Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(overview)
Concern
Explanation
five tenets of
Calvinism
(foundation for the Puritan faith)
1. Natural Depravity: All human beings are
inherently selfish, secretive, and sinful. The
stain of Original Sin remains on each of us,
and we are, therefore, naturally inclined to
commit wrongdoing. This is the nature of
post-lapsarian man.1 As a result of this
condition, the Puritans fought to resist all
natural human drives and desires. Natural
urges are inevitably evil.
2. The Doctrine of the Elect: This is the belief
that, prior to a human being’s birth, God has
already decided if he or she will attain
salvation. The “Elect” is that group of
people destined for salvation.
3. Covenants:
Covenant of Works: This is God’s promise
to Adam and Eve (eternal life in paradise if
they would absolutely obey Him).
Covenant of Grace: This is the promise of
salvation through the blood of Christ. This
one is clearly intended for the benefit of
post-lapsarian mankind.
4. Irresistibility of Grace: If a person is indeed
one of the Elect, then it is impossible for that
person to act in any ungodly way.
5. Perseverance of Saints:
major themes
1. secret sin: Dimmesdale’s demise is the result of
heavy burden of his secret. Whereas Hester
wears her badge of shame publicly, thereby
employing it as a means of purifying her
soul, Dimmesdale wears his (perhaps
literally) beneath a guise of purity and
1
pre-lapsarian man: human beings (Adam and Eve) before the Fall from Grace (perfect and innocent)
post-lapsarian man: human beings after the Fall from Grace (stained with sin)
godliness.
Also, Hester’s pledging to keep secret
Chillingworth’s true identity is equivalent to
pledging allegiance to Satan himself.
2. nature as evil: The forest is a particularly
interesting locale in this novel. With its
shadows and tangles and its microcosmic
suggestion of the natural elements, it
becomes a powerful reflection of the human
mind released from all restraint. The
Puritans believed that human beings are
sinful by nature (Doctrine of Natural
Depravity); therefore, abandoning ourselves
to our natural desires and proclivities is
inherently evil. The natural elements
suggest the natural inclinations of human
beings.
The rosebush that grows by the prison door
and the sunlight that falls so readily on Pearl
are metonymically suggestive of this natural
(evil) environment. Pearl says that Hester
has “plucked” her from the rosebush,
thereby suggesting that the child is born of
sin. Her beauty (and her lavish
accoutrements) strengthen this connection.
Chillingworth’s entrance into the novel is
significant here as well; he emerges from
woods. Later we learn that he has been
living with the natives. Because they so
revere nature and live so close to it, the
Puritans fears and disdained them for this
affinity for the natural environment.
Clearly, they viewed the natives as godless
savages—emissaries of evil.
3. beauty as a trap: Human beings are naturally
attracted to that which is beautiful. A
beautiful garment, jewel, person, house, etc.
draws a person’s attention, inspires
covetousness, and perhaps spurs that person
on to illicit and immoral behavior in an
attempt to acquire the object in question.
This is the nature of human desire. That is,
inherent in the human being is this drive to
acquire that which is beautiful. The lure of
sin is extremely powerful. It is this tireless
search for beauty and forbidden pleasure
that is the origin of human sin. This is
precisely why the Puritans believed in living
their lives so soberly, disdaining garish dress
and adornment, and NOT submitting to their
natural drives and desires.
The intricate flourishes and the sparkling
grandeur of Hester’s letter serve to show the
reader that this symbol, which necessarily
represents this woman’s sin, reflects the lure
of forbidden pleasure that has resulted in
the sin itself and the consequential birth of
the illegitimate child. Pearl’s dress also
reflects the beauty of sin; she is, after all,
“the scarlet letter incarnate.” This means
that she literally looks like the letter, but,
more importantly, she acts as an agent of her
mother’s punishment, just as the letter is a
constant reminder of how she has fallen
victim to her natural depravity.
We must not forget that Hawthorne
describes Hester as a beautiful woman with
long, dark hair and piercingly dark eyes.
The woman’s physical attractiveness has
apparently served as a temptation for
Dimmesdale and an outward indication of
the woman’s inherently sinful nature. In
case the woman’s beauty is not enough to
deliver this message, Hawthorne tells us that
Hester’s eyes are black—a color the Puritans
associated with Satan himself.
When she goes into the forest, she lets her
hair flow down her back, and she sheds the
letter. In this entirely natural setting, she
finds it possible to reveal her own nature.
4. salvation in pairs: In the entire body of
Hawthorne’s fiction, it seems that any
character who is to attain salvation, must
work toward that goal along with another
character (a lover) who is a good and
dependable helpmate. Here Hester and
Dimmesdale are that struggling couple.
Because the minister dies on Election Day
(see note on the Doctrine of the Elect), we
can safely assume that his suffering and his
ultimate admission of his sin have secured
his redemption.
For other treatments of this theme, please
read “The Maypole at Merrymount” and
“The Minister’s Black Veil.”
allegorical
components
Many of Hawthorne’s tales might be deemed
allegories. “Young Goodman Brown,” for instance,
presents Brown himself as an everyman figure,
showing readers the dangers of becoming so piously
indignant that one shuts himself off from the human
community. Brown’s wife’s name is Faith.
obviously she serves to represents something much
larger than herself: she is the beautiful, pure,
hopeful, saving grace that faithfulness in God offers
mankind. When Brown says that he has lost his
faith, this statement clearly is a double entendre.
His character has changed.
Another of Hawthorne’s tales, “The Minister’s
Black Veil,” is perhaps more closely related to The
Scarlet Letter in that it involves a minister who
chooses to hide his sins (as well as his face) from
the community that loves and respects him.
Dimmesdale’s secret sin eats away at his soul.
Perhaps it even is responsible for his physical
demise. Reverend Hooper’s literal veil does the
same. His life, in essence, becomes a sermon—a
sermon about the poisonous nature of secret sin. He
shows his congregation that human beings all hide
their transgressions and evil thoughts from others.
But their outward appearance of goodness and
virtue does not mean that their souls are stainless;
on the contrary, it is the secrecy that dooms them.
The Scarlet Letter, too, is an allegory. Hester and
Dimmesdale are everyman figures as well—Hester,
representing human beings for whom the lure of sin
has proven too strong to resist and who, therefore,
must seek retribution; Dimmesdale, representing
human beings hailed and lauded for their goodness
despite the fact that they, too, have sinned and have
hidden it from the world. His shame is inward,
whereas Hester’s is a public affair. The
comparative freedom that the latter enjoys comes as
a result of her public penance; the secret shame that
the former keeps painfully delays his.
Chillingworth, of course, represents the everpresent dangers posed by Satan. He constantly
taunts Dimmesdale, demands a vow of secrecy from
Hester, and lives under an assumed name. Here the
biblical appellation “The Father of All Lies”
assumes obvious significance.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 1: “The Prison Door”)
concern
explanation
in medias res
This is a Latin term meaning “in the middle of
things.” Narratives that begin this way naturally are
quite dramatic—at least for the first few moments.
The benefits are that the author can captivate the
reader right from the opening moments; the
particular setting and situation the reader encounters
are somehow significant with respect to the entire
narrative, not just the first few moments of it; and
the situation at hand is somehow the result of
occurrences and motivations that will prove
significant in relation to the entire narrative. To
eliminate a deliberate and chronological
examination of these occurrences and motivations
and instead to jump immediately to their
consequences is to emphasize the cause through a
dramatic presentation of the effect.
exposition
When an author begins in medias res, traditional
exposition suffers. Ordinarily, the first few pages of
a narrative serve to introduce the reader to the
setting, characters, and initial situation. In this case,
however, the heroine is about to enter the scene,
illegitimate babe in her arms. Her actual entrance
occurs in the second chapter.
The narrator is not long is telling the reader the
history of this character. Hester has been in Boston
for two years, a period of time during which her
husband has not been with her. Her pregnancy and
the birth of her daughter, therefore, have caused
much upheaval. She now stands on the scaffold and
wears a scarlet letter A on her breast. The town
authorities have decided not to execute her (the
ordinary punishment for adultery) but instead to
cast her as a figure of shame. In this way she can
perform a public service; she may live her life as a
warning to others who might sin as she has done.
The primary conflict here is clearly person vs.
society, but the most interesting complication (other
than the mere birth of the child) is the fact that
Hester has refused to reveal the name of child’s
father.
The Puritan community seems cold and
unforgiving. It is perhaps significant that the
onlookers awaiting Hester’s emergence from the
prison are wearing “hoods.” This might indicate
that they shroud their own sins in secrecy while
they insist on punishing Hester for hers. When
Hester does emerge at the beginning of chapter II,
she, in contrast, wears no hood. She is openly
wearing the emblem of her shame, not hiding her
transgression under the guise of righteousness.
This narrative begins in the summer (June) of 1642.
the prison house
The narrator mentions that the first two structures
established in the settlement were a cemetery and a
prison. This fact speaks volumes about these
people; they equate death and sin (crime). Also,
they clearly expect the worst of people.
the rose bush
This is one of the most significant symbols in the
entire book. It is important to note where it grows.
The wild rose is both beautiful and natural; of
course, the equation of nature, beauty, and evil
occurs frequently in this narrative. The bush grows
beside the prison door because it is the lure of
beauty and pleasure that inspires the commission of
sin. Also, we should note that the rose is beautiful
and fragrant, but its thorns are testimony to its
danger—a reminder that natural pleasures are
forbidden by God.
Anne Hutchinson
The narrator wonders if the rose bush has grown
there as a result of Anne Hutchinson’s trodding that
ground on her way into the prison a few years
before. This woman actually did exist. She was
accused of Antinomianism, a philosophy that
contends that salvation may come as a result of
faith. In other words, mere belief is a sufficient
prerequisite for salvation. This is clearly not in
keeping with the Doctrine of the Elect. Hutchinson,
then, was accused of heresy.
Key Passage (whole chapter)
I
The Prison Door
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A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeplecrowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was
heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.
The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and
happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among
their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a
cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. In accordance with
this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built
the first prison-house somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill, almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial ground, on Isaac Johnson’s lot, and
round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the
congregated sepulchers in the old churchyard of King’s Chapel. Certain it is,
that, some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden
jail was already marked with weatherstains and other indications of age,
which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front. The
rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than
anything else in the New World. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed
never to have known a youthful era. Before this ugly edifice, and between
it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass-plot, much overgrown with
burdock, pigweed, apple peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently
found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black
flower of civilized society, a prison. But, on one side of the portal, and
rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month
of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart
of Nature could pity and be kind to him.
This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but
whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after
the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it, —
or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under
the footsteps of the sainted Anne Hutchinson, as she entered the prisondoor, —we shall not take upon us to determine. Finding it so directly on the
threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious
portal, we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers, and
present it to the reader. It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet
moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening
close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 2: The Market-Place)
concern
explanation
the women of Boston
The fact that Hester has refused to reveal her
child’s paternity particularly unnerves and angers
the women of the town. Each woman undoubtedly
fears that her own husband may be the culprit.
Their anger and insecurity perhaps highlights the
essentially powerless position women enjoy in this
society; their sole security rests in the stability of
their homes. Hester’s sin has threatened that
security.
locale
The scaffold becomes a symbol of retribution.
Those accused of transgression must stand upon it
(sometimes clamped in the stocks) as a means of
teaching others about the costly nature of sin. This
is the first of three key scaffold scenes in this novel.
In fact, it is the scaffold that determines the
structure of the novel. This scene, of course, opens
the novel; the second will come at the midpoint; and
the third and final will close the “novel proper.”
Hester’s appearance
Hester is a handsome woman with beautiful, shiny
dark hair and piercing black eyes. The letter she
wears is ornate and elaborate. Her dress shows the
“desperate recklessness of her mood.” She has a
sturdy, attractive figure. Her beauty, her eyes in
particular, are indicative of the sinfulness that
resides inherently within her.
Hester’s vocation
Hester is a seamstress. This is one of the few jobs
deemed suitable for women, but more importantly,
it also affords females the opportunity to be
artistically creative. This is a rarity. Hester is
talented with the needle and shows her abilities in
the elaborate, gold-stitched letter. The letter is of
her own making, just as the child (who is always
dressed to resemble the letter) is her mother’s own
creation. One must wonder if Hawthorne is
somehow equating creativity and sin; this would
give added intensity to his earlier suggestion that his
Puritan forefathers would disdain his choice of
career—“a writer of story books.”
a comparison of
Hester to the Virgin
Mary
Given the nature of Hester’s crime, this comparison
is highly ironic. The fact that Hawthorne draws this
comparison at all, however, adds perhaps an
element of foreshadowing. We know that the
townspeople eventually come to see Hester as an
“angel.” Her penance does indeed work to purify
her. The Christ child, however, suggests absolute
purity, whereas Pearl suggests the opposite.
Because she has been born of sin, this little girl
exhibits the wild abandon that characterizes
sinfulness.
the power of the
imagination
William Wordsworth has suggested that the human
imagination has the power to transform and delight.
In this scene Hester employs memory of her past
as a means of coping with this humiliating situation.
From a narrative standpoint, however, this flood of
memory is fortuitous for the novelist as well. It
affords him the ability to explore Hester’s past. We
learn that she is from a poor family in England, so
poor in fact that they have given her in marriage to
a much older, misshapen scholar. Whereas the
young Hester was like “green moss,” her husband
was like a “crumbling wall.” Her memory of him
works well at this point in the narrative, since this
very character is about to emerge from the forest
and enter the story as well.
the significance of the
color green
Green is a color that we often associate with youth
and fertility. In Antony and Cleopatra, Shakespeare
has the Egyptian queen say, “Those were my salad
days, when I was green with youth.” The color
green has the same significance here; Hester’s
youth is important to consider as one examines her
inauspicious marriage. It might also help to explain
why she has succumbed to temptation—the passion
of youth, of course, defying wisdom and restraint.
Also, green implies fertility, and clearly Hester’s
pregnancy is the impetus for the primary conflict in
this narrative.
Remember these correlations in a later scene when
Pearl will fashion a letter A out of seaweed and affix
it to her mother’s bosom.
Hester’s personality
The following line is important to note:
Of an impulsive and passionate nature, she
had fortified herself to encounter the stings
and venomous stabs of public contumely.
At this point in the narrative, Hester does indeed
have a willful nature, but she does not remain
rebellious. If that were the case, then the letter
would not be effective in performing its office.
Hester eventually comes to see the punishment
visited upon as just and appropriate. This
transformation of character is key in the novel.
Please do NOT think of Hester as a bold,
twentieth-century feminist raging against the
injustice of a bigoted and short-sighted
community. We must give this “novel” more of
an historicist reading than that.
“the dusky mirror”
Note the following line. Hester is remembering her
past as she stand upon the scaffold:
She saw her own face, glowing with girlish
beauty, and illuminating all the interior of
the dusky mirror in which she had been wont
to gaze at it.
The fact that Hester “had been wont” to gaze into
mirrors when she was younger indicates that she has
fancied herself attractive. This would imply that
she has been guilty of the sin of pride.
Mistress Hibbins
The mention of this character suggests that the
infamous Salem Witch Trials loom in the future.
Again, Hawthorne’s connection to the trials was a
source of shame for him. The fact that the Mistress
Hibbins is the sister of the Governor Bellingham
suggests that evil lies as near to government
officials as it does to ordinary citizens. I am
reminded of a line from Hawthorne’s “Young
Goodman Brown.” In that tale, Satan claims to
know various government officials intimately, but
this, he claims, is a “state secret.” Could it be that
Hawthorne actually has a sense of humor?
Key Passage (second and third full paragraphs)
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It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our
story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the
crowd, appeared to take a peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might
be expected to ensue. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of
impropriety restrained the wearers of petticoat and farthingale from stepping
forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if
occasion were, into the throng nearest to the scaffold at an execution. Morally,
as well as materially, there was a coarser fibre in those wives and maidens
of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair descendents, separated
from them by a series of six or seven generations; for, throughout that chain
of ancestry, every successive mother has transmitted to her child a fainter
bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame,
if not a character of less force and solidity, than her own. The women who
were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century
of the period when the man-like Elizabeth had been the not altogether unsuitable representative of the sex. They were her countrywomen; and the
beef and ale of their native land, with a moral diet not a whit more refined,
entered largely into their composition. The bright morning sun, therefore,
shone on broad shoulders and well-developed busts, and on round and ruddy
cheeks, that had ripened in the far-off island, and had hardly yet grown
paler or thinner in the atmosphere of New England. There was, moreover,
a boldness and rotundity of speech among these matrons, as most of them
seemed to be, that would startle us at the present day, whether in respect to
its purport or its volume of tone.
“Goodwives,” said a hard-featured dame of fifty, “I’ll tell ye a piece of
my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being
of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling
of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the
hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot
together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!”
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 3: The Recognition)
concern
explanation
Chillingworth’s entrance
The fact that this character enters from the
forest is certainly significant. Once again,
the forest represents the human mind
released from all constraint. The Puritans
would interpret this sort of abandon as
indicative of satanic influence.
Chillingworth has been living among the
natives, a people who revere nature. His
assuming a negative persona is, therefore,
not surprising.
Chillingworth becomes a reflection of Satan
himself.
the significance of the
number three
This scaffold scene is but the first of three
that will together provide the narrative
structure.
As Chillingworth is conversing with the
townsperson, he says three times that the
father of the child will be known.
Perhaps the most obvious and frequent
meaning of the number three in literature is
that it suggests the Holy Trinity. This tale is
one that centers on the idea of salvation, and
according to Calvinist doctrine, it is only
through Christ that one may hope to be
saved from damnation.
Three is the perfect number. If a table has
three legs, it will not topple; therefore, the
number three is also associated with
stability.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 4: The Interview)
concern
explanation
Hester’s physical and
emotional distress
The narrator describes Hester’s demeanor as
“insubordinate.” He does not elaborate, but
we can surmise that her reaction to her dire
situation has caused her great anxiety. The
child also seems out of sorts. It is
understandable that a mother’s anxious state
will extend to her infant. Still, this specific
complication (Hester’s distress) is a
narrative necessity; this is a wonderful way
to bring Chillingworth into Hester’s
company so that the two can converse,
thereby enriching the plot.
the oath of silence
Chillingworth asks that Hester not reveal his
identity as her husband. This is the second
secret she decides to keep. Again, the theme
of secret sin is a strong and recurrent one in
this tale. It is the secrecy that poisons. If
Chillingworth is a representation of Satan,
then it is this pledge of secrecy that Hester
agrees to take at this point that enables the
old man to pose as a helpmate for the
dejected Dimmesdale when he is really
working to effect his ultimate demise.
Just in case the reader has not understood
this oath to be a frightful mistake,
Hawthorne has Hester ask, “Why dost thou
smile so at me? . . . Art thou like the Black
Man that haunts the forest round about us?
Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will
prove the ruin of my soul?” His response
truly is devilish: “’Not thy soul,’ he
answered, with another smile, ‘No, not
thine!’” Whose soul then does he seek to
vanquish? The father’s, of course.
the matter of blame
Chillingworth says that he had “sought to
warm [her] by the warmth which [her]
presence made” in his own heart. She
regretfully acknowledges that she has
“wronged” him, and he responds by saying
that both he and she have “wronged each
other.” He says that he never should have
married a woman so much younger than
he—he knew all along that something like
this would happen.
He claims that he seeks no vengeance on
Hester, but he will pursue “the man who has
wronged us both.”
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 5: Hester at Her Needle)
concern
Why does Hester not leave
Boston?
explanation
There is no single answer to this question—
again, how like Hawthorne!
If the scarlet letter is to perform its office,
then she must remain where the wearing of
it has meaning. Part of her penance is public
shame, and if she were to go to another town
where no one knows her, she could dispense
with the letter altogether. This would not
benefit her in her quest for redemption.
Consider the following text:
What she compelled herself to
believe—what, finally, she reasoned
upon, as her motive for continuing a
resident of New England—was half a
truth, and half a self-delusion. Here,
she said to herself, had been the
scene of her earthly punishment; and
so, perchance, the torture of her
daily shame would at length purge
her soul, and work out another
purity than that which she had lost;
more saint-like, because the result of
martyrdom.
Before Hawthorne proposes this particular
reason (the one that Hester convinces herself
of), he writes,
It might be, too,—doubtless it was
so, although she hid the secret from
herself, and grew pale whenever it
struggled out of her heart, like a
serpent from its hole,—it might be
that another feeling kept her within
the scene and pathway that had been
so fatal. There dwelt, there trode the
feet of one with whom she deemed
herself connected in a union, that,
unrecognized on earth, would bring
them together before the bar of final
judgment, and make that their
marriage-altar, for a joint futurity of
endless retribution.
In other words, she is in love with Pearl’s
father and does not wish to leave him. Not
only that—the salvation of each depends on
the other.
the importance of
garments
Hester’s attire becomes extremely drab and
coarse—the scarlet letter, therefore, shows
even more prominently against such a
background. Her previous taste for fancier
attire has changed. The reader might see
this as a physiognomical2 indication that
Hester’s character is changing as well.
Why would the Puritans
tolerate frivolous dress,
much less encourage
Hester to sew such
splendidly decorated
fashions?
Ordinarily the Puritans discouraged garish
dress, but on special occasions they allowed
that political and military men and other
wealthy citizen might dress in laces and
finery.
What type of garment
will the magistrates
She is not allowed to embroider wedding
veils. They fear that her sin will be visited
2
Physiognomy: the correlation of character and appearance. This is a literary convention popular among
Medieval writers. For example, Geoffrey Chaucer’s Wife of Bath has a wide gap between her front teeth.
This physical feature suggests a licentiousness of character. His Monk has a hairy wart on his nose—an
indication of irascibility.
not allow Hester to
embroider? Why?
upon the bride herself.
Hester’s ability to
see into the hearts of
others
The letter eventually endows Hester with a
sense of identification with fellow sinners.
Consider the following lines:
But sometimes . . . she felt an eye—a
human eye—upon the ignominious
brand, that seemed to give a
momentary relief, as if half of her
agony were shared . . . She
shuddered to believe, yet could not
help believing, that it [the letter]
gave her a sympathetic knowledge of
the hidden sin in other hearts.
Hester also feels a sinner’s kinship with
some of the most respected and revered
citizens of Boston. Hawthorne seems to be
implying that no one is free from the lure of
sin; anyone can fall victim to its beguiling
“beauty.”
Hester’s refusal to pray
for those who scorn
her
Hester will not pray for her enemies
because, as the narrator notes, she is
afraid that
. . . the words of blessing should
stubbornly twist themselves into a
curse.
This is further evidence that her soul is
not yet purified. Her refusal suggests that
she is harboring some anger—wrath being
yet another of the seven deadly sins she may
be guilty of here.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 6: Pearl)
concern
What is the significance of
Pearl’s name?
explanation
Here Hawthorne is drawing on the biblical
reference to a pearl as a precious thing that
comes at a great price:
Her Pearl!—For so had Hester
called her; not as a name expressive
of her aspect, which had nothing of
the calm, white, unimpassioned
luster that would be indicated by the
comparison. But she named the
infant “Pearl,” as being of great
price,—purchased with all she
had,—her mother’s only treasure!
Why does Hester wonder
about Pearl’s curious nature?
The child is a wild creature who shares her
mother’s “wild, desperate, defiant mood, the
flightiness of . . . temper.” The child is a
creature of her own passions (anger, ecstasy,
etc.).
Hester sometimes sees in the little girl an
“otherworldly” look.
Pearl throws stones at the Puritan children
who spurn her and her mother.
From the moment that Pearl becomes
cognizant of her surroundings, she seems
fascinated by the scarlet letter on her
mother’s breast. She even throws wild
flowers at it. Of course, the correlation of
wild (natural) flowers and sin should not be
surprising.
Pearl denies that she has a Heavenly Father.
To the devout Puritans of Boston, this claim
would be proof positive of her diabolical
nature. Consider the following conversation
between mother and daughter:
Hester: Art thou my child, in very
truth?
Pearl: Yes; I am little Pearl.
Hester: Thou art not my child!
Thou art no Pearl of mine . . .
Tell me, then, what thou art,
and who sent thee hither.
Pearl: Tell me, mother! . . . Do thou
tell me!
Hester: Thy Heavenly Father sent
thee.
Pearl: He did not send me! . . . I
have no Heavenly Father!
Pearl’s asking her mother to tell her who
sent her to earth offers a double-entendre:
not only is Hawthorne speaking of a
Heavenly creator, but he is also referring to
an earthy, biological one. Who is Pearl’s
father? The child undoubtedly wants to
know. We also have to look at the word
father with an appreciation for the ironic.
The minister (Heavenly Father on earth?) is
also the father of this illegitimate child.
It might also be worth noting here that
Pearl’s eyes also are “deeply black.”
Key Passage (paragraphs 11-15)
5
10
15
20
25
Once, this freakish, elfish cast came into the child’s eyes, while Hester was
looking at her own image in them, as mothers are fond of doing; and, suddenly, —for women in solitude, and with troubled hearts, are pestered with
unaccountable delusions, —she fancied that she beheld, not her own miniature portrait, but another face, in the small black Ff of Pearl’s eyes. It
was a face, fiend-like, full of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of
features that she had known full well, though seldom with a smile, and
never with malice in them. It was as if an evil spirit possessed the child, and
had just then peeped forth in mockery. Many a time afterwards had Hester
been tortured, though less vividly, by the same illusion.
In the afternoon of a certain summer’s day, after Pearl grew big enough
to run about, she amused herself with gathering handfuls of wild-flowers,
and flinging them, one by one, at her mother’s bosom; dancing up and down,
like a little elf, whenever she hit the scarlet letter. Hester’s first motion had
been to cover her bosom with her clasped hands. But, whether from pride
or resignation, or a feeling that her penance might best be wrought out
by this unutterable pain, she resisted the impulse, and sat erect, pale as death,
looking sadly into little Pearl’s wild eyes. Still came the battery of flowers,
almost invariably hitting the mark, and covering the mother’s breast with
hurts for which she could find no balm in this world, nor knew how to
seek it in another. At last, her shot being all expended, the child stood still
and gazed at Hester, with that little, laughing image of a fiend peeping out
—or, whether it peeped or no, her mother so imagined it—from the unsearchable abyss of her black eyes.
“Child, what art thou?” cried the mother.
“Oh, I am your little Pearl!” answered the child.
But, while she said it, Pearl laughed, and began to dance up and down,
with the humorsome gesticulation of a little imp whose next freak might be
to fly up the chimney.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 7: The Governor’s Hall)
concern
Hawthorne’s use of light
and shadow
explanation
Governor Bellingham’s house is a stucco
structure with bits of “broken glass . . .
plentifully intermixed.” The sparkling
fragments delight Pearl. Hawthorne writes,
When sunshine fell asland-wise over
the front of the edifice, it glittered
and sparkled as if diamonds had
been flung against it by the handful.
The brilliancy might have befitted
Aladdin’s palace, rather than the
mansion of a grave old Puritan
ruler.
Pearl asks that her mother strip the sunshine
off the house and give it to her to play with.
Hester’s response that the child must “gather
thine own sunshine. I have none to give
thee” is interesting. On one level, the reader
can infer that Hester cannot bring happiness
to her child. But on another, the sunshine—
a completely natural phenomenon—should
“naturally” appeal to this impish child who
has been born of sin. The child herself is
also a force of nature. Hester’s claim that
she has no sunshine to give is meaningful,
inasmuch as she has learned to deny her
natural impulses as a means of repenting for
her sin.
Why have Hester
and Pearl gone to
Governor Bellingham’s
house?
Hester is aware that certain factions about
town have spoken of taking Pearl from her.
She has come to Bellingham to ask for
assistance.
the breastplate
The passage concerning sunlight reflected
off broken glass prefigures another key
passage a mere half-page later. The
breastplate on the suit of armor in the hall
entrance becomes a point of interest. The
curious and excitable Pearl calls her
mother’s attention to the shiny breastplate,
saying, “Mother, . . . I see you here. Look!
Look!” The one feature that Hester notices
when she looks at the breastplate is “the
scarlet letter . . . represented in exaggerated
and gigantic proportions.” Hawthorne goes
on to write, “she seemed absolutely hidden
behind it.” This passage is clearly
significant in that the letter and the function
it is intended to perform has come to
dominate Hester’s life. She has become
defined by it—at first, by the sin it signifies
and later, by the goodness and purity it
brings.
Pearl calls her mother’s attention to a similar
reflection in the headpiece of the armor.
Hester notices the child’s “look of naughty
merriment.”
the garden
The garden at Governor Bellingham’s house
is not like the more extravagant and cultured
European gardens that it is patterned after.
The presence of pumpkins and other gourds
gives a certain comical quality to the garden.
A red rose, however, grows in this garden as
well. Pearl asks her mother to get it for her.
This request prefigures another, more
ominous mention of roses in the next
chapter.
giantism
This is a literary term for the effect created
in the breastplate passage. When a writer
draws attention to an object by presenting it
in exaggerated physical proportions, the
ultimate effect is to draw attention to its
narrative significance. This is a theatrical
and /or photographic effect.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 8: The Elf-Child and the Minister)
concern
the question of Pearl’s
guardianship
explanation
Bellingham suggests that Pearl should be
taken from Hester. This elicits an
impassioned response from the mother; she
claims that she may use the letter upon her
breast as a means of instructing Pearl.
Pearl and the rose bush
by the prison door
Although Pearl knows the proper response
when Mr. Wilson asks, “Canst thou tell me,
my child, who made thee?,” she shockingly
says that no one made her—that her mother
has plucked her from the rose bush beside
the prison door. Again, the child is showing
an intelligence beyond her years; she
equates her birth with the roses that grow at
the prison door. Both she and those roses
suggest natural depravity.
How is Hester’s urgent
request / demand that
Dimmesdale speak on her
behalf situationally ironic?
Hester’s association with the minister is
the cause of all her troubles. Now she is
looking to him as a means of averting
further disaster. Also, the urgency of
Hester’s request is the closest she comes to
faulting Dimmesdale for putting her in this
situation. She is willing to bear public
humiliation and keep his secret, but she
needs his help now.
Mistress Hibbins’s
invitation
This woman’s offer to take Hester into the
woods and bring her into the devil’s
company further emphasizes the looming
danger of falling under the “spell” of evil.
Hester’s claim that she would willingly have
gone, had the magistrates taken Pearl from
her, is significant here; she has claimed that
Pearl is a source of both punishment and
joy:
God gave me the child! . . . He gave
her in requital of all things else,
which ye had taken from me. She is
my happiness!—she is my torture,
none the less! Pearl keeps me here
in life! Pearl punishes me too! See
ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only
capable of being loved, and so
endowed with a million-fold the
power of retribution for my sin?
Pearl is indeed Hester’s helpmate. Without
her, Hester—by her own admission—would
gladly join Mistress Hibbins. The child, in
this instance, has saved the soul of the
mother.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 9: The Leech)
concern
What is a leech?
explanation
This is a seventeenth-century slang term for
doctor. This makes perfect sense because,
just as “bleeding” was a common medical
practice at the time, so too was the use of
leeches for the purpose of removing clotted
blood (e. g. bruises).
Of course, another meaning for the term is
slightly more denigrating; to refer to
someone as a leech is to imply that that
person is likely to drain the resources of
another. The connotation clearly is
negative; one who is a leech is little more
than a blood-sucking parasite.
Chillingworth’s medical practice in Boston,
as well as the fact that his close association
with Dimmesdale seems to be draining the
latter’s physical strength, makes the term a
fitting one for the ugly old man.
Dimmesdale’s
habitual gesture
Dimmesdale has developed a habit of
placing his hand over his heart. Hawthorne
has shown him doing this from time to time,
but this gesture has become a constant habit
by Chapter IX. Consider the following few
lines:
His form grew emaciated; his voice,
though still rich and sweet, had a
certain melancholy prophecy of
decay in it; he was often observed,
on any slight alarm or other sudden
accident, to put his hand over his
heart, with first a flush and then a
paleness, indicative of pain.
We certainly must realize that Hester wears
her letter upon her breast. It would make
sense that Dimmesdale would fancy his
“badge of shame” to lie upon his chest as
well. This character is, of course,
heartsick—both for the commission of his
sin and the hypocrisy of his silence. So it
could be that this gesture comes as a result
of his emotional distress and his subsequent
connection to Hester (and her guilt). Still,
this heartsickness seems to be causing a
physical malady in the young reverend—a
sickness perhaps exacerbated by the
diabolical old Chillingworth.
public opinion of
Chillingworth
At first, the citizens of Boston are glad that
a medical man had come to the village; they
obviously have a need for his services, but
they are particularly glad that he has come
because they hope that he can help their
beloved minister, whose health has
obviously begun to fail.
Public opinion of Chillingworth has begun
to turn negative. The narrator suggests that
the people of Boston do not become
suspicious of the old man because of any
particular tangible cause; he says that the
change in their opinion of the old man
comes not so much as a result of logic, but
rather as a result of “the intuitions of its
great and warm heart.”
What causes the people
An elderly citizen of Boston remembers
of Boston to suspect that
Chillingworth may be an
emissary of Satan.
seeing him in London years before. He
had been in the company of a Doctor
Forman, a “conjurer” who had been
implicated in the murder of Sir Thomas
Overby.3 This connection obviously implies
that Chillingworth may also have a
murderous streak. Also, it is clear that they
suspect the old man of witchcraft.
Chillingworth’s association with the natives
is further “evidence” that the old man may
have nurtured “black arts”:
Two or three individuals hinted that
the man of skill, during his Indian
captivity, had enlarged his medical
attainments by joining in the
incantations of the savage priests;
who were universally acknowledged
to be powerful enchanters, often
performing seemingly miraculous
cures by their skill in the black art.
The décor of
Dimmesdale’s
Apartment
3
A wall hanging (tapestry) that depicts the
biblical story of David and Bathsheba and
Nathan the Prophet.4 The correlations to
Dimmesdale’s own sin are obvious.
Sir Thomas Overby: 1581–1613, English author and courtier. He was a friend and adviser to Robert Carr, an Oxford
acquaintance. The two quarreled violently when Overbury disapproved of Carr’s marriage to Frances Howard, divorced wife of the
earl of Essex. Overbury’s hostility was so marked that the Howard family brought pressure to bear, and James I had Overbury
imprisoned in the Tower, where he was slowly poisoned. Carr and Frances Howard were convicted of his murder, but their lives were
spared by the king. Overbury was a notable writer of brief informal essays describing a type or an individual. His best-known sketch
in verse, A Wife (1614), outlines his conception of the ideal wife.
Overbury was knighted in 1608, and Carr became Viscount Rochester in 1611. In 1611 Rochester became enamoured of
Frances Howard, wife of the Earl of Essex. Lady Essex soon secured a divorce from her husband with the intention of marrying
Rochester. Overbury feared that Rochester's prospective marriage would reduce his own influence over Rochester, however, and he
tried strongly to dissuade the latter from marrying her. Overbury also circulated manuscript copies of A Wife at court, where the poem
was interpreted as an indirect attack on Lady Essex. This incurred the displeasure of the king and enabled Lady Essex' powerful
relatives to have Overbury imprisoned in the Tower. Rochester acceded to Overbury's imprisonment only until he could marry Lady
Essex, but she herself was evidently determined to have Overbury murdered there. She secretly arranged to have him slowly poisoned
to death
4
David and Bathsheba: In the Old Testament, Bathsheba ("the seventh daughter" or the "daughter of the oath"), the daughter
of Ammiel, is the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of King David. In 1 Chronicles 3:5 she is called Bath-shua.2 Samuel 11:1 to
12:25 tells the story of David's adultery with Bathsheba, and his subsequent murder of Uriah in order to conceal his guilt. His plan
comes unstuck when God sends the prophet Nathan to denounce David by means of a parable. David is completely taken in, declaring
at the end of it, "The man who did this deserves to die!" only to be told by Nathan, "You are that man". Although both David and
Bathsheba are spared death for this crime, their first child dies after only 7 days. Furthermore, the Bible claims that the subsequent
string of intrigues, murders and infighting including civil war that plagues David's later life is part of a curse imposed as additional
punishment.
Nathan the Prophet: see note for David and Bathsheba. Nathan might be seen as a “righter of wrongs,” an emissary of
justice.
It may also be significant that the house in
which Dimmesdale and Chillingworth live
sits beside a graveyard. The danger of
spiritual death looms in every chapter of this
book, and it becomes Chillingworth’s
ultimate goal to destroy the reverend. In the
next chapter, we will hear of the old man’s
picking weeds and herbs from atop the
graves in this graveyard. The implication is
that, because he uses these herbs in his
medical treatment of the minister, the old
man actually seeks to destroy, rather than
heal.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 10: The Leech and His Patient)
concern
Roger Chillingworth’s
history (moral history)
explanation
This chapter begins with a curious claim:
Old Roger Chillingworth,
throughout life, had been calm in
temperament, kindly, though not of
warm affections, but ever, and in all
his relations with the world, a pure
and upright man.
Given the devious, manipulative, and
monomaniacal demeanor of this old man (by
this point in the novel), this claim is rather
surprising. One must wonder if Hester and
Dimmesdale’s sin has tainted him as well.
This, of course, may be a defendable thesis,
but the next few lines give me doubts that
the change in him is entirely attributable to
this association:
He had begun an investigation, as he
imagined, with the severe and equal
integrity of a judge, desirous only of
truth, even as if the question involved
no more than the air-drawn lines and
figures of a geometrical problem,
instead of human passions, and
wrongs inflicted on himself. But, as
he proceeded, a terrible fascination,
a kind of fierce, though still calm,
necessity seized the old man within
its gripe, and never set him free
again until he had done all its
bidding. He now dug into the poor
clergyman’s heart, like a miner
searching for gold; or rather, like a
sexton delving into a grave, possibly
in quest of a jewel that had been
buried on the dead man’s bosom, but
likely to find nothing save mortality
and corruption. Alas for his own
soul, if these were what he sought!
I’d like to refer you to another of
Hawthorne’s tales—“Ethan Brand.” This is
a strange, obviously allegorical story about a
man who searches for the one truly
unpardonable sin. He wastes his life in the
pursuit. As it turns out, the one sin is
looking too ardently into the heart of man
(and into the nature of his sin). The search
itself wastes the soul.
Hawthorne even goes on to mention that
Chillingworth’s eyes burn “like one of those
gleams of ghastly fire that darted from
Bunyan’s awful doorway.” Ethan Brand’s
body burns in a fire pit and turns into lime.
The metaphor is heddy.
Do you see a connection here?
Chillingworth as a miner
This chapter is noteworthy because of the
highly significant conversation concerning
the attributes of unburdening one’s soul.
We get to see into Dimmesdale’s heart. We
learn that he does indeed have great concern
for the welfare of his fellow man and
understands that confession has the power of
bringing great relief. He has seen this in his
parishioners. Chillingworth is digging and
digging, even saying to the minister, “Would
you, therefore, that your physician heal the
bodily evil? How may this be, unless you
first lay open to him the wound or trouble in
your soul?” Dimmesdale’s angry response,
it seems, to some extent betrays his guilt. I
am reminded of a key line from Hamlet:
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
weeds from the graveyard
Dimmesdale sees Chillingworth rendering
some common weeds into medicinal potions
and asks the old man where he got them.
Chillingworth’s response is that these herbs
were unfamiliar to him, but he found them
the graveyard beside their residence. He
says that they surely have grown out of the
hearts of dead men:
I found them growing on a grave,
which bore no tombstone, nor other
memorial of the dead man, save
these ugly weeds, that have taken
upon themselves to keep him in
remembrance. They grew out of his
heart, and typify, it may be, some
hideous secret that was buried with
him, and which he had done better to
confess during his lifetime.
theme of secret sin
This passage develops this key scene in such
an obvious way that it hardly needs
clarification. One interesting connection,
however, is the subsequent comment that
Chillingworth makes regarding Hester:
“There goes a woman,” resumed
Roger Chillingworth, after a pause,
“who, be her demerits what they
may, hath none of that mystery of
hiding sinfulness which you deem so
grievous to be borne. Is Hester
Prynne the less miserable, think you,
for that scarlet letter on her breast?”
The secrecy, I suspect, is the real poison that
is destroying the minister.
Pearl in the graveyard
One of the many reasons that this
chapter is particularly important is
that it is one of the few times that all
four major characters appear at the
same time. As Chillingworth and
Dimmesdale carry on their
conversation about the benefits of
confession, they hear the piercing
scream of the impish little Pearl.
This is a brilliant narrative turn
because the child is the manifestation
of the very sin that Chillingworth is
attempting to coax Dimmesdale into
confessing. Also, the child’s disdain
for rules of decorum causes the old
leech to observe that “There is no
law, nor reverence for authority, no
regard for human ordinances or
opinions, right or wrong, mixed up
with that child’s composition.” In
fact, Dimmesdale’s response is
worth noting as well: “None,—save
the freedom of a broken law.” Here
we might just as well read broken
law as sin.
Pearl, on the leech
The curiously knowledgeable Pearl
identifies Chillingworth as “the
Black Man” and notes that he has a
hold on the minister. Her
inexplicable knowledge might be a
reflection of the sin that has
engendered her—knowledge (in the
biblical sense) is a reference to
carnal knowledge (the result of
fornication).
Pearl and the burdock
Revisit your notes regarding
burdock. It is one of the stubborn
and bristly weeds that the narrator
speaks of in the first chapter. He
claims that it grows in the
churchyard, along with apple-peru (a
poison) and pig weed. It seems
appropriate that it is burdock that
Pearl throws at Hester; it clings to
the fabric containing the scarlet
letter. The child also throws it at the
minister, who looks on the scene
from a window above.
Chillingworth’s recognition
What is on the minister’s chest?
Chillingworth opens the sleeping
minister’s shirt and, “with . . . a
ghastly rapture,” delights in
SOMETHING that he sees there.
Has Dimmesdale branded himself?
Has Hester’s letter somehow
naturally appeared on the young
man’s bosom? Has Chillingworth’s
demonic powers of perception
enabled him to see that which
another human being would not be
able to distinguish? At any rate,
whatever Chillingworth fancies that
he has seen there is somehow
connected to the soul’s damnation:
But with what a whild look of
wonder, joy, and horror!
With what a ghastly rapture,
as it were, too mighty to be
expressed only by the eye and
features, and therefore
bursting forth through the
whole ugliness of his figure,
and making itself even
riotously manifest by the
extravagant gestures with
which he threw up his arms
towards the ceiling, and
stamped his foot upon the
floor! Had a man seen old
Roger Chillingworth, at the
moment of his ecstasy, he
would have had no need to
ask how Satan comports
himself when a precious
human soul is lost to heaven,
and won into his kingdom.
Key Passage (first four paragraphs)
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Old Roger Chillingworth, throughout life, had been calm in temperament,
kindly, though not of warm affections, but ever, and in all his relations with
the world, a pure and upright man. He had begun an investigation, as he
imagined, with the severe and equal integrity of a judge, desirous only of
truth, even as if the question involved no more than the air-drawn lines and
figures of a geometrical problem, instead of human passions, and wrongs
inflicted on himself. But, as he proceeded, a terrible fascination, a kind of
fierce, though still calm, necessity seized the old man within its gripe, and
never set him free again until he had done all its bidding. He now dug into
the poor clergyman’s heart, like a miner searching for gold; or rather, like
a sexton delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that had been
buried on the dead man’s bosom, but likely to find nothing save mortality
and corruption. Alas for his own soul, if these were what he sought!
Sometimes a light glimmered out of the physician’s eyes, burning blue
and ominous like the reflection of a furnace, or, let us say, like one of those
gleams of ghastly fire that darted from Bunyan’s awful doorway in the hillside, and quivered on the pilgrim’s face. The soil where this dark miner was
working had perchance shown indications that encouraged him.
“This man,” said he, at one such moment, to himself, “pure as they deem
him,—all spiritual as he seems,—hath inherited a strong animal nature from
his father or his mother. Let us dig a little further in the direction of this vein!”
Then, after long search into the minister’s dim interior, and turning over
many precious materials, in the shape of high aspirations for the welfare of
his race, warm love of souls, pure sentiments, natural piety, strengthened by
thought and study, and illuminated by revelation,—all of which invaluable
gold was perhaps no better than rubbish to the seeker,—he would turn back
discouraged, and begin his quest towards another point. He groped along as
stealthily, with as cautious a tread, and as wary an outlook, as a thief entering
a chamber where a man lies only half-asleep,—or, it may be, broad awake,—
with purpose to steal the very treasure which this man guards as the apple
of his eye. In spite of his premeditated carefulness, the floor would now and
then creak; his garments would rustle; the shadow of his presence, in a
forbidden proximity, would be thrown across his victim. In other words,
Mr. Dimmesdale, whose sensibility of nerve often produced the effect of
spiritual intuition, would become vaguely aware that something inimical to
his peace had thrust itself into relation with him. But old Roger Chillingworth, too, had perceptions that were almost intuitive; and when the minister
threw his startled eyes toward him, there the physician sat; his kind, watchful,
sympathizing, but never intrusive friend.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 11: The Interior of a Heart)
concern
explanation
Dimmesdale in the pulpit
While Dimmesdale’s body (and, arguably,
his spirit) becomes weaker and weaker, his
zeal and vigor in the pulpit become
decidedly stronger. This transformation is
undoubtedly attributable to his suffering;
because he suffers in silence (hence the
chapter’s title—“The Interior of a Heart)
the pangs of guilty sin, he becomes more
capable of identifying with other sinners
who also suffer in this way.
Dimmesdale’s self-inflicted
Punishment
The minister guilt drives him to exact
upon himself physical punishment:



self-flagellating—(In Mr.
Dimmesdale’s secret closet, under
lock and key, there was a bloody
scourge.) He even mocks himself as
he lays on with the whip (laughing
bitterly at himself the while, and
smiting so much the more pitilessly
because of that bitter laugh).
fasting—This has long been
considered, even by non-Christians,
to be a method of purifying the soul.
For Dimmesdale, however, it
becomes something more than that;
it becomes just another way to
punish himself for moral
transgression. In fact, he fasts so
long that his body actually trembles
from weakness.
keeping solitary watches at night—
These physical abuses that
Dimmesdale visits upon himself
certainly contribute to his declining
health. He often sits for hours in
complete darkness; still, at other
times he sits before a looking glass
and stares at his own face. This
excessive self-examination (manic
introspection) exacerbates the his
guilty passion5. This is exactly what
is destroying the minister: his
secrecy is destroying him because it
prevents him from ever ceasing to
punish himself with constant selfaccusations and reproaches.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 12: The Minister’s Vigil)
concern
explanation
SCAFFOLD SCENE #2
This scene is considered by most critics to
be the “center” of this narrative. Hawthorne
has positioned three scaffold scenes,
equidistantly arranged, as the organizational
principle supporting the whole romance.
The first, of course, is Hester’s entrance
(chapter 2: The Market-Place). This second
scaffold scene is no less important as a
narrative strategy; here we see a muchtortured Dimmesdale ascend the scaffold
just as his partner in sin has done seven
years prior to this night.
chiaroscuro
Hawthorne refers to the deliberate and
purposeful use of light and shadow as
establishing an “atmospheric medium.”
Certainly the cover of darkness does indeed
establish atmosphere in this scene. It is
Dimmesdale’s failure to own his sin publicly
that is causing his physical and spiritual
demise. How appropriate that Hawthorne
has the guilt-ridden minister climb the
scaffold when it is the “dark gray of the
midnight.” Consider the following bit of
text:
5
passion—In this case, I am using the word literally; it means “intense suffering.”
It was an obscure night of early May.
An unvaried pall of cloud muffled the
whole expanse of sky from zenith to
horizon.
midnight
Traditionally this hour of the night has been
associated with acts of evil and madness.
Another reference to Hamlet is appropriate
here as well; once Hamlet has satisfied
himself that it is indeed his uncle Claudius
who has killed his father (the elder Hamlet),
he determines that he will exact revenge on
the brute. He proclaims,
‘Tis now the very witching time of
night, / When churchyards yawn, and
hell itself breathes out / Contagion
to this world. Now could I drink hot
blood, / And do such bitter business
as the day / Would quake to look on.
connection to witchcraft
The fact that Dimmesdale has climbed the
scaffold at this hour invites us to associate
his transgression with a demonic evil akin to
witchcraft. This is not to say that
Hawthorne is suggesting that Dimmesdale
has practiced witchcraft, but his
fornication, compounded with his enduring
secrecy about it, is a sin that is as serious as
any other.
The fact the Mistress Hibbins is one of two
people awakened by Dimmesdale’s shriek
further supports this connection.
Dimmesdale, Pearl, and
Hester upon the scaffold
Together
Hester and Pearl are returning from
Governor Winthrop’s deathbed, and
the minister calls to them. The family
finally is standing together, the child holding
hands with each parent. But they stand
together only when no one can see them.
Pearl asks her father if he will stand in the
same spot with them twenty-four hours
hence (the brightest hour of the day). He
tells her that he will not, but he promises to
stand with them on Judgment Day. Of
course, this does not satisfy the child. She
takes her hand from his.
While Pearl is an agent of Hester’s
punishment (a helpmate for her soul), she is
attempting here to be a helpmate for her
father’s soul as well. It is confession that
will bring relief.
the meteor
The light from a passing meteor illuminates
the sky, revealing the family of three to one
malicious onlooker—Chillingworth. Here
again is another brilliant use of chiaroscuro.
Dimmesdale perceives the light from it as
forming a letter A in the sky. The narrator
withdraws, however, from confirming this
interpretation, suggesting instead that the
minister’s distraught state of mind has
caused him to fancy this particular shape:
. . . it could only be the symptom of a
highly disordered mental state, when
a man, rendered morbidly selfcontemplative by long, intense, and
secret pain, had extended his egotism
over the whole expanse of nature,
until the firmament itself should
appear no more than a fitting page
for his soul’s history and fate!
The narrator also notes that it was a common
practice among the Puritans to interpret
natural phenomena as an indication of God’s
will (an oncoming pestilence or an
impending conflict with the Natives). It is,
therefore, understandable that Dimmesdale
would read into this occurrence a deeper
meaning.
Chillingworth in the shadows
It is Pearl who first notices the figure in
hiding. This is a significant detail; here
again she is acting as protector for her
parents. This is the second time she has
taken particular notice of him, the other
being her designation of him as “yonder
Black Man” in chapter 10.
Dimmesdale says that he has an inordinate
hatred (fear?) for Chillingworth. He tells
Hester, “I shiver at him!” But Hester has
pledged to keep the old man’s true identity a
secret and, therefore, cannot warn
Dimmesdale. Notice how the theme of
secrecy is once again at work in this
narrative.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 13: Another View of Hester)
concern
explanation
Hester’s decision to break her silence
We get the sense that this chapter is prelude
to the technical climax 6of the narrative.
That is, if Hester reveals to Dimmesdale the
true identity of the old physician, then the
minister can protect himself from the
insidious old man—“forwarned is
forarmed.”
Hester’s appearance
In denying her feminine beauty, Hester is
guarding her soul. She has forsaken vanity
and become completely self-effacing. She
tends the sick and gives alms to the poor. In
fact, the citizens of Boston have come to see
the scarlet letter as an indication that Hester
is “Able.” It would appear that the letter is
performing its office.
technical climax: Aristotle might call this the “reversal of fortune.” This is the point at which power
changes hands. Good luck may turn to bad or bad to good. It differs from the dramatic climax in that the
latter is simply the point of greatest excitement in the narrative or drama. The technical climax is ordinarily
much more critical to the purposeful movement of the plot.
6
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 14: Hester and the Physician)
concern
Chillingworth’s changed nature
explanation
Hester and Chillingworth discuss the old
physician’s former demeanor, now forever
transformed by his wife’s transgression and
his prideful reaction to it (hubris?). He says,
“And what am I now?” demanded
he, looking into her face, and
permitting the whole evil within him
to be written on his features. “I have
already told thee what I am! A
fiend!”
Hester’s plea on behalf
of Dimmesdale
Hester confronts Chillingworth and asks him
to cease tormenting the ailing Dimmesdale.
Chillingworth will not relent, leaving Hester
with a cryptic prediction:
“Peace, Hester, peace!” replied the
old man, with gloomy sternness. “It
is not granted me to pardon. I have
no such power as thou tallest me of.
My old faith, long forgotten, comes
back to me, and explains all that we
do, and all we suffer. By thy first
step awry thou didst plant the germ
of evil; but since that moment, it has
all been a dark necessity. Yet that
have wronged me are not sinful, save
in a kind of typical illusion; neither
am I fiend-like, who have snatched a
fiend’s office from his hands. It is
our fate. Let the black flower
blossom as it may! Now go thy
ways, and deal as thou wilt with
yonder man.”
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 15: Hester and Pearl)
Pearl’s letter made
of eel-grass
Perhaps the most striking image in this chapter is
the letter that Pearl fashions out of seaweed. Of
course we know that children often act and speak in
the image of their parents, but this particular bit of
imitation is charged with meaning in this narrative;
this replica of the letter is green7. To what extent is
Pearl merely a younger version of her mother? Is
Hawthorne implying that a child born of sin (a clear
link to fertility in this case) is “destined” to repeat
the sin which led to her creation? In chapter
sixteen, Pearl says that the sun will shine upon her
because she is but a child and “wears nothing on
[my] bosom yet!”
Pearl’s inquisitiveness
The child constantly bombards the mother with
questions as to the meaning of the letter she wears
upon her bosom. In addition to this question, she
also asks why the minister holds his hand over his
heart. The fact that she chooses these two particular
questions to ask together is strange and unsettling.
Has she somehow intuited a connection between the
symbol and the gesture? If so, she is indeed beyond
her years. But is that all? Once again, the
connection of knowledge and sin is a strong one
(see earlier guide—Original Sin). Has the
sinfulness of Pearl’s conception imbued her with
abnormally acute insight when it comes to human
sin and suffering?
Hester lies
Even though Hester briefly entertains the notion of
telling her daughter the truth about the letter, she
relents and tells the child that she wears the letter
because of the beautiful thread itself. While this is
literally a lie, it may not be entirely an untruth—if
we look for metaphorical “codes.” The beautiful
7
green: traditionally indicative of youth and fertility
stitching does indeed suggest the lure of sin (see
previous guide—overview), so Hester’s claim that
she wears it for the beautiful thread is not
necessarily a lie. It is the “beautiful / irresistible
lure” of sin that is the reason that she must wear the
emblem. What do you think about that connection?
Hester’s hatred for
Chillingworth
Hester’s sentiments about the old man are almost
shocking. We have come to see this woman as an
admirable, almost saintly figure who performs good
works and who has become the very embodiment of
humility. For her to claim to hate Chillingworth
seems almost out of character. But is it really? A
good Puritan surely must hate the devil. Does this
passage reveal Hester as a good Puritan woman for
this hatred?
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 16: A Forest Walk)
John Eliot
This man actually existed. He worked to convert the
natives to Christianity. This is interesting—Hawthorne
is using this figure as a narrative device and is
accomplishing at least two purposes in mentioning him.
First of all, this man must have ventured into the forest
to counsel these natives; therefore, proposing that
Dimmesdale has gone to meet with him puts
Dimmesdale (secret sinner) into the forest (domain of
the Black Man / devil) and thereby projects the sinner
into a sinful setting. A more utilitarian purpose in
having Dimmesdale visit Eliot, however, is to give
Hester an opportunity to cross his path. It is fitting that
these two sinners would meet in the forest anyway.
Also, you should recall the Puritan view of the natives’
lifestyle. Because they lived so close to the earth and
followed their natural urges and instincts, they invited
sin into their lives. They definitely saw the “savages” as
sinful creatures to be at least avoided—if not conquered
altogether.
sunshine
Traditionally, critics have interpreted this symbol rather
simplistically. Ordinarily we think of sunshine as good
and wholesome; we connect it with truth and honesty
and goodness. So it would seem that the sun’s refusal to
shine on Hester is an indication that her sinfulness has
somehow made her unworthy and Pearl’s childish
innocence causes the sun to shine brightly on her. This
makes sense until we think a little more deeply into the
controlling themes in this book, particularly nature as
evil. Sunlight, of course, is a natural phenomenon;
therefore, it cannot have such a wholesome symbolic
meaning. Let’s take a look at what Pearl says.
Mother, . . . the sunshine does not love you.
It runs away and hides itself, because it is
afraid of something on your bosom. Now
see! There it is, playing, a good way off.
Stand you here, and let me run and catch it.
I am but a child. It will not flee from me, for
I wear nothing on my bosom yet!
If the sunlight is entirely natural, it only makes
sense that it would flee from someone who so
firmly denies her natural urges. Pearl claims that
the sunshine is afraid of something that Hester
carries on her breast—the letter, of course. Well,
the letter is an agent of retribution, a punishment, a
representation of man’s desire to conquer the evil
that his natural urges lead him to. Pearl, a child
born of sin, is akin to the sun. She certainly acts in
an unruly fashion. In chapter ten, Chillingworth
notes that Pearl abides by no rule of law. As an
allegorical representation of Satan, he certainly
should know!
Pearl’s questions about
the Black Man
8
Again, Pearl is needling her mother, this time about
her associations with the Black Man8. When Hester
asks her how she knows about the Black Man, she
gives an interesting response: she has heard it from
“the old dame in the chimney-corner” in a house
where Hester had tended the sick one evening prior
to this scene. This woman has also mentioned
Black Man: a Puritan term for Satan. They believed that he resides in the forest and has a book in which
human sinners sign their names. The act of signing would be an indication that the signer has lost his or
her soul to the devil. Of course, this can function as a metaphor for the wild abandon of sin. It also makes
sense that they would think of the devil as residing in the forest (see previous guide—overview).
Hester’s name in connection with the Black Man;
Pearl says,
And, mother, that old dame said that his
scarlet letter was the Black Man’s mark on
thee, and that it glows like a red flame when
thou meetest him at midnight, here in the
dark wood.
The fact that the child has heard all this from an
adult perhaps helps to explain her present inquiries
regarding the letter, but this may not entirely
explain away the reason for her questions. When
she sees the minister, whom she has at first taken to
be the Black Man himself, she notices his hand
upon his heart and asks,
And, mother, he has his hand over his heart!
Is it because, when the minister wrote his
name in the book, the Black Man set his
mark in that place? But why does he not
wear it outside his bosom, as thou dost,
mother?
First of all, she connects the gesture to some
commission of evil (minister’s signing the book);
secondly, she connects her mother’s letter (. . . the
Black Man’s mark on thee . . . .) and the minister’s
habitual gesture, somehow knowing that both are
associated with the Black Man and evil.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 17: The Pastor and His Parishioner)
the forest setting
It makes sense that Hawthorne would have
Dimmesdale and Hester should meet in the forest,
given the nature of this symbol (pardon the pun).
The lovers’ past abandon for rules of decorum and
their submission to their natural drives and urges
make the scene of this meeting appropriate. We
must wonder if the forest has indeed been the scene
of their sinful act more than seven years before. Do
not think, however, that Hawthorne ever
confirms—or even proposes—this claim.
Hester’s connection
to the forest
Dimmesdale’s momentary inability to distinguish
Hester from her surroundings is significant. He
hears her speak to him, yet he cannot distinguish her
figure in the shade cast by the forest trees. At first,
her dark clothing and the shadows conspire to hide
her from view. Here we see the motif of shadow reemerge; ordinarily Hawthorne mentions shadow or
the cover of darkness as an indication of secrecy
and its inherent danger to the immortal soul. It is
working on that level here as well—Hester is
meeting Dimmesdale in secret, as she obviously has
in the past. But Hawthorne seems to have
additional reason to cast her in shadow here; she is
virtually indistinguishable from the vegetation.
Therefore, we can conclude that she is of the forest
as well as in the forest (i. e. she is prone to sin??).
technical climax
Hester tells Dimmesdale that he has an enemy in
Chillingworth.
the relative severity
of individual sins
Dimmesdale says Chillingworth’s vengeance is a
more serious transgression than his (and Hester’s).
He says,
I do forgive you, Hester . . . I freely forgive
you now. May God forgive us both! We are
not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world.
There is one worse than even the polluted
priest! That old man’s revenge has been
blacker than my own sin. He has violated,
in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart.
Thou and I, Hester, never did so!
This is interesting. Is Dimmesdale (and Hawthorne)
contending that pride and wrath are more grievous
sins than lust?
the possibility of
leaving Boston
In chapter five we learn that Hester remains in
Boston when she might easily go elsewhere. In
proposing an explanation for her decision in this
regard, he suggests that she wishes not to leave her
partner in sin and that the scene of her retribution
must be the scene of her transgression. While she
convinces herself that the latter is the real reason
that she stays on in Boston, we sense that her
affection for Dimmesdale is her primary reason.
But we should perhaps re-read that passage at this
point because when Hester tells Dimmesdale that
she will flee Boston with him, it is not just her love
for him that prompts her to say this. Looking back
at chapter five, we should remember that both
sinners are united in both their sin and in their
retribution. Salvation, in a sense, is a joint effort.
Following that train of logic, we realize that if
Dimmesdale leaves, then Hester must as well.
Their . . .
union would bring them together
before the bar of final judgment, and
make that their marriage-altar, for a
joint futurity of endless retribution.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 18: A Flood of Sunshine)
significance of chapter’s
title
Again, sunshine as a symbol comes into
play. We have seen that in chapter sixteen,
the sunlight that avoids Hester and falls
easily on Pearl is an indication that the
mother’s attempts to hold her natural urges
at bay have been at least partially successful.
This is a major priority for “good” Puritans.
Even though Hester, in her dark clothing,
initially blends into the darkness of the
forest shadows (evidence of her sinfulness),
she has managed to suppress her nature
(natural depravity) to some significant
degree over the past seven years.
Notice that when Hester removes her letter
and lets it fall to the ground, she also
removes her cap and lets her beautiful
tresses fall to her shoulders. At once, she is
again the beauty that she once must have
been prior to her public humiliation. At
that point, when Hester again becomes a
creature defined by and driven by her
nature, the sun seeks her out and falls
upon her as easily as it has fallen on the
lawless little Pearl. These few highly
significant lines appear in the key passage
included at the end of this guide.
Pearl’s affinity with
nature
We have made much of Pearl as a “natural
child.” We have noted that she bears a
physical similarity to her mother—dark hair
and eyes. She seems wild and beautiful,
unhampered by convention, and completely
free as a result of her illegitimate
conception. Now Hawthorne shows her
among the other creatures of the forest.
They are not frightened of her; it seems as
though she belongs in this setting as much as
they.
Consider the following lines:
. . . the sweet mother-forest, and
these wild things which it nourished
[forest creatures], all recognized a
kindred wildness in the human child.
Key Passage (tenth and eleventh paragraphs)
So speaking, she undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and,
taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves.
The mystic token alighted on the hither verge of the stream. With a hand’s
breadth farther flight it would have fallen into the water, and have given the
little brook another woe to carry onward, besides the unintelligible tale which
it still kept murmuring about. But there lay the embroidered letter, glittering
like a lost jewel, which some ill-fated wanderer might pick up, and thenceforth be haunted by strange phantoms of guilt, sinkings of the heart, and
unaccountable misfortune.
The stigma gone, Hester heaved a long, deep sigh, in which the burden
of shame and anguish departed from her spirit. Oh exquisite relief! She had
not known the weight, until she felt the freedom! By another impulse, she
took off the formal cap that confined her hair; and down it fell upon her
shoulders, dark and rich, with at once a shadow and a light in its abundance,
and imparting the charm of softness to her features. There played around
her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that
seemed gushing from the very heart of womanhood. A crimson flush was
glowing on her cheek, that had been long so pale. Her sex, her youth, and
the whole richness of her beauty, came back from what men call the irrevocable past, and clustered themselves, with her maiden hope, and a happiness
before unknown, within the magic circle of this hour. And, as if the gloom
of the earth and sky had been but the effluence of these two mortal hearts,
it vanished with their sorrow. All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven,
forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and
gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had
made a shadow hitherto, embodied the brightness now. The course of the
little brook might be traced by its merry gleam afar into the wood’s heart
of mystery, which had become a mystery of joy.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 19: The Child at Brookside)
Pearl’s reaction to
Hester’s removal of
the letter
Pearl’s violent reaction when she notices that
Hester has removed the letter is understandable,
given her role as a vehicle for retribution. It is her
“job” to torment the mother, assuring that this
woman never forget the weightiness of her
transgression. Once Hester replaces the letter, the
child even “blesses” it with a kiss.
Hester’s return to
penitence
It is interesting that Hester replaces her cap when
she once again dons the letter. It seems as though
Hawthorne is here claiming that penitence requires
absolute discipline. Conversely, the road to sin, it
would seem, invites absolute abandon. The
removal the letter naturally leads to the removal of
the cap:
By another impulse, she took off the formal
cap . . . .
It follows, then, that movement in the opposite
moral direction should be comparable.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 20: The Minister in a Maze)
upon Dimmesdale’s
return to the village
As a result of his time in the forest,
Dimmesdale seems to have changed
drastically—at least for a while. His
interactions with six people or groups of
people reveal this change in constitution:

a deacon—Dimmesdale fights the
urge to denigrate the
sacrament of “The Lord’s
Supper.” This is what we
now think of as communion.
It was one of only two
sacraments that the Puritans
honored, the other being
Baptism.

an old woman (eldest female in his
congregation)—He wants to
suggest to her that there is no
life after earthly death.

a young maiden—the minister
is tempted to whisper some
vile comment in her ear, a
comment that might
eventually compromise her
soul. He rushes past her,
leaving her to wonder how
she had invited his rudeness.

a group of children—he wants to
teach them profanity.

a drunken sailor—he thinks to stop
and have some ribald laugh
with this man and exchange a
few profane oaths with him,
but he does not.

Mistress Hibbins—she is dressed in
grand fashion. Her “ruff”
starched in the way that her
friend Ann Turner9 had
taught her. This association
is further evidence of this
woman’s great sinfulness.
She surmises that
Dimmesdale has been
cavorting with the devil in
the forest.
Dimmesdale’s momentary
abandon
Just as Hester has a moment of freedom in
the forest, so does Dimmesdale have a
moment of abandon when he returns to the
village. He wishes to speak atrocities to
those whom he encounters. But just as
Hester once again dons her letter and hides
her hair beneath her cap, he resists these
urges.
Dimmesdale’s redemption
The minister’s dismissal of Chillingworth
9
Ann Turner: hanged for the murder of Sir Thomas Overby
and his claim that he no longer needs the old
man’s medicines reveal a burgeoning
strength on his part. He passionately
destroys the Election Day sermon he has
already prepared and composes a new one,
working late into the night and not finishing
until dawn. If Dimmesdale no longer needs
the office that Chillingworth has performed,
then he must be moving toward a realization
of his soul’s salvation.
Another all-night vigil
Again, the minister has stayed awake all
night, but this time he is not tortured and
self-contemplative; he is preparing to deliver
“the voice of God on earth” (not a quotation
from text).
Election sermon
The significance of the occasion is obvious.
Is Dimmesdale to be among the Elect?
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 21: The New England Holiday)
the festive atmosphere on
Election Day
Although we often think of the Puritans as
an extremely sober people devoid of all
capacity for fun and sport, but this scene
gives us another glimpse of them. Election
Day brings a much lighter, carnival-like
atmosphere.
a shocking twist
Hester is aghast to learn that the ship on
which she and Dimmesdale have planned to
escape Boston will now have an additional
passenger—Chillingworth! The devil, it
would seem, is relentless in his pursuit of
the sinners. Of course, merely fleeing the
scene of their transgression will not bring
any real salvation to the couple. This
“chilling” narrative revelation is simply a
reminder that running away never brings
real peace.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 22: The Procession)
the primary purpose of
this chapter
This chapter is necessary for building
suspense. The dramatic tension is great after
Hester learns that Chillingworth plans to
follow her and Dimmesdale to the Old
World.
Mistress Hibbins’s insight
Mistress Hibbins seems to have the ability to
look past Dimmesdale’s façade. Remember
the passage concerning Hester’s burgeoning
ability to recognize a fellow sinner. It seems
that Hawthorne is saying that there is a
kinship among sinners.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 23: The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter)
Dimmesdale’s newfound
energy gone
The minister seems to have spent all of his
newfound energy on his passionate sermon.
From a narrative perspective, this detail is
extremely important. If Dimmesdale is to
die, he must not die suddenly and
unexpectedly—not after so much prolonged
suffering.
THE CONFESSION!!!
The text says it all:
“People of New England!” cried he,
with a voice that rose over them,
high, solemn, and majestic . . . “At
last—at last!—I stand upon the spot
where seven years since, I should
have stood; here with this woman. . .
Lo, the scarlet letter which Hester
wears! . . . But there stood one in the
midst of you, at whose brand of sin
and infamy ye have not shuddered!
. . . It was on him! . . . God’s eye
beheld it! . . . The Devil knew it well,
and fretted it continually with the
touch of his burning finger!. . . Now,
at the death hour, he stands up
before you” . . . With a convulsive
motion, he tore away the ministerial
band from before his breast. It was
revealed!
the stigma
Hawthorne calls the mark on Dimmesdale’s
chest the “ghastly miracle.” Apparently,
there actually is a physical mark on the
minister’s chest, but to imply that it is akin
to a stigmata is to cast this particular
situation on a grand scale.
Stigmata has two meanings:
(1.) a mark resembling the wounds
of Jesus Christ. It is said to
appear spontaneously on the
bodies of select people whose
religious faith is absolute.
(2.) a mark left by a hot branding
iron.
So . . . We still have no answer as to the
origin of this mysterious mark. Has God put
it upon the tortured minister, or has
Dimmesdale branded himself? He says,
He [God] hath proved his mercy, most of
all, in my afflictions. By giving me this
burning torture to bear upon my breast!
But we must now ask if he is speaking now
of the actual mark or the heavy, torturous
burden of his sad secret.
Dimmesdale’s acknowledgement
of Chillingworth’s role in his
salvation
He tells Hester that God has been merciful
in sending the old doctor to “keep the
torture always at red-heat!” The
unmistakable implication here is that
Dimmesdale has indeed achieved salvation
and that Chillingworth has ironically proven
an agent in delivering it.
Study Guide
The Scarlet Letter
(Chapter 24: Conclusion)
circular movement
As The Scarlet Letter begins with preface
(in the form of an essay), it now ends with a
nice little epilogue.
Denouement
This final chapter provides a perfect little
resolution. If the exposition of this narrative
is not a traditional one, this denouement is
almost perfect. After all, the meaning of the
term is “the untying of the knot.” In a
traditional denouement, the reader has his
questions answers, and the author brings the
narrative to a graceful, functional
conclusion.
Chillingworth’s end
With Dimmesdale gone, Chillingworth has
no further purpose in the world. He dies,
but curiously, he leaves his estate to little
Pearl. This is a most bizarre complication.
What do you make of it?
Hester’s return to Boston
Hester and Pearl disappear from Boston for
a period of some years. The former
ultimately returns, however, and continues
to wear the scarlet letter until her death.
When she dies, she is buried beside
Dimmesdale. Although the two fellow
sinners share the same gravestone,
Hawthorne cannot bring himself to give
them a perfectly peaceful end:
Yet one tombstone served for both.
All around, there were monuments carved
with armorial bearings; and on this simple
slab of slate—as the curious investigator
may still discern, and perplex himself with
purport—there appeared the semblance of
an engraved escutcheon. It bore a device, a
herald’s wording of which might serve for a
motto and brief description of our now
concluded legend; so somber is it, and
relieved only by one every-glowing point of
light gloomier than the shadow:—
“ON A FIELD, SABLE,
THE LETTER A, GULES.”
What does this “motto”
mean?
“On a black background is a red letter.”