In Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter", the quote "No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true." stands true in many forms. Both Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, prominent characters in the novel, convey this two-faced nature in the countenance of an overbearing Puritan society. It is this inner conflict, existing within all humans, that eventually brings about the downfall of these characters and to a large degree sheds light upon the human condition.
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