The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter
Introduction-Chapter
1
Introduction: The
first forty-four pages written by the author tell about his life working at the
Custom House in Salem Massachusetts. During his time of employment there, he
discovers some records in the attic and begins to piece together the story of
Hester Prynne, an adulterous man in Puritan Salem. The Scarlet Letter is his
account of the story with as many facts as he, the author, was able to gather
from the documents he found. Chapter 1:
Hawthorn’s first chapter is short, detailing the set up of colonial Salem. He
talks of the town and how essential prisons and cemeteries are in the
organization. Next to the steps of the Salem prison is a rosebush that has
survived centuries and Hawthorn says this bush gives comfort with it’s beauty
to the people who enter and leave the establishment.
Chapter 2: A town
meeting is taking place and the people of the town, mainly the women, are
gathered for the release of the adulteress, Hester Prynne. She steps out of the
prison with the town beadle leading her with his hand on her shoulder. Hawthorn
describes her as beautiful with a very proud stature that does not cower to the
crowd of disdain that surrounds her. On her chest she bears the scarlet letter
‘A’ that is surrounded by shining gold thread upon a gown that scandalizes the
women of the town.
Clutched close to
her breast is the child that was produced by her adultery and the apparent
reason she was not more harshly punished for her crime. She stood there under
public scrutiny, not with a look of shame but almost bewilderment that her life
had panned out as it had.
Chapter 3: Mistress
Prynne is placed upon the pillory for three hours so all can see her shame. As
she is standing there with her babe, she notices a new man in town along with
an Indian. From the moment she sees him, she cannot take her eyes from him. An
angry look quickly flashes across the man’s face at the sight of her and he
inquires to the town person next to him why the woman is made to stand upon the
pillory. Both the man and the readers are informed that Mistress Prynne was
married to a man who has not yet returned from the Netherlands where they
sailed from to New England.
Because she was so long away from her husband,
it is obvious that he was not the father of her child. The man asked of her
sentence, and of the man who did father the child and the town’s person told
him that the father is not known. The Governor of the town who is standing on a
higher platform then appeals to the Reverend Dimmesdale to extract the name of
father from Mistress Prynne. After an emotional plea to Mistress Prynne, she
still refuses to state the name of the father of her child, and states that her
child has only a heavenly father.
Chapter 4: When
Mistress Prynne was returned to the prison, she was in such mental disarray
that the jailer, Master Brackett, decided to call in the physician. Roger
Chillingworth, Hester’s real husband, introduces himself as the physician for
Mistress Prynne and as soon as he enters the room, she goes perfectly still.
Mr. Chillingsworth was the same man who she saw when she was on the pillory. He
began to examine the baby and Hester expresses her concern that he will hurt
the child as revenge on her.
They talk about their failed marriage, and how
there was never love between them, and Roger tells her not to reveal to anyone
who he really was. After giving her a draught to calm her, he asks her who the
father of the child was. Again, as she did when asked by the Reverend, she
refuses to give the name of the father. At her refusal, he tells her that he
will find out who the man is and that she not breathe a word of his identity to
anyone.
Chapter 5: Hester
was released from prison and free to go wherever she wished. Instead of fleeing
the town she moved to a little cottage outside of it, and supported herself
with her needlework. She sewed for many different people of the town but kept
herself in plain clothing, save the letter upon her bosom. She took all of the
passion of her life and used it to ply her needle. Much of her work she donated
to the poor as penance for her guilt. Although they all coveted her services,
she was still an outcast looked upon with malice and her sin burned deep in her
soul.
Chapter 6: Hester
named her child Pearl because she was her treasure in life. Pearl was beautiful
and intelligent, and had an air of a nymph about her. Even as a baby, the child
was fascinated by the scarlet letter Hester wore upon her breast. This was a
constant reminder for Hester of her sin. Pearl was a happy laughing child who
had a fiery passion and temper that made Hester and others wonder if she was a
demon with her black eyes. Everywhere Hester went Pearl went also. They had
only each other. Hester attempted to raise her daughter with Puritan values but
could not discipline her and Pearl held the strings on whether or not she did
what she was told. Chapter 7: Hester and Pearl went to the Governor
Bellingham’s house to deliver a pair of gloves she had embroidered for him. More
than the delivery, Hester was there to plead to be able to keep Pearl. The
people of the town thought that because of her sin, Hester was unfit to raise
her child. When she arrived to the house, the governor was with other gentleman
in the garden and they waited for a chance to speak with him. As they were
waiting, Pearl was examining a shining suit of armor and saw Hester in it. She
was delighted by the sight, and Hester’s image was lost behind the large shiny
red letter that was magnified by the polished armor.
Chapter 8: The
Governor, the pastor John Wilson, Reverend Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth
exited the garden to find their path blocked by the nymph Pearl. Struck by the
beauty of the scarlet clad child they ask her to whom she belongs. She answers
that she is Pearl, and her mother’s child. As they enter the hall, they see
Mistress Prynne and are happy that she has come so they can discuss what to do
with Pearl. Testing to see whether the child has been properly instructed so
far, the dotting John Winston asks young Pearl who made her. Pearl, though she
knew the correct answer was the Heavenly Father answered that she had been
plucked by her mother from the rose bush by the prison door.
The gentlemen were
appalled by the child’s answer and decided that Hester should not raise her
further. Hester was angry with this and pleaded Reverend Dimmesdale who knew
she was capable of guiding the child spiritually to let her keep Pearl. She
argued that God gave her Pearl, and that they could not take away the only joy
that God gave her. After discussing it further among themselves, with the
Reverend giving an impassioned plea for Hester, they decided to let her keep
Pearl. Hester was thankful, and she and Pearl left for home. Mr. Chillingworth
offered to figure out the identity of the father of the child, but his offer
was refused. As she leaves, Hester realizes that she would have sold her soul
to the devil if it meant she could keep her child.
Chapter 9: Since
his first appearance in town, the people looked on Roger Chillingworth as a
blessing. They were thankful that such a learned physician was given to them. As
time went on, Mr. Chillingworth and the Reverend Dimmesdale became very close. Though
he was young, the Reverend was growing sicker and sicker by the day and the
people of the town implored him to let the physician examine him. He refused
but continued to become closer and closer to the old man. After a while they
even began living together in the home of a respected matron of the town. As
time passed, the people began to look at Mr. Chillingworth differently however.
Instead of seeing a man sent from God to help them, they saw in his old
disfigured form, a servant of Satan that was sent to haunt the Reverend.
Chapter 10: Mr.
Chillingworth watched the Reverend searching him for the secret sin of his
soul. Searching for Hester’s lover became the secret purpose of his life and it
clouded his head and heart. Slowly he was trying to get the Reverend to confess
to the deed, and one afternoon began a discussion with him about unconfessed
sin and how it eats away at the soul. While they are talking, they see Hester
and Pearl in the cemetery. They look up at the men in the window and they
wonder if the mischevious nymph like, Pearl, is true evil. After the woman and
the child leave the cemetery, the men continue with their conversation.
Mr. Chillingworth accuses the Reverend that he
cannot cure him until he knows the pain upon his soul because that sin is part
of his bodily ailment. In a moment of passion, the Reverend blows up at him
telling him that he will reveal nothing to the earthly man and leaves the room.
This display of passion makes Mr. Chillingworth exceptionally pleased because
it brings him closer to finding out that his suspicions of Hester and the
Reverend are true.
Chapter 11: As the
days went by the Reverend Dimmesdale continued to be haunted more and more by
the sin upon his soul. He would look upon his companion the physician with
disgust and feel as if the black part of his heart was spilling over into the
rest of his life. The people of the town began to worship him more, saying he
was a wonderful and saintly young preacher. As they looked up to him with
greater fervor, he began to hate himself more. Many a time he stood on his
pulpit aching to tell them of his sin, release it from his heart. However, all
he could manage to say was that he was a terrible sinner, which only inspired
his congregation more because they saw him as virtually flawless. He fasted,
prayed, and kept vigils in order to purge himself, but the sin upon his soul
haunted him without end.
Chapter 12: It was
midnight and Reverend Dimmesdale was so tortured by his sin that he took
himself out and stood upon the scaffold that Hester had stood. He planned to
stay there all night suffering from his own shame. At one point he cried out
hoping in his mind to wake the whole town so they could see him standing there,
so his sin could finally be revealed and his mind eased. However, no one in the
town was awakened by his cry. At one point from his perch, he saw the Pastor
John Winston walking towards him, but the man was wrapped up tightly in his
cloak and did not notice the Reverend on the scaffold.
His mind wandered
to what he would look like in the morning when his body was frozen with cold,
and at the image of himself in his mind, he laughed. His laugh was returned by
a sprightly laugh in the darkness that was none other than Pearl’s. He cried
out to her in the night, and to Hester. They appeared having been out measuring
a robe for a man who had died that evening. At the Reverend’s request, they
came to stand upon the scaffold with him and they joined hands in their sin. Pearl
asked the Reverend repeatedly if he would come stand with them on the scaffold
the next day at noon, but the Dimmesdale refused. Out of the darkness, Mr.
Chillingworth appeared, and the Reverend spoke his fear and hatred of the man. He
asked who he really was, and because of her oath, Hester kept her silence. Pearl
whispered gibberish to him in revenge for him not standing with them the next
day on the scaffold. The Reverend looked up into the sky and saw a meteor trail
that looked like a large red ‘A’ leering at him. Mr. Chillingworth told him to
come home and he left the scaffold with the evilly happy physician.
Chapter 13: Seven
years had passed since little Pearl’s birth. The letter on Hester’s chest to
the village people had become a symbol of her good deeds. It set her apart from
the general population, but many looked on her as a sister of charity. When
someone was in need she was always the one by his or her side. Many people in
town said the A stood for able. She had changed. She was an empty form, void of
the passion and love that people were able to see in her before.
Her luxurious hair was always hidden from the
sight of the people. After the minister’s vigil, Hester found a new cause for
sacrifice, a new purpose. She decided to talk to the old physician, her former
husband, and try to save his victim from further mental torture. After making
her decision, she came upon him as he was walking the peninsula.
Chapter 14: Hester
instructed Pearl to go run and play and she went to a pool and saw herself
there. Hester accosted Mr. Chillingworth and he began telling her of all the
good things the people in the town had said about her. The leaders in the town
at the last council meeting had even thought about admitting Hester to take the
letter off her bosom. Hester told him that if the Lord meant her to take it off
her chest that it would have fallen off long ago. While they began talking, Hester
took a good look at him. In the past seven years he had aged well, but there
was a strikingly different look about him. He wore a guarded look of an eager
angry man who was out for revenge.
They
began talking about the minister and Mr. Chillingworth reveals that had it not
been for his care, the minister would have died long ago. Hester asks if he has
not had enough revenge since he was able to torture the minister every day by
burying into his heart. He answers no, that it will never be enough. Hester
tells him that she plans on revealing his secret to the minister and he tells
her that neither of them are sinful and evil, they just must lead the lives
that they were given because of her sin. They say farewell, and Hester leaves
him to gathering herbs.
Chapter 15: Hester
watches him for a while from a distance disgusted at the evil she sees in him. She
turns to find little Pearl who was playing with all the different things in
nature. When Pearl goes back to her mother, Hester sees that the child has made
a letter A out of seaweed and placed it on her chest. Hester asks the child if
she knows what the letter her mother wears means. Pearl answers that it is the
same reason the minister keeps his hand over his chest.
That is all she
knows however, and she asks earnestly why she wears the scarlet letter, and why
the minister places his hand over his heart. Ever since she was little, Pearl
had a certain fascination with the letter that tortured her mother even more. Hester
decided it was better to not unburden her sin upon her child and told her
daughter that it meant nothing. After that day however, Pearl would ask her
mother two or three times a day what the scarlet letter meant.
Chapter 16: :
Hester learned that the Minister had gone into the woods to visit a friend who
lived among the Indians. She learned when he was expected to return, and when
the day came, she and Pearl went into the forest so she could catch him on his
return and speak with him in private. As they enter the forest, Pearl says that
she can stand in the sunlight, but the sunlight runs away from Hester. In
response, Hester reaches out to touch the stream of light that flocks around
the little elf-child, and it vanishes when her hand comes near. Pearl then asks
her mother for a story about the black man who inhabits the forest, which she
over heard a woman the previous evening talking about. Pearl said that people
went into the forest and signed the Black man’s book with their blood and that
she heard the scarlet letter was the black man’s mark on her mother. They
traveled into the deep into the forest and stopped next to a little brook that
Pearl began playing around. After a while, they saw the Reverend Dimmesdale
come walking slowly down the path, and Hester tells Pearl to run and play.
Chapter 17: Hester
calls out to the Minister and he instantly straightens up and looks towards
her. He finds out it is she and they inquire on how their lives have been in
the last seven years. They sit down together on a log, and ask each other if
they have found peace. The minister expresses his sadness and how he feels like
a hypocrite teaching others to be holy, when he himself has a terrible hidden
sin. Hester tries to help him by talking with him and caring for him. He thanks
her for her friendship. She then tells him of Roger Chillingsworth, how he is
her husband, and out for revenge. Dimmesdale is horrified but knew that
something was wrong with Roger Chillingworth. Hester could not take the frown
that descended upon his face, and asked him if he forgave her. He has, and she
asks if he remembers what they had. She hints that they once had a great
passion and affection for each other. Hester talks of them leaving together. Arthur
says he has not the strength to travel that far, but with Hester helping him,
they thought they could do it.
Chapter 18:
Together they decide to leave the New World together and not torture themselves
further with their sin so that only God will judge them. To them, they are
damned already. Hester unhooks her scarlet letter and tosses it by the bubbling
brook. They make plans together and say that they will leave for England on the
ship that is in the harbor. Talking of their love and their plans, they call
back Pearl, for once happy and with lifted spirits. Pearl is off in the forest
playing and interacting with the animals. When they call her back, Pearl comes
slowly when she sees them sitting together.
Chapter 19: They sat there looking at Pearl as
she approached. She had adorned herself with wild flowers and looked like a
fairy child. They rejoiced in their child as she came towards him, and Arthur
was exceptionally afraid and anxious for the interview. Pearl stopped at the
brook and stared at them. The child pointed at her mother with a frown. Hester
called out to her harshly to come and Pearl began screaming and throwing a
tantrum. Hester realized that the child was upset that her scarlet letter was
not affixed to her mother’s breast. She walked over to where it lay on the
ground and showed it to the child. She pinned it back into place, and Pearl was
pacified and happy again. They approached the minister and the three of them
held hands, and they tried to explain to her that they were all going to be a
happy family. The minister kissed Pearl’s forehead and she ran quickly to the
brook to try to wash it away.
Chapter 20: Arthur
Dimmesdale walked home happily. For the first time in seven years, there was a
bounce in his step and a light in his hurting heart. O
n
his way, he saw some of his parishioners and he had thoughts of corruption on
his mind. He thought about the reaction he would get if he whispered corrupting
things in their ears. There are three different people he runs into in which he
feels this. He resists the temptation to do this, and wonders why he is having
these thoughts. He wonders if he signed the black man’s book in the forest with
his blood. He runs into a woman known as the town witch, and she tells him the
next time he wants to go into the forest she would go with him. When he arrives
home, Mr. Chillingworth comes into his room, and the Reverend refuses to take
anymore of his medicine. He sits at his desk and reworks the sermon he had
planned for the following celebration.
Chapter 21: A
public holiday because of the election was planned and everyone from that and
the neighboring towns attended in their best clothing. Hester and little Pearl
attended but stayed slightly apart from the crowd. Though everyone was packed
close to see the parade, there was an empty circle around Hester because of her
scarlet letter. She had gone previously to make plans with the captain of the
ship that they were going to take to England, and she saw the captain of that
vessel talking to Roger Chillingworth. The captain then came over to her and
informed her that the physician would be attending the voyage with them. She
looked towards him, and he smiled at her evilly.
Chapter 22: The
parade began and Pearl saw the minister when he reached the front. She asked if
that was the same minister who kissed her in the woods, and Hester told her to
not talk about it in the marketplace. Mistress Hibbins approached her and began
talking to Hester about the minister. Hester denied any involvement with him,
and they began watching as he preached to the people. Pearl left her mother and
wandered around. The captain of the ship told Pearl to give her mother a
message for him. She told him that her father was the Prince of Air. She
threatened him and ran to her mother. Hester’s mind wandered and thought about
how she would soon be free of he scarlet letter and the pain associated with
it.
Chapter 23: The minister ended his incredible
speech and it was one of the best of his life. The people were inspired and as
the parade turned therefor, everyone would exit. The minister looked
exceptionally sick and called to Hester and Pearl to come to him. Roger
Chillingworth ran towards and tried to get Hester back from the minister. He is
dying and with his last breaths he shouts his sin to the audience around and
blesses Hester and Pearl. He tells the people to take another better look at
Hester and at himself so they see the truth in them. He ripped off the
ministerial band from his chest, and the people stood shocked. The people are
struck with awe and sympathy. The doctor came over the minister, awestruck
because he will lose him and his revenge. Dimmesdale asks Pearl for a kiss and
she finally places one on his lips. Hester kneels over him and asks him if they
will not see each other again, and spend eternity together. The reverend tells
her that their sin was too large, and that is all she should be concerned. He
shouted farewell to the audience and breathed his last breath.
Chapter 24: People
swore after that day that when they saw the minister rip off the band on his
breast that a scarlet ‘A’ resided there. Many thought that he made the
revelation in the dying hour so everyone would know that one who appeared so
pure, was as much a sinner as the rest of them. Roger Chillingworth died within
the year and bequeathed large amounts of property both in New England and in
England to Pearl. This made Pearl the richest heiress in the New World. Soon
after his death, Hester Prynne and her little Pearl disappeared. Years later
Hester came back alone to live with her sin in her cottage. Pearl was thought
to be happily married elsewhere and mindful of her mother. After her return,
many people of the town went to Hester for advice and help when they were in
need. After many years she died, and was placed next to the saintly minister. They
shared a tombstone and they would be together forever.
Character Profiles
Hester Prynne: A
beautiful puritan woman full of strong passions, Hester Prynne is the main
character in the story. Employed as the village seamstress, she is strong and
caring, helping anyone she can when he or she are in need. With a penitent
heart, Hester travels through the story becoming only a shadow of her former
passionate loving self. Other than the scarlet letter, she was a very moral
woman whose only joy in life was her daughter Pearl. Roger Chillingsworth: The
missing husband of Hester Prynne. He shows up the day that Hester is put on
public display and does not show himself as her husband. A scholar and a man of
medicine, his soul purpose in his life becomes revenge against the man who
helped his wife sin. By the end of the story, he is shown to be an evil
character.
Pearl: Looked on as
the devil’s child, Pearl is the only one in the story that is purely innocent. She
is passionate, intelligent, and energetic. Pearl is in touch with nature and
with her mother’s feelings. Ever since she was born, Pearl had a fascination
with the scarlet letter that is a constant reminder for Hester of her sin.
Arthur Dimmesdale:
The minister of the town that the people adore, Arthur was the secret lover of
Hester Prynne. He was a sickly man who took his sin very seriously. He spent
the seven years since his indiscretion with Mistress Prynne trying to repent. He
wore down his body with his penitence and his sin ate away his soul. In the
end, he frees himself from his guilt by admitting to everyone his sin.
Metaphor Analysis
The Rose Bush: A
rose bush that grew outside the prison was a symbol of survival, that there is
life after the prison where Hester spent he beginning of the story.
The Scarlet Letter ‘A’: The letter that Hester
was forced to wear upon her bosom, the scarlet letter was not only a symbol of
her adulterous sin, but of the women herself. The letter masks her beauty and
passion as the story goes until it is what she is known.
The Black Man in
the Woods: the peoples symbol for the devil. The woods in those times were a
very scary place, and they thought that people that went into it came out evil
and corrupted.
Theme Analysis
The Scarlet Letter
is a story that illustrates intricate pieces of the Puritan lifestyle. Centered
first on a sin committed by Hester Prynne and her secret lover before the story
ever begins, the novel details how sin affects the lives of the people
involved. For Hester, the sin forces her into isolation from society and even
from herself. Her qualities that Hawthorne describes at the opening of the
book, i.e. her beauty, womanly qualities, and passion are, after a time,
eclipsed by the ‘A’ she is forced to wear. An example of this is her hair. Long
hair is something in this time period that is a symbol of a woman. At the
beginning of the story, Hawthorne tells of Hester’s long flowing hair. After
she wears the scarlet letter for a time, he paints a picture of her with her
hair out of site under a cap, and all the wanton womanliness gone from her.
Yet, even with her
true eclipsed behind the letter, of the three main characters affected, Hester
has the easiest time because her sin is out in the open. More than a tale of
sin, the Scarlet Letter is also an intense love story that shows itself in the
forest scene between Hester and the minister Arthur Dimmesdale. With plans to
run away with each, Arthur and Hester show that their love has surpassed
distance and time away from each other. This love also explains why Hester
would not reveal the identity of her fellow sinner when asked on the
scaffolding. Roger Chillingworth is the most affected by the sin, though he was
not around when the sin took place. Demented by his thoughts of revenge and
hate, Hawthorne shows Mr. Chillingworth to be a devil or as a man with an evil
nature. He himself commits one of the seven deadly sins with his wrath.
By the end of the
tale that surpasses seven years, Hester is respected and revered by the
community as a doer of good works, and the minister is worshipped for his
service in the church. Only Mr. Chillingworth is looked upon badly by the
townspeople although no one knows why. Through it all, Hawthorne illustrates
that even sin can produce purity, and that purity came in the form of the
sprightly Pearl. Though she is isolated with her mother, Pearl finds her
company and joy in the nature that surrounds her. She alone knows that her
mother must keep the scarlet letter on her at all times, and that to take it
off is wrong.
Through the book
the child is also constantly asking the minister to confess his sin to the
people of the town inherently knowing that it will ease his pain. Hawthorne’s
metaphor of the rose growing next to the prison is a good metaphor for Pearl’s
life that began in that very place. The reader sees this connection when Pearl
tells the minister that her mother plucked her from the rose bush outside of
the prison. Finally, for all the characters, Hawthorne’s novel illustrates how
one sin can escalate to encompass one’s self so that the true humans behind the
sin are lost. This is what makes Hawthorne’s novel not only a story of love vs.
hate, sin vs. purity, good vs. evil, but all of these combined to make a
strikingly historical tragedy as well.
Top Ten Quotes
1) «It may serve,
let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the
track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.»
2) « ‘People say,’ said another, ‘that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her
godly pastor, takes it very grievously to his heart that such a scandal has
come upon his congregation.’» 3) « ‘If thou feelest to be for thy soul’s peace,
and that they earthly punishment will there by be made more effectual to
salvation, I charge thee to speak out the name of thy fellow-sinner and
fellow-sufferer.’» 4) «But she named the infant ‘Pearl,’ as being of great
price- purchased with all she had- her mother’s only pleasure.» 5) «After
putting her fingers in her mouth, with many ungrateful refusals to answer Mr.
Wilson’s question, the child finally announced that she had not been made at
all, but had been plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses that grew by
the prison door» 6) « ‘He hath done a wild thing ere now, this pious Mr.
Dimmesdale, in the hot passion of his heart!’» 7) «Such helpfulness was found
in her- so much power to do and power to sympathize- that many people refused
to interpret the scarlet ‘A’ by it’s original signification. They said that it
meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a women’s strength.» 8) «‘That
old man!- the physician!- the one whom they call Roger Chillingworth!-he was my
husband!’» 9) «Pacify her, if thou lovest me!» 10) « ‘Hester Prynne’ cried he,
with a piercing earnestness ‘in the name of Him, so terrible and so merciful,
who gives me grace, at this last moment, to do what- for my own heavy sin and
miserable agony- I withheld myself from doing seven years ago, come hither now,
and twine thy strength about me!»
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