Summary—Chapter 10: The Leech and His Patient
The inwardly tortured minister soon becomes
Chillingworth’s greatest puzzle. The doctor seeks
to find the root of his patient’s condition.
Chillingworth shows great persistence in inquiring
into the most private details of Dimmesdale’s life,
but Dimmesdale will confide in no one.
Chillingworth devotes all of his time to his patient.
Even when he is not in Dimmesdale’s presence,
Chillingworth is busy gathering herbs and weeds
out of which to make medicines.
One day Dimmesdale questions his doctor about
an unusual-looking plant. Chillingworth remarks
that he found it growing on an unmarked grave
and suggests that the dark weeds are the sign of
the buried person’s unconfessed sin. The two
enter into an uncomfortable conversation about
confession, redemption, and the notion of
“burying” one’s secrets. As they speak, they hear
a cry from outside. Through the window, they see
Pearl dancing in the graveyard and hooking burrs
onto the “A” on Hester’s chest. When Pearl
notices the two men, she drags her mother away,
saying that the “Black Man” has already gotten
the minister and that he must not capture them
too. Chillingworth remarks that Hester is not a
woman who lives with buried sin—she wears her
sin openly on her breast.
Dimmesdale’s behavior has reinforced
Chillingworth’s suspicions. The minister
apologizes for his behavior, and the two are
friends again. However, a few days later,
Chillingworth sneaks up to Dimmesdale while he is
asleep and pushes aside the shirt that Dimmesdale
is wearing. What he sees on Dimmesdale’s chest
causes the doctor to rejoice, but the reader is kept
in the dark as to what Chillingworth has found
there.
Summary—Chapter 11: The Interior of a Heart
Chillingworth continues to play mind games with
Dimmesdale, making his revenge as terrible as
possible. The minister often regards his doctor
with distrust and even loathing, but he dismisses
them and continues to suffer. Dimmesdale’s
suffering, however, does inspire him to deliver
some of his most powerful sermons, which focus
on the topic of sin. His struggles allow him to
empathize with human weakness. Although the
reverend deeply yearns to confess the truth of his
sin to his parishioners, he cannot bring himself to
do so. As a result, he cannot sleep at night, and he
even sees visions.
In one vision, he sees Hester and “little Pearl in
her scarlet garb.” Hester points “her forefinger,
first at the scarlet letter on her bosom, and then
at the clergyman’s own breast.” The minister
understands that he is delusional, but his
psychological tumult leads him to assign great
meaning to his delusions. Even the Bible offers
him little support. Dimmesdale begins to torture
himself physically: he scourges himself with a
whip, he fasts, and he holds extended vigils,
during which he stays awake throughout the night
meditating upon his sin. During one of these vigils,
Dimmesdale seizes on an idea for what he believes
may be a remedy to his pain. He decides to hold a
vigil on the scaffold where, years before, Hester
suffered for her sin.
Summary—Chapter 12: The Minister’s Vigil
Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold. The pain in his
breast causes him to scream aloud, and he worries
that everyone in the town will wake up and come
to look at him. Fortunately for Dimmesdale, the
few townspeople who heard the cry took it for a
witch’s voice. As Dimmesdale stands upon the
scaffold, his mind turns to absurd thoughts.
Dimmesdale begins to fantasize about what
would happen if everyone in town were to
witness their holy minister standing in the place of
public shame.
Dimmesdale laughs aloud and is answered by a
laugh from Pearl, whose presence he had not
noticed. Dimmesdale invites them to join him on
the scaffold, which they do. The three hold hands,
forming an “electric chain.” The minister feels
energized and warmed by their presence. Pearl
innocently asks, “Wilt thou stand here with
Mother and me, tomorrow noontide?” but the
minister replies, “Not now, child, but at another
time.” When she presses him to name that time,
he answers, “At the great judgment day.”
Suddenly, a meteor brightens the dark sky,
momentarily illuminating their surroundings.
When the minister looks up, he sees an “A” in the
sky, marked out in dull red light. At the same time,
Pearl points to a figure that stands in the distance
and watches them. It is Chillingworth. Dimmesdale
asks Hester who Chillingworth really is, but
Hester, sworn to secrecy, cannot reveal her
husband’s identity. Pearl says that she knows, but
when she speaks into the minister’s ear, she
pronounces mere childish gibberish. Dimmesdale
asks if she intends to mock him, and she replies
that she is punishing him for his refusal to stand in
public with her and her mother.
Chillingworth approaches and coaxes Dimmesdale
down, saying that the minister must have
sleepwalked his way up onto the scaffold.
Dimmesdale and Chillingworth return home. The
following day, the minister preaches his most
powerful sermon to date. After the sermon, the
church sexton hands Dimmesdale a black glove
that was found on the scaffold. The sexton
recognized it as the minister’s, but concluded only
that Satan must have been up to some mischief.
Summary—Chapter 13: Another View of Hester
Seven years have passed since Pearl’s birth.
Hester has become more active in society. She
brings food to the doors of the poor, she nurses
the sick, and she is a source of aid in times of
trouble. She is still frequently made an object of
scorn, but more people are beginning to interpret
the “A” on her chest as meaning “Able” rather
than “Adulterer.” Hester herself has also changed.
She is no longer a tender and passionate woman;
rather, burned by the “red-hot brand” of the
letter, she has become “a bare and harsh outline”
of her former self.
Summary—Chapter 14: Hester and the Physician
Hester resolves to ask Chillingworth to stop
tormenting the minister. One day she and Pearl
encounter him near the beach, gathering plants
for his medicines. When Hester approaches him,
he tells her with a smirk that he has heard “good
tidings” of her, and that in fact the town fathers
have recently considered allowing her to remove
the scarlet letter. Hester rebuffs Chillingworth’s
insincere friendliness, telling him that the letter
cannot be removed by human authority. Divine
providence, she says, will make it fall from her
chest when it is time for it to do so. She then
informs Chillingworth that she feels it is time to
tell the minister the truth about Chillingworth’s
identity. From their conversation, it is clear that
Chillingworth now knows with certainty that
Dimmesdale was Hester’s lover and that Hester is
aware of his knowledge.
A change comes over Chillingworth’s face, and the
narrator notes that the old doctor has
transformed himself into the very embodiment of
evil. In a spasm of self-awareness, Chillingworth
realizes how gnarled and mentally deformed he
has become. He recalls the old days, when he was
a benevolent scholar. He has now changed from a
human being into a vengeful fiend, a mortal man
who has lost his “human heart.”