Scarlet Letter Notes 9
Chapter 23: The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter
- 170:
Dimmesdale at highest point of life, “on his lofty pedestal”
- “He
stood, at this moment, on the very proudest eminence of superiority, to
which the figts of intellect, rich lore, prevailing
eloquence, and a reputation of whitest sanctity, could ealt
a clergyman . . .”
- 171:
“Meanwhile, Hester Prynne was standing beside
the scaffold of the pillory, with the scarlet letter still burning on her
breast!”
- as he approaches the scaffold, he calls for Pearl
and Hester, Pearl runs to him,
Hester hesitates, Chillingworth tries to stop him—why?
- “With
God’s help, I shall escape thee now!” 173
- “there was no place so secret, --no high place nor lowly
place, where thou couldst have escaped me,--save on this very scaffold.”
173
- 175:
why does he forgive Chillingworth?
- Pearl:
“Pearl kissed his lips. A
spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore
a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her
father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy
and sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it.”
175
- Will
they be together in the afterlife? “Shall we not spend our immortal life
together?”
Chapter 24: Conclusion
- Theories
of how the A appeared on his chest. A few deny its existence at all—why?
- Moral:
“Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst,
yet some trait whereby your worst may be inferred.” 177
Pearl acquires a father,
Dimmesdale finally confesses, and Chillingworth definitively loses his chance
for revenge. Moreover, despite the fact that the resolution takes place before
the assembled townspeople, the Puritan elders have no power to judge or punish
in this situation. Instead, Dimmesdale serves as his own prosecutor and judge.
He apparently wills his own death, thereby breaking away from Puritan morals.
He also provides a commentary on them, addressing the novel's main themes of
sin, evil, and identity within society. One might think that the people's shock
at their minister's secret life would provoke them into contemplation of their
punitive system. That is, if Dimmesdale is capable of such a sin, then surely
every individual must be; perhaps sinfulness should be acknowledged as an
inescapable element of the human condition.
However, no such reconsideration takes place. The
old order regains control soon after Dimmesdale's
death. Although many claim to have seen a scarlet "A" on Dimmesdale's chest, others read the minister's confession
as an intentional allegorical performance. It is this latter group, which
argues that Dimmesdale meant to deliver a lesson on sin and was not confessing
to any actual wrongdoing, that reestablishes the old ways. In their view,
Dimmesdale meant to teach his parishioners that all men have the potential
for evil, not that evil is a necessary part of man. Correspondingly, the
conservatives believe, society need only renew its vigilance against evil
rather than reconsider its very conception of evil. Even in his defiance, then,
Dimmesdale is appropriated by the Puritan system as a means of reinforcing its
pre-established messages.
- Chillingworth
withers away and dies within the year
- Hate
vs. love
- Did
Chillingworth get his revenge? Why is he so obsessed?
- Why
does Hester return?
- New
vision of Hester: “the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which
attracted the world’s scorn . . . and became a type of something to be
sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too.” 179
By the time Hester dies, the meaning
of the scarlet letter on her chest has become confused and ambiguous. While it
gives her authority and even respectability among some people, it will always
mark her as guilty of what society still considers a sin. The fates of the
other characters also suggest that it not always easy to differentiate between
hate and love, between essential identity and assigned symbolism, or between
sin and righteousness.
- What
happened to Pearl? European
aristocrat, not England—puritans
defined in opposition to England.
Skips out on the whole situation
- One
tombstone for Hester and Dimmesdale “On a field, sable, the letter A,
gules.” But cannot mingle dust. Sable=black, gules=red, words for the
symbol, not the symbol