The Scarlet Letter

What prevents them from acting on it?

Hester and Dimmesdale's love was sinful--she was a married woman and he was a celibate clergy member. However, even though it was a sin, it was a sin driven by love, and not by hate (as the majority of sins can be.) It is also presented as a more uplifting, more physical and truer love (in the end of the book) that the "love" or relationship that was presented between Hester and Chillingworth.

First of all, the fact that Dimmesdale is a high figure in the church prevents them from acting upon it publicly. All of the faith the parishioners have in DImmesdale would be gone. He understands he has a responsibility to lead these people. Unfortunately, they would rather be led by man who has a secret sin than a man who is honest about his sins, as he preaches for them to be.

I think the post re: Hester and Dimmesdale and him loving his books more is incorrect and referring to Hester and Chillingworth.

If the topic is Hester and Dimmesdale, I would have to say that it was Hester who showed true love for the man, while he was a coward, plain and simple.  I cannot stand the fact that he let her be punished and would not stand up with her.  That shows, in my opinion, that he basically got what he wanted, but that ultimately, his reputation was more important to him than either Hester or their child, Pearl.

Why would you suspect that they didn't love each other?  After all, we have no idea how long their relationship went on, if Pearl was the result of one encounter or an ongoing one, or much else about it.  (I do not see any evidence that he was obsessed with her.)  Hester's love was not burdened with a sense of "wrong" about what they did; Dimmesdale's was torpedoed by his absolute need to have the support of his religion and the definition of himself that it imposed upon him.  

In the world we live in, it's easy to get up and say that you have fathered a child outside of marriage; in their society, it was the end of his useful life as a minister.  I suspect that there are people who think this is the way it should be, but Hester didn't.  She could have had him as a husband/father, but she elected not to "out" him.  I think it would have been better for him to own up to his actions, but he paid a serious price for that mistake.  

In reply to #6: Interesting, but it is not in his belief system to own up to his actions. During his bandying conversation regarding open confession with Chillingworth in chapter 10, Dimmesdale says that it is only to God that one must reveal his/her sins and that to do otherwise is simply to satisfy iltellectual satsifaction and not spiritual. Further, I don't think Dimmesdale's allowing others to know of his sin would change the way he sees himself, feels about himself, or the way he would punish himself. Even if others knew what he has done, he would still find difficulty in forgiving himself because ultimately, unlike Hester and Ann Hutchinson, Dimmesdale is more concerned with religion than spirituality.

For ptobey:  the only thing his "coming out" would have done would have been to provide Hester with a husband and Pearl with a father ... he may never have forgiven himself, but at least he might have had a life.

In reply to #8: I'm not sure he would have allowed himself a life; he's so hard on himself, and I think, more interested in his religion than what would have been his family...

Hester had been alone for a very long time.  Her husband was thought to be dead, since in his absence of two years, she had heard nothing from him.  The marriage was not based on love.  In his absence, Hester found a romantic love with Arthur.  I am NOT condoning her actions, but it is understandable that she would not have acted on any romantic attraction had she known her husband was still alive and coming to live with her.  So, from the terms of the book, yes, their love was sinful.  However, their love is also based on mutual respect and attraction for one another...it can be seen as beautiful.  Adultery is wrong, and that is the issue at hand in this novel.