Edna Pontellier suffer a quintessentially laggard, and equally afflictive demise; which is comprised of the struggle for social and emotional bliss. However, their deaths signified a sign of victory rather than a sign of submission to their struggle itself. Throughout their fight inner --secret-- emotions, social acceptance and pain built up inside both Mr. Dimsdale and Mrs. Pontellier. The problem was that neither of them had any way to vent out this inward pressure. At some point both of them had to blow, and at that point all the secrets would be revealed, and at that point all the pressure will be diminished to nothing. This point of newfound bliss, however, would be their deaths, the slow rise of pressure is finally released in a fatal eruption of emotions. Mr. Dimsdale and Mrs. Pontellier paid for their harboring of emotions, which kept them from being accepted. .
Mr. Dimsdale's struggle was to hide his adulterous affair from his population and clergy. However, this struggle was more self destructive than it was helpful. Mr. Dimsdale was destined to die a blissful man, weather or not he kept the secret from the clergy or not. If he told the clergy he would be put to death, and if he hid it from the clergy the pressure would slowly build. Mr. Dimsdale made the wrong choice, though. If he had chosen to be honest, he would have died the honorable Mr. Dimsdale, and there would be no slow pitfall to the breakpoint of his will to hide. However, Dimsdale decided to hide his emotions from the people just as Edna did. He still died with bliss, but he had to struggle for so long before he could give in and tell all to die.
Edna lead a similar life to Dimsdale, but the pressure began to build up before she cheated on her husband. Edna's personal life was going nowhere, socially and maritally. She was simply bored and sort of an outcast of the social people. She was one of the people the gossips gossiped about, she was not one of them, but she wanted to be.