The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 24- Conclusion
Chapter 23- The Revelation of the
Scarlet Letter
Chapter 22- The Procession
Chapter 21- The New England Holiday
Chapter 20- The Minister in a Maze
Chapter 19- The Child at the BrookSide
Chapter 18- A Flood of Sunshine
Chapter 17- The Pastor and His
Parishoner
Chapter 16- A Forest Walk
Chapter 15- Hester and Pearl
Chapter 14- Hester and the Physician
Chapter 13- Another View of Hester
Chapter 12- The Minister's Vigil
Chapter 11- The Interior of a Heart
Chapter 10- The Leech and His
Patient

Chillingworth
o Used to be calm and upright and patient
 Is still patient, but it evil and morbid
o Has started an investigation


Leech (blood sucking)
 Trying to such the secret out of Dimmesdale
Miner (mining/questioning deeper into Dimmesdale’s
heart) looking for that precious diamond/secret
 “Gold” was rubbish to him; he wants the diamond
(secret)
 Doesn’t want people to find out he’s trying to figure
out Dimmesdale’s secret
 Has to be stealthy like a their entering a half-asleep
man’s chamber
Chapter 9- The Leech
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


Leech = latch on, such the life out of
Roger Chillingworth
o gives up old name/persona/life
o Why Chillingworth?
o Finds Hester publicly shamed when he arrived
 perhaps SHE changed him
 maybe SHE is the villain
o Used to be old/warn out
 brough back to life by his dark purpose (Satanic)
o cons society because they are naive; not used to educated men
 they view him as miraculous
 trust him blindly
Religion (Dimmesdale) vs Science (Chillingworth)
o Chillingworth choosesDimmesdale
 first saw Dimmesdale at the public shaming
 read between the lines when Dimmesdale gave speech--> he
plots
Dimmesdale
o hypocrite-- says he's "unworthy" yet doesn't help Hester
o looks emaciated now
o melancholy voice
o Pale
o puts hand over heart when ill
 same place as Hester's "A" (sympathetic pain/"A")
Needs faith to keep him upright--> it is his support ("iron
framework")
 Paradox: How can peace come from prison?
 IS HIS FAITH REAL OR JUST SOMETHING HE NEEDS
TO SURVIVE???
Society
o Small sect sees Chillingworth differently
o Mainstream Society (go with what they see)
o Sect (goes with their gut reaction or heart)
o

Chapter 8- The Elf Child and the
Minister
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

Hester
o Mother’s right to raise her
o Can teach Pearl what she’s learned from the A
o God sent her Pearl as a blessing AND a punishment
o Says she’d die before losing Pearl
o Final desperation act, turns to Dimmesdale
Pearl
o When questioned she:
 Ignores the question and stays silent
 Then says she was plucked from the prison rosebush
 She KNEW the answer, but CHOSE to answer this
way
 Has a tender moment with Dimmesdale
Dimmesdale
o Argues for Hester keeping Pearl
 God gave her Pearl
 Nothing holier than the relationship between a mother and
child
 Pearl will prevent Hester from sinning again
o All these reasons seems logical to the townspeople because he is a
Pastor
Chapter 7- The Governor's Hall
Chapter 6- Pearl

Pearl is…
o
Beautiful
 A “lovely and immortal flower” which came from a “guilty passion”
(50)
 No physical defect (51)
 “a native grace… faultless beauty” (51)
 wears the most beautiful clothes
 “There existed an absolute circle of radiance around her” (51)
 Has the “wild flower prettiness of a peasant-baby, and the pomp of
an infant princess” (51)
o
An outcast
 “God, as a direct consequence of the sin which man thus
punished, had given her a child, whose place was on that same
dishonored bosom…” (50)
 Pearl is described as a “consequence”, not a blessing
negative
 She is equal to the “A” her place is on Hester’s chest,
meaning her place is one of shame like the “A”
 “Pearl was born an outcast of the infantile world. An imp of evil,
emblem and product of sin, she had no right among christened
infants.” (54)
 She’ll never fit in with the others because she is born from
evil, whereas other kids are born good
 “Pearl… never sought to make acquaintance.” (55)
 She doesn’t try to get along with the other kids; she throws
stones and yells at them when they come near her
 She never creates a friend when she’s imagining (57)
o
Intelligent
 “Her mother, while Pearl was yet an infant, grew acquainted with a
certain peculiar look, that warned her when it would be labor
wasted to insist, persuade, or plead.” (53)
 Pearl lets Hester know to just leave her alone
 Creative; makes flowers, rags, sticks into her toys (55)
 She sees how cruel the world is
 “It was inexpressibly said—then what depth of sorrow to a
mother, who felt in her own heart the cause!—to observe, in
one so young, this constant recognition of an unfriendly
world…” (57)
 The first thing she notices is Hester’s “A” (58)
o
Evil/Demonic
 “She knew that her deed had been evil; she could have no faith,
therefore, that its result would be good.” (50)

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
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

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Her deed = Adultery (a sin)
The result = Pearl
Pearl cannot be good because the action which made her
(adultery) was an evil act; good cannot come from evil
 But I wonder… can goodness sometimes come from evilness?
Or does evil only create more evil?
“The child could not be made amenable to rules. In giving her
existence, a great law had been broken…” (51)
 She would not follow rules
 Her birth broke a major rule do not commit adultery… so
by her very nature, she is a rule-breaker
“Her mother’s impassioned state had been the medium through
which were transmitted to the unborn infant the rays of its moral
life…” (52)
 Pearl’s morality comes from Hester’s sin
o Therefore, Pearl is NOT moral because she comes
from sin
“She could recognize her wild, desperate, defiant mood, the
flightiness of her temper, and even some of the very cloud-shapes
of gloom and despondency that had brooded in her heart.” (52)
 Hester sees herself in Pearl
 Can’t control her
o “… the task was beyond her skill. After testing both
smiles and frowns, and proving that neither mode of
treatment possessed any great influence, Hester was
finally compelled to stand aside, and permit the child
to be swayed by her own impulses.” (52)
“It was a look so intelligent, yet inexplicable, so perverse,
sometimes so malicious, but generally accompanied by a wild flow
of spirits, that Hester could not help but questioning, at such
moments, whether Pearl were human.” (53)
 Pearl seems more like a devil than a human child
“… the mother felt like one who has evoked a spirit but, by some
irregularity in the process of conjuration, has failed to win the
master-word that should control this new and incomprehensible
intelligence. (54)
 Hester has created this evil monster but she is unable to
control it
“Her only real comfort was when the child lay in the placidity of
sleep.” (54)
“It appalled her, nevertheless, to discern here, again, a shadowy
reflection of the evil that had existed in herself.” (55)
 Hester sees her own evil in Pearl
 Shadowy reflection = EVIL/sin
She makes the “A” harder for Hester to bare
 “Again, as if her mother’s agonized gesture were meant only
to make sport for her, did little Pearl look into her eyes, and
smile!” (58)


o
“… she fancied that she beheld, not her own miniature portrait,
but another face, in the small black mirror of Pearl’s eyes. It was a
face, fiend-like, full of smiling malice… It was as if an evil spirit
possessed the child, and had just then peeped forth in mockery.”
(59)
 Pearl seems to be possessed by an evil spirit
“‘I have no Heavenly Father’” (60)
Named “Pearl” because she is Hester’s only treasure
 Hester paid the ultimate price for Pearl she gave up her life for
Pearl
 Technically, it was HER decision…
Chapter 5- Hester at Her Needle
Chapter 4- The Interview
Chapter 3- The Recognition
Chapter 2- The Market Place

Puritan Society
o Very rigid and strict
o In any other society, the stern faces would've meant something
terrible; in this society it is normal
o Crimes include: children who don't follow instructions, following a
different religious belief, being too noisy in the streets, witchcraft,
etc.
o Punishments: whippings, hangings, being kicked out of town,
public shame, DEATH
 public humiliation was used for a few reasons:
 1) to make an example out of the criminal
 2) to instill fear into those watching to prevent them
from acting out
o Women
 very catty and judgmental towards Hester
 Think it would've been better if they punished Hester
instead of the men (she wouldn't have gotten off so easy)
 Thinks she should've been branded with a hot iron on her
forehead
 "This woman brought shame upon us all and ought to die"
(7)
they want her to truly suffer for her crime
thinks she will corrupt the other women and children
in the town
think her "A" is too pretty to be a punishment


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
Hester
o Beautiful!!
 tall, dark, shiny hair, rich complexion, deep black eyes, very
ladylike
 everyone expects her to come out looking terrible; "her
beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and
shame in which she was enveloped." (8)
o Carrying her daughter, Pearl
 Pearl seems to be born into darkness
 she turns away from the light as if she's never seen it
 3 months old
 she is a "child of darkness"---> foreshadowing her
future darkness?
 Tries to hide her scarlet letter by covering it with Pearl
 Ironic, because Pearl is proof of her adultery... Pearl
IS the scarlet letter

Chapter 1- The Prison Door




Massachusetts Bay Colony
Right outside the prison door
o dark imagery- "sad-colored garments", "gray steeple-crowned
hats", "door... heavily timbered with oak", "studded with iron
spikes"
o door seems heavy and authoritative... a thick barrier
Colony was supposed to be a Utopia (perfect socciety)
o first created a cemetery and prison
 death and crime are inevitable
 ironic because crime should not exist in a perfect society
Prison
o only twenty years old, but looked much older
o gloomy front, weatherstained, rusted
o "Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a
youthful era."
 crime always existed, and always will exist
oftentimes with criminals, we forget their youth and only see
them as criminals
 the door never seemed "new"... it always seemed old,
beaten, worn out
o weeds surrounding it
 appropriate setting, because weeds constrict and kill other
plants
 more dark and controlling imagery
o one rosebush amid the weeds
 fragrance and beauty is a sign of hope for those entering
prison
 it's a final sign of beauty for those condemned to look at
when leaving the prison
Rosebush
o symbol
o "given" to the reader
 a "sweet moral blossom" (hope, positivity, moral=lesson)
OR
 it will "relieve the darkening close of a tale of human
weakness and sorrow" (an unfortunate tale/ending;
negative)

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