The Scarlet Letter: Dimmesdale As The Greatest Sinner Throughout the novel Arthur Dimmesdale is portrayed as the greatest sinner. Hawthorne shows this by having Dimmesdale decsieve everyone by not confessing his sin. He also shows it having Dimmesdale neglect his responsibilities as a father. He never takes care of Hester and Pearl. Lastly Dimmesdale dies first as a result of his sin.He shows that Dimmesdale is a great sinner in all of these ways. Dimmesdale is a saint on the outside but a sinner on the inside. To the towns people he is a saint, and a godly man. Inside he is the greatest sinner in the novel and he kee