The Devil and Tom Walker

One example of Tom's hypocrisy is when he claims his conscience could not allow him to become a slave trader, and yet he has already displayed his lack of a moral compass time and time again. Just after this, he agrees to become a usurer and extort money from desperate people, which certainly doesn't say much for his morality. Based on his actions, Tom cannot truly claim that choosing not to become a slave trader has anything to do with his conscience.

"He proposed, therefore, that Tom should employ it in the black traffic; that is to say, that he should fit out a slave-ship. This, however, Tom resolutely refused; he was bad enough in all conscience, but the devil himself could not tempt him to turn slave-trader."