Hester is shocked by Dimmesdale’s deteriorating condition and his fear of Chillingworth

She resolves to tell Dimmesdale the true identity of Chillingworth – it is a matter of conscience

First she will tell Chillingworth what she plans to do

Chapter 13 – Another View of Hester

From her many months (years, in fact) in “seclusion from society” Hester measures

right from wrong by her own standards rather than society’s.

Because Dimmesdale was her partner in crime, her obligation is to him more than anyone else

“The links that united her to the rest of human kind…had all been broken.”

The community begins to see Hester in another light because of the following reasons

Hester accepted her fate, never complained, never battled or fought back, and “did not weigh on the sympathies” of the community

She continued to give to the poor and needy and render her gifts no matter how the recipient reacted, “even though the bitter-hearted pauper threw back a gibe in requital of the food brought regularly to his door”

“Human nature loves more than it hates”

She came, not as a guest, but as a rightful inmate, into the household that was darkened by trouble”

Her letter A, “elsewhere a token of sin, the taper of the sick-chamber”

Hester’s nature, “warm and rich; a well spring of human tenderness”

“Her breast, with its badge of shame, was but the softer pillow for the head that needed one”

“self-ordained Sister of Charity”“They said it meant Able; so strong was Hester

Prynne, with a woman’s strength”

“The letter was the symbol of her calling”

“The rulers, and the wise and learned men of the communtiy, were longer in acknowledging the influence of Hester’s good qualities that the people

Most, looked upon the scarlet letter as a token of her good deeds

Justice

A cross on a nun’s bosomA kind of sacredness which enabled her to

walk securely amid all perilRumor: “an Indian had drawn his arrow

against the badge, and that the missile struck it, but fell harmless to the around

Protection

“the light and graceful foliage of her character had withered away”

“even the attractiveness of her person had undergone a similar change”

austerity of her dressrich and luxuriant hair – hidden by her cap or

cut off…”not a shining lock of it ever once gushed into the sunshine”

Physical Changes in Hester

Nothing in her face for Love to dwell onPassion would never dream of clasping its

embraceBosom will never again be the “pillow of

Affection”Cause: experience of severity; softness

would have killed herSurviving all these years means the

tenderness was crushed out of her or pushed so deep into her heart that it can never show itself

Loss of Femininity

“no longer anything in Hester’s face for Love to dwell upon;

“nothing in Hester’s form, though majestic and statue like, that Passion would ever dream of clasping in its embrace;

“nothing in Hester’s bosom, to make it ever again the pillow of Affection.”

PALS – Hester’s lack of human contact and love

Passion and feeling vs thoughtIndependence – cast away the fragments of

the broken chainWorld’s law was no law for her mindAssumed a freedom of speculationHand in hand with Ann Hutchinson

Hester’s acquired freedom of thought

What does it mean that Hester had “ceased to be” a woman? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

Short Answer: Chapter 13

Changes to Chillingworth:Grown older- though seemed to retain his v\wiry

vigor and alertnessThe quiet, calm, studious nature was replaced by

“an eager, searching, almost fierce, yet carefully guarded look.

“Masked his expression with a smile” but you could “see his blackness”

“glare of red light out of his eyes; as if …his soul were on fire

“transformed himself into a devil” Heart full of torture; adding fuel to the fire by “gloating”

“transformed a wise and just man to a fiend”

Chapter 14 Hester and the Physician

“You search his thoughts. You burrow and rankle in his heart!”

“Your clutch is on his life, and you cause him to die daily a living death;”

End result of Chillingworth’s revenge ( Hester says to Chillingworth:)

Admits that his revenge has turned him into a fiend

He blames Dimmsdale for his behavior

Hester at her wit’s end – pessimistic:“there is no good for him(Dimmsdale),- no

good for me, - no good for thee (Chillingworth)! There is no good for Pearl! There is no path to guide us out of this dismal maze!

Chillingworth defends his actions

“Let the black flower blossom as it may!”“It is our fate.”

Chillingworth again places the blame upon Hester: “By thou first step awry, thou didst plant the germ of evil.”

Agree or Disagree

Chillingworth’s Final Response

“Be it sin or no, ‘I hate the man’”“He betrayed me! He has done me worse

wrong than I did him!”

Hester is at a turning point – depressed and feeling trapped in a no-win situation, she expresses her frustration towards Chillingworth

Chapter 15

Pearl: dresses as a mermaid with “the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother’s”

Pearl understands not what the A stands for but the connection between Hester’s A and Dimmesdale,”It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!”

Pearl’s A made from seaweed is ‘green’ think about the significance of that color

Hester does not tell Pearl the truth about the letter, “I wear it for the sake of the gold thread”

First time Hester was “false to the symbol on her breast

Pearl’s fascination with the Scarlet A

Remembrances of her marriage to Chillingworth, “among the ugliest”

Marvelled, “ever been wrought up to marry him!”

“A fouler offence committed by R Chillingworth…persuaded her to fancy herself happy by his side”

The emotion of that brief space…”shed a dark light on Hester’s state of mind, revealing much that she might not otherwise have acknowledged to herself

Hester’s Awakening

Pearl: “Mother the sunshine does not love you. It runs away from you….it is afraid if something on your bosom

The symbols of the forest and the sunshine:The forest is dark/gloomy/black/the blackman

or devil lives thereThe sun shine only peeps through the heavy

foliage of the trees. Pearl chases the light as it moves through the

swaying of the trees.

Chapter 16 – A Forest Walk

Pearl plays with the sunlight – she lets it catch her; the light “lingered about the lonely child”

As Hester reaches her hand into the “magic circle” of light the sunshine vanished;

It “danced” on Pearl’s features; Pearl “absorbs” the light into herself; the result: “a sense of new and untransmitted vigor

Pearl and the Sunshine

Pearl is obsessed with the scarlet A. She sees it as a rite of passage: “I wear nothing on my bosom yet”

She hope to wear the A as a woman like her mother

She wants to know what it means and why her mother wears it.

Pearl has been told by some of the wicked townswomen that the “Blackman” placed it on her mother’s chest – “that it glows like a red flame when thou meetest him at midnight here in the dark wood.”

An A for Pearl?

Pearl has been told by some of the wicked townswomen that the “Blackman” placed it on her mother’s chest

Hester explains to Pearl: “ Once in my life I met the Black Man!” “This scarlet letter is his mark”

Explain the metaphor.

Hester’s metaphor representing her fall from grace:

At the end of Ch 16 a detailed description of Dimmsdale ‘s current physical and mental condition:

“haggard and feeble” “a nerveless despondency in his air” “listlessness in his gait” “would have been glad to fling himself down at the root of the nearest tree”

Dimmsdale at the end of Ch 16