As one looks back to even the ancient records of man-kind's history, there seems to be the repeated archetype of man's onerous suffering ironically brought on to him by his own inability to unload and confess to the shameful impediments weighing down his conscience and disrupting his peace of mind. This exact type of suffering is perfectly portrayed in The Scarlet Letter, when Nathaniel Hawthorne's character, Arthur Dimmesdale, known by his congregation as a physically delicate minister with powerful sermons that were considered masterpieces of persuasiveness to leading a seraphic life, was all but that; he was actually an unsteady creature, emotionally tormented with guilt and indignity. Dimmesdale is a young passionate preacher who, in a moment of weakness, lets down his guard and becomes the lover of a married woman and a secret father to her illegitimate child.

Undoubtedly, the primary reason for Dimmesdale's intolerable suffering is...