than having ideas about feminism. This is because most people in the world give each other freedom to have their own thoughts.