If God hadn't forgiven him, then he would have keeled over from the guilt long ago. "And God is merciful! Let me now do the will which He hath made plain before my sight." As is quoted, God is merciful, and allowing someone to make amends before death is considered mercy. Another reason that God has forgiven Dimmesdale is show throughout the story, because God had given him and Hester Pearl. "God gave me the child!" cried she. "He gave her in requital of all things else which ye had taken from me." God could have easily not allowed Pearl to be born, but He did, and allowed Dimmesdale to confess his