Chapter 11 – The interior of a Heart
Minister Dimmesdale is obviously suffering guilt for hiding
his sin and the truth: an adulterer and the father of little Pearl, and he longs to admit it
to his congregation. But he is a coward!
Shame brings Dimmesdale to the same scaffold where Hester and
Pearl stood on display only several years ago, but he voluntarily goes in the
darkness of night when no one sees or even hears him when he cries out;
however, that same night, Governor Winthrop has died, and Hester is there
taking measurements for his burial gown, when she and Pearl walk up to the
scaffold on their way home. Dimmesdale
invites them up, but he refuses Pearl’s request that they stand together at
noontime, and as Chillingworth is also passing after being at the bedside of
Winthrop, the author acknowledges that Pearl knows this secret about
Chillingworth, too, though she is not allowed to tell it. Chillingworth is seething, but must keep
himself under control, and he takes the weary minister to his home.
Chapter 13 – Another View of Hester
For her selfless service to the poor, sick, and needy, the
common people are beginning to see the “A” on Hester's chest to represent “Able” as
opposed to “Adulterer,” but Hester herself has become hardened: she questions
womanhood in her puritan society. The
author finally says it: Chillingworth is Hester’s former husband, and Hester is
about to meet with him in the hopes of saving Dimmesdale from what
Chillingworth is so eager to do to him.
Chapter 14 – Hester and the Physician
At the meeting with Chillingworth, he tells Hester that the
town fathers are considering removing the letter, but she replies that man
cannot remove it; only Providence. She
also suggests that Chillingworth reveal himself to Dimmesdale, but Chillingworth
has also become so hardened in his heart, that he calls himself a fiend. Hester wonders why he has not avenged himself
on her alone, and he admits that he left the scarlet letter to do the work;
Hester confesses it has.
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