How is the quote below significant from "The Scarlet Letter"? It is inconceivable, the agony with which this public veneration tortured him! it was...

The quote suggests Arhtur Dimmesdale realizes his own hypocrisy. He has done his utmost to be a good minister, but is a fraud in his own mind. The list of items Hawthorne enumerates suggests all the good works Arthur has done, but all are undermined by his unlawful union with Hester. Interestingly, Arthur's hypocrisy is the lesser of others found in the novel, perhaps because he acknowledges it and therefore struggles with what to do with it; this again suggests how virtuous he truly is ("..genuine impulse to adore the truth..")