Nathaniel Hawthornes's "Scarlet Letter:" Dimmesdale confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his responsibilities.

In "The Scarlet Letter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dimmesdale confronts the conflict between passion and his responsibilities by taking out his emotions on himself so that he can keep his obligation to his congregation by being a pure priest. The conflict takes up a great magnitude of Dimmesdale's energy and in the end instigates his demise. The conflict between passion and responsibility is not only evident in the Scarlet Letter, but throughout many noteworthy works of …

…the entire town. He confronts the demands between his passion and his responsibilities by revealing his love for Hester. The conflict that his been taxing his strength throughout the entire novel, is at a peak in this particular scene, and so pulls even more energy out of his body. As he finally reaches the top of the scaffold, the conflict is so strong that it uses the last of his energy reserves, and extinguishes him.