In "The Scarlet Letter", how does Dimmesdale feel about his role as the much-respected minister in the community?

In "The Scarlet Letter" Hawthorne writes, "No man, for a considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true." Dimmesdale confesses to Hester that the judgment of God is on him; he is greatly troubled by his guilt for his sin and by the fact that the community misinterprets his intense emotion as sympathy for sinners in the congregation. Clearly, he feels like a hypocrite, and it is this feeling that eats at his soul, sickening his body, and later causing his death. In the secret of the night, when Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold, confessing his sin to only the night, hoping for some expiation and healing, he fails as he feels only more self-condemnation for his cowardice. His scream into the night suggests his great psychological torture.

Dimmesdale is left with his guilt.