Chapter 23: The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter
NARRATOR: The minister finished the last words of the Election Sermon, and the
people gushed forth from the church, talking about how awesome their minister was. He
had given the Best Sermon Ever, and its subject was how the white people chosen to
settle America were blessed by God and better than everyone else.
DIMMESDALE: I also mentioned that I (really, like every other mortal) was going to die
soon.
NARRATOR: Everyone thought he was such an angel. As they left the church to go to
the banquet in the town hall, he bowed his head till it touched the cushions of the pulpit, a
perfect representation of how he was at the highest point of his career. And Hester was
still outside, standing by the scaffold with the bright red A on her chest.
MS. SCHULTZ (rolls eyes): More totally obvious symbolism.
NARRATOR: As the people got to the marketplace, the impulse to express their
enthusiasm about the minister’s speech overtook them, and a spontaneous cheer went up.
It was the loudest cheer ever heard in New England. The people who were still left in the
church were certain they could see a halo around Dimmesdale’s head. Dimmesdale
looked awful, however, now that the speech was over.
JOHN WILSON: Here, I’ll help you, take my arm.
DIMMESDALE (pushing his arm away): NO.
NARRATOR: The minister kept walking by himself, with everyone following, until he
got outside by the scaffold. Even Governor Bellingham had left his place in the
procession to make sure the minister was okay. The minister stopped in front of the
scaffold.
DIMMESDALE (holding out his arms): Come here, Hester! Come her, my little Pearl!
PEARL (wrapping her arms around his legs): Yay!
NARRATOR: There was this weird look on Dimmesdale’s face – awful and yet loving at
the same time – and Hester felt powerless to stop herself from moving toward it. But then
Chillingworth, from somewhere in the crowd, stepped between them.
CHILLINGWORTH: What are you doing? Get this dirty woman and child off of you!
I’ll save you! Don’t blacken your name and your profession!
DIMMESDALE: Old man, you’re not the boss of me anymore. I will escape you now.
Hester, come take my hand, and give me the strength to do what I should have done
seven years ago. Help me up on the scaffold!
NARRATOR: The crowd went crazy with confusion as the minister, Hester, and Pealr
went up on the scaffold, with Chillingworth following.
CHILLINGWORTH: You chose the one place on earth, this scaffold, that you could
escape me.
DIMMESDALE: Thanks be to God who led me here! (turning to Hester) Isn’t this better
than what we thought of in the forest.
HESTER: Um – sure, because this way could lead to both of our deaths and Pearl’s?
What a great idea.
DIMMESDALE: I’m a dying man anyway, I want to confess!
NARRATOR: So there he stood, holding Pearl’s hand and partially supported by Hester,
with the sun shining right down on him. The people were appalled, yet filled with tearful
sympathy, as they knew an important life-secret of the minister was about to be laid in
front of them.
DIMMESDALE: People of New England! You have loved me! You have said I was
holy! And I am the world’s only sinner, the baddest of the badasses! Seven years ago, I
should have stood on this scaffold with this woman, whose arm is now the only strength
that supports me, because without her I would crawl instead. You have mocked her
scarlet letter! You’ve been awful to her as she walked among you. But there is one
among you whose brand of shame you never knew!
NARRATOR: It seemed as though the minister wasn’t going to be able to finish. But he
threw off his physical problems – and more importantly, the weakness of his heart – and
moved alone a step in front of Hester and Pearl.
DIMMESDALE: The brand was on him! God knew it was there. The angels kept
pointing at it. The Devil knew it was there; he kept pointing his fiery finger at it. But the
man walked among you, hiding it from everyone. Now here I am, at my death-hour,
about to show you that on my chest is a shadow of the red A on Hester’s! Judge me!
Look at this thing!
NARRATOR: And he ripped open his shirt, and everyone gasped and stared, and he sank
to the ground. Hester tried to support his head.
CHILLINGWORTH (as he leaves): You’ve escaped me! You’ve escaped me! You’ve
escaped me!
DIMMESDALE: God forgive you. You too have deeply sinned.
NARRATOR: He took his dying eyes off of Chillingworth and looked at Hester and
Pearl.
DIMMESDALE: Pearl, will you kiss me now? You wouldn’t in the forest.
NARRATOR: Pearl kissed him,. And the spell was broken. Her time as the symbol of
shame for her mother was over, and she was free to grow up with the normal experiences
of joy and grief.
DIMMESDALE: Bye, Hester.
HESTER: But won’t we meet again? Don’t you think after all of this suffering, that we
have earned the right to spend our immortal lives together? Can you see heaven yet?
DIMMESDALE: Hush. Of course not. Let me just focus on our sin right now as I die.
God punished me with this mark on my chest and by sending me Chillingworth and
making me die here in front of the people. If I hadn’t had all of these punishments I’d for
sure be going to hell, but we’ll see. God’s will be done! See ya!
NARRATOR: And he died, and the crowd let out a huge rumble of wonder and awe to
accompany his spirit wherever it was going.
Chapter 24: Conclusion
NARRATOR: People had all sorts of stories about what they’d seen that day. Most said
they had seen a bright red A in the flesh of Dimmesdale’s chest. Some said that they day
that Hester was released from prison, Dimmesdale had gotten a cattle brand and
imprinted the A himself. Some said that it had come later, when Chillingworth had made
it appear by giving Dimmesdale drugs. The most religious among them said that it was
made by the tooth of remorse, gnawing out from the heart inside.
HESTER: There were other people who claimed that they had kept their eyes on the
minister the whole time, and that they had seen nothing on his skin at all, that it was as
fresh and clean as a newborn baby’s. These people also said that the minister had said
nothing specifically in his speech about himself and could have just generally been
talking about anyone who was the baby daddy and how that guy must have suffered.
These people wanted to keep believing in Dimmesdale’s purity.
NARRATOR: After the minister’s death, Chillingworth fell apart, and was dead within
the year. It was interesting that the hatred in one and shame in the other that had sustained
them both for so long seemed to be the same force keeping them alive.
HESTER: The crazy part is that he left his money to Pearl.
NARRATOR: Hester and Pearl disappeared for many years, and the scarlet letter grew
into a legend. After a long time though, Hester came back, and moved back into the same
cottage – but she was alone. Everyone wondered where Pearl was, and if she had lived to
grow up. Hester never said a word, but got letters from somewhere foreign, and beautiful
gifts that came from somewhere else, and at one point was seen sewing adorable baby
clothes.
HESTER: They didn’t deserve to know, so I kept quiet.
NARRATOR: Gossips said that Pearl was alive, married, and having kids of her own,
and would have happily had her mother live with her – but Hester was drawn to this area
of New England, and didn’t want to live anywhere else.
HESTER: Here had been my real life, where I had loved and sinned, and known joy and
grief. Here was his body too, too. I kept the scarlet letter on – I kind of liked it, after all of
those years.
NARRATOR: And when Hester died, as an old woman, she was buried next to an old
grave. The shame that had long been attached to her must have been mostly gone,
because she was buried in a cemetery meant for important members of the community,
like governors and magistrates. The old grave was sunken, and there was a space between
her body and his, as if their dust must not mingle. But one headstone went in for both
bodies, and the only thing on it was a red letter A on a dark background.
THE
FREAKIN’
END