Throughout the story, Dimmesdale, the father of Pearl and fellow sinner of Hester, struggles with the choice of whether to hide his sin or reveal it to the town. He fears that confessing to his sin will harm the community because he is their religious leader and they look to him for support. Until the very end, he chooses to hide it. He is observed to be growing sicker and sicker as the story progresses, and this is implied to be a result of the sin he hid within him as well as the torture inflicted upon him by Hester's husband, Chillingworth. This contrasts with how Hester appears to be healing by wearing her sin on her chest. This contrast shows the reader that it is better to confess to your sins than to hide them, for the dishonesty will prevent you from recovering.
At the end of the story, Dimmesdale reveals his sin and Pearl kisses him (something she had previously refused to do, for he would not admit to being her father). This represents a form of forgiveness for his sin. He then dies. This shows that revealing his sin freed him from the torture bestowed upon him by Chillingworth, who was, in a way, the physical manifestation of Dimmesdale's sin, showing that only once a person admits to their wrongdoings can they finally be free to escape the darkness of sin.
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