The Scarlet Letter
How does Hawthorne describe Dimmesdale, either physically or emotionally, at the beginning of Chapter 13?
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When Hester finds Dimmesdale on the scaffolding, Hawthorne describes him as tired, poor, fallen, sick, reduced, weak like a child, and so on. He is near a state of nervous collapse and is physically exhausted, sick and tired-looking. This also foreshadows how Dimmesdale will be at the end of the book, as guilt eats him from the inside.