Later in the novel, Hawthorne states: "Among many morals which press upon us from the poor minister's miserable experience, we put only this into a sentence:- Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!"
Not only is he describing the minister's difficulty in maintaining a "public" and "private" face, Hawthorne is also tacitly criticizing Chillingworth for him doing the same; publicly pretending to be the healing physician, but privately doing just the opposite. Both these characters reflect the opposite of Hester, whose worst is made public, and in doing so, she is freed from attempting to keep a secret which could, like it does to both men, destroy her.
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