Chapter 8 TURNING POINT
• Chillingworth notices how much
Pearl resembles Dimmesdale
• Chillingworth is now convinced that
Dimmesdale is the father
• Chillingworth now thinks he knows
who he must seek revenge against
and kill.
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Chapter 9: “The Leech”
• Literally, leeches are
animals that have been
used medicinally for
thousands of years.
• Leeches suck blood out of
flesh. They fill up on the
blood until they are
engorged.
• “Leech” was a nickname
used for doctors.
• Symbolically,
Chillingworth is a leech
because he is trying to
suck the life and soul out
of Dimmesdale.
Warning! Close your eyes if
you’re squeamish!
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Main Points
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•
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Chillingworth is revered for his skills
as a physician; Dimmesdale is
revered for his sermons that grow
stronger each Sunday, even though
his health deteriorates each day
The townspeople beg Dimmesdale to
take Chillingworth as his physician,
and the reverend finally accepts
Chillingworth grows suspicious of
Dimmesdale’s unexpected
deteriorating health
The two begin to live in the same
house
The townspeople notice a big change
in Chillingworth’s appearance and
begin to gossip that either Satan or
Satan’s emissary has now resided
along with their godly Reverend
Dimmesdale and fear for their
pastor.
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Chapter 10: “The Leech and His Patient”
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Chillingworth is digging for the truth from
Dimmesdale.
Chillingworth has been gathering herbs that
grow from unmarked graves.
Dimmesdale refuses the medicines
Chillingworth prepares for him
Dimmesdale believes if God has determined
it is his time to die, then that is God’s will.
Chillingworth and Dimmesdale discuss the
nature of guilt and secret sin.
Hester and Pearl walk by. Pearl puts burrs
on Hester’s ‘A’ and throws a burr at
Dimmesdale. She is connecting Dimmesdale
with Hester.
Pearl calls Chillingworth “The Black Man” –
the devil. She knows her mother has already
been taken by him.
Chillingworth urges Dimmesdale to share
his guilt, but the latter refuses.
Dimmesdale admits that Hester is better off
than her secret lover, for he believes it is
“better for the sufferer to be free to show his
pain, as [Hester], than to cover it all up in
his heart” (124).
Chillingworth “unravels” the truth.
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SYMBOLISM
• Dimmesdale is constantly placing his hand
over his heart.
• This LITERALLY suggests physical pain.
• This SYMBOLIZES:
he is hiding a secret
he is suffering internally
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Important Quotations
• Pearl has “the freedom of a broken law.”
• Chillingworth sees Hester and says to Dimmesdale, “‘There goes a woman … who
… hath none of that mystery of hidden sinfulness…Is [she] less miserable…for that
scarlet letter on her breast?”
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Main Points continued
• Dimmesdale was asleep
• Chillingworth snuck in and opened his
shirt
• Chillingworth saw something on
Dimmesdale’s chest that made him do
a dance of “ecstasy”.
• What might he have seen to make him
so happy?
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Literary Techniques
• Herbs symbolize “some hideous secret that
was to be buried with him” (135).
• The heart is personified as a being needing to
make a choice to confess (136).
• Pearl calls Chillingworth “The Black Man” –
symbolism of the devil.
• Pearl is characterized as oddly intuitive.
• Chillingworth is metaphorically characterized
as a “miner searching for gold.”
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Chapter 11- “The Interior of a Heart”
HIS SERMONS
•
•
•
•
•
IRONY
Dimmesdale “achieved a
• His congregation believes
brilliant popularity in his
sacred office”
he is the most holy, most
All of his sermonsDimmesdale
hinted at
doubles
his sinminister
religious
his own sins but he never
He now uses his• guilt
to
confessed outwardly
His sermons
are amazing
improve
his sermons.
Townspeople thought
he was
• Dimmesdale is a sinner,
too godly and were
humbled
He likes how much the
by him
therefore he understands
congregation
him, and
They deemed Dimmesdale
to adores
the life of a sinner and can
be “a miracle of holiness”
he enjoys the attention.
preach about it from the
Dimmesdale tried to confess
but never could
heart
• The townspeople, upon
hearing him speak boldly
about his own wrongdoings,
did nothing more but revere
him all the more.
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Private torture
• We find out that he whips himself with a
scourge, keeps vigils each night, and fasts—all
of which have led to his deteriorating health
• His physical punishment along with his guilt
is literally killing him.
• He finally realized he could do something
about his guilt…
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THE SECOND SCAFFOLD SCENE
Chapter 12: “The Minister’s Vigil”
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Literal vs. Figurative
Ex: The sky rained down tears of joy
Literal – What the narrator is
stating on the surface.
Figurative- Literary elements and
techniques that reveal a deeper
meaning below the surface.
• It is raining.
• The sky is personified as
crying to represent the
sadness felt by the
characters in the scene.
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The Second Scaffold Scene
Literally what happened:
• Dimmesdale ascends the scaffold
• He wants to tell the truth of his
secret
• Gov. Bellingham hears
Dimmesdale’s shrieks and cries,
but does not realize who it is.
• Mistress Hibbins hears the cries
as well and believes it is the other
witches in the forest.
• Rev. John Wilson walks home
from Gov. Winthrop’s deathbed
and does not see Dimmesdale on
the scaffold.
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Literal Continued…
• Hester and Pearl arrive on
the scene.
• Dimmesdale, Pearl and
Hester stand on the
scaffold.
• Pearl wants the minister to
stand at noon tomorrow on
the scaffold.
• He says he will stand on
judgment day.
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What’s in the sky?
• A meteor appears, and Dimmesdale thinks it looks
like an ‘A’ in the sky.
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Literal continued…
• Dimmesdale states, “I
tell thee my soul shivers
at him!” This shows
fear of this man.
• Pearl points at
Chillingworth who is at
the scene.
• Dimmesdale reluctantly
goes with his torturer
back to their home.
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Literal continued…
• What article of clothing is left from the night before
on the scaffold that belongs to Dimmesdale?
• Dimmesdale’s glove is found at the scaffold by a
Sexton/gravedigger
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Literal ended
• Gov. Winthrop died that night.
• People in the town think the meteor was for the
governor.
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Figuratively what happens
• Mistress Hibbins hears
Dimmesdale’s screams
in the night as “night
hags” and sinners: This
symbolically reveals
Dimmesdale as a sinner
since she mistakes his
cries for those of
witches’ cries.
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Figuratively Continued…
• “A pure hand needs no
glove.” A person who tells
the truth need not to hide
anything.
• Proof that Dimmesdale
was on the scaffold the
night before.
• The Puritans think that
the devil put the gloves
there to frame
Dimmesdale. It is ironic
because he is not pure
and they are his.
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Figurative continued…
• “The Minister’s Vigil,”
(a vigil is a watch kept at
night), the title of the
chapter, symbolizes
Dimmesdale looking
over his own sin.
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Figurative Continued…
• Gov. Winthrop dies and is made an
angel…without his death Hester would never
have found Dimmesdale on the scaffold…so
therefore Winthrop was an angel connecting
the two.
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Symbolism
• A=Has meant adultery up until this point, but
now it symbolizes angel.
• Hester, Pearl and Dimmesdale= the holy
trinity/family. IRONY
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Symbolism
• Noontide= Truth is out for all to see in the
light
• 2nd scaffold=Family reunion of sins
• Chillingworth=Revenge/The Devil
• Meteor – Nature Symbolism representing
each individual’s sins/needs.
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Themes
• “The truth being revealed
is inevitable”
• “The truth can set a soul
free”
• “The desire for revenge
can become an obsession”
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The end of Chapter 12 Review
Questions to ponder:
What is Chillingworth thinking of when he
arrives at the second scaffold scene?
Will Dimmesdale step up onto the scaffold at
noontide and appease Pearl?
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DO NOW: Copy quotation and respond to it. What
does it mean? What personal experience does it make
you think of? Can you connect any other books, films,
movies to it?
• “It is remarkable that persons who speculate
the most boldly often conform with the most
perfect quietude to the external regulations of
society” (Hawthorne 171).
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