Scarlet Letter Chapter Summary

Chillingworth’s desire for revenge for Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter greatly conflicts his moral duty as a self-proclaimed physician in Puritan Boston. This revenge began once Chillingworth suspected Dimmesdale of having intimate relations with Hester, although he never confronted him. Dimmesdale’s physical and mental health began to deteriorate once Chillingworth relentlessly tormented him, conveying the significance behind internal guilt and poor external health. It was also quite ironic how Chillingworth was seen as Dimmesdale’s mentor to the public, and although he was a physician whose friend was in failing health, his credibility was never questioned. This revenge was fueled by the betrayal of Hester, who was Chillingworth’s wife before he claimed a new identity and persona. According to Chillingworth, Dimmesdale could never suffer enough for what he’d done unless he’d faced it publicly, but once he did, Chillingworth had nothing to motivate his devious acts. The repugnant acts committed by Chillingworth claiming to be provoking Dimmesdale’s confession are absolutely influential to his failing health and significance in the book, "Better had he died at once! Never

The three Items that Jeremy and Lizzy delivered where the book to Ms. Billingsley, the lamp to Mr. Rudolph, and the telescope to Mr. Grady. All of these Items are very special to these people, they mean something very important to them.

Alexis Byrd 20 August 2015 The Scarlet Letter, chapters 1-4 Plot 1. Pgs. 55-59- In Massachusetts Bay Colony, the narrator starts telling us about the town.

Hawthorne's Hester Prynne is the underdog protagonist that the reader cannot help but want to succeed. She is flawed but her flaws are outshone by her good heart and spirit. This shamed and humiliated woman is the one the reader, with the help of Hawthorne’s descriptions, wants to support. This sinful woman, with a child from wedlock, a diabolical “husband”, and a secretive lover is the motivating force that drives the reader to continue on with The Scarlet Letter. The language, descriptions, and plot of The Scarlet Letter show that Hawthorne believes the reader should look past gender stereotypes because not everything is what is

In spite of that, what makes her the protagonist of the story is how she is able to overcome her punishment that was meant to give her shame. Throughout Chapter 13 of the book, Hawthorne shows how Hester’s confidence has developed in herself and in view of the town, most noticeably when considering the meaning of the scarlet letter, “Such helpfulness was found in her ... that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength,” (Hawthorne 107). Instead of subjecting to the shame that was forced upon her, she grew above it, conveying a different aspect of the theme of guilt, which is redemption. This is not to say that Hester did not care about the sin she committed, as she is very much reminded of it every day of her life while living with the child of that sin. In fact, the author addresses this by saying, “In giving her existence a great law had been broken; and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder,” (Hawthorne 60). Hawthorne is implying how Pearl represents the outcome of a sin and arranged it so that Hester is always living with that sin, therefore, always being reminded of the shame she is supposed to

Within The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne uses symbolism, “the use of symbols to represent ideas” (Bell 10), affluently. The amount of symbolism Hawthorne uses could lead some to believe that The Scarlet Letter is in fact an allegory. Nearly every object in Hawthorne’s novel is symbolic. Hawthorne uses everyday objects and places to symbolize many main themes, concepts, and ideas in the lives of Hester and Pearl as well as multiple other main characters.

Later, we also see this effect of Hester's motherly responsibilities toward Pearl as Hawthorne reflects upon how Hester might have turned out. Pearl had never "come to her from the spiritual world. " (Hawthorne 151) He remarks that without Pearl, she would have been a radical or a dissenter like Anne Hutchinson, driven by her unquieted passionate nature, undermining Puritan beliefs, and eventually being put to death for her actions. However, Hester did not face a dissenter's death, for she conformed humbly and quietly to Puritan society, as was best for Pearl. Also, as these feelings of loving duty toward her child worked on Hester's heart over time, they spread to others as well as Pearl, for Hester began to show a Wind of motherly love and service to the poor and needy--sewing garments for others without pay, nursing the ill and infirm, and bestowing

Hester is released from prison and finds a cottage in the woods, near the outskirts of the city, to set up her new life. Hawthorne comments on the fact that she does not avail herself of the opportunity to escape to a new life without shame in some other city. He remarks that often people are irresistibly drawn to live near the place where a great has occurred. He further comments that even if that is not the reason, Hester may have been inclined to remain in Boston because her secret lover still lived there.

Hawthorne shows the reader how cruel the Puritan way of life is and how their punishment takes away Hester and Pearl’s joy in life. “But the first object of which Pearl seemed to become aware was the scarlet letter on Hester’s bosom! One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant’s eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter, and putting up her little hand, she grasped at it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam.” Pearl is a constant reminder for Hester of her sin and she’ll never be able to escape the Puritan

The man asks a fellow member of the community “Who is this woman? - and wherefore is she here set up to public shame” (Hawthorne 55)? He responds to him and says this woman has committed the worst sin in the Puritan belief and she will be publicly shamed until she has a letter A carved upon her tombstone. This man is shocked by how the townspeople treat sin and their punishment for the sinners. The scarlet letter causes many problems for Hester as the readers see throughout the chapters. “I can teach my little Pearl what I have learned from this” (Hawthorne 99)!

Hawthorne’s presentation of Pearl can be defined as ‘the sin child’ and profane product of the fall from grace of Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. The author refers to her as the ‘the scarlet letter endowed with life’ (Hawthorne 90) and is seemingly the living likeliness of the letter. Incongruously, Pearls looks more like the Hester before the scaffold. The story depicts extreme repression of Puritan patriarchy where Pearl becomes the target of the attempts of the Puritans to control the literary, historical expression as well as human sexuality. The text thus comes out as a dramatization of a relationship between whose child Pearl is and questions regarding the interpretation of the letter. As such, one of the ways that Hawthorne makes it relevant is through the validity and supremacy of the doubt within the community regarding the child where he represents it as a separate investigation into its own significant

At the scene of Hester’s public shaming, Hawthorne describes Hester’s punishment as vicious and demoralizing. By comparing society’s treatment of Hester to “stings and venomous stabs,” Hawthorne dramatizes the effects of the public shaming on not only Hester’s physical self, but also her mental one. The town’s hurtful actions are meant to torment Hester, and shun her for going against a societal norm. The townspeople’s actions can be described as methodical, since they are all lead astray their own idea of moral righteousness by the imposed common norm that a sinner must be severely punished. Hawthorne conveys to the reader that the punishers and their followers have a utopian idea of society, which is bound to be defied by those, such as Hester, but unlike Dimmesdale, who are unwilling to face torturous punishment to accept the fact that human sin is inevitable.

This ridicule has a trickle down effect on Hester as she too is banished from her own community for committing adultery. The comparison between Hester and Hawthorne defines the external struggle for the reader to fully understand the effect of opinions from society on them Although reluctant to allow Hester to leave prison, the members of the town suggest that her punishment be to wear a scarlet red letter A on her bosom, thereby allowing all to know of her crime. The scarlet letter “ was red-hot with infernal fire, ” (Hawthorne 81) and defined the state she was currently in, that being eternal hell. Though she was forced to marry an older man at a young age, her rebellion to have an affair is not seen as an internal struggle that she overcame; rather, it is merely seen as a woman who sinned, a woman who shall therefore endure the punishment for the sin, rather than a woman who was never given a say in what she wanted with her life. Time and again, Hester Prynne is seen defying society by allowing herself to stand out from societal norm just as the roses “with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner“ (Hawthorne) did. Instead, she returns to the community and is observed aiding those in need, all with seven year old Pearl by her side.

‘It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!’”(142). So Pearl is considered as the Scarlet Letter’s message conveyer and the letter’s personification; and she was also its prey. Her unfair treatment was in being deprived of a actuality of her own personality. At that instant when Pearl,s personality becomes genuine authentic and true, even so—when her duty to Hester is satisfied—she stoped to be a moral fiber in the tale.

In chapter 2 of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the Puritan society and their punishments to show how far they demand and their critical attitude towards sins and repentance. Through the use of archetypal imagery Hester Prynne is portrayed as a heroine.