In the beginning of the book, Hester Prynne, a civilian from Massachusetts Bay Colony, is being led to the scaffold where she is sentenced to be publicly shamed for committing the act of adultery. Within her sentence, Hester is forced to embroider a large scarlet “A” on all of her dresses. She had stitched the “A” with gold thread, which added a sense of elegance that she is now denied. On the scaffold, Hester carries Pearl, her daughter, in her arms at all times. On the scaffold, Hester is asked to reveal the name of Pearl’s father, but she refuses to release that information. Among the many spectators and ridiculers in the crowd, she recognizes her husband from Amsterdam, whose name was Roger Chillingworth. Once Hester is returned to prison, Roger Chillingworth visits her. Roger begins to explain to her that he will find out the man that was a part of her …show more content…
The two live in the cottage in relative solitude. Hester Prynne’s income is received through doing stitch work for local notables, but most of the time; she is assisting the poor and sick. As time goes on, and Pearl grows up, she becomes wild, and sometimes even refuses to obey Hester. Roger Chillingworth excels at being a physician, and uses his outstanding reputation to get into the same home as Arthur Dimmesdale, who is an ill minister. Chillingworth soon discovers that Dimmesdale is the father of Pear, and points, he would spend every minute torturing the minister. On one occasion, Dimmesdale goes up on the scaffold where Hester stood, and imagines her humiliation, shame, and the public declaration of having an “A” on his chest. Pearl and Hester arrive soon, and they ask him to stand with them. While standing on the scaffold, the three see Roger Chillingworth watching them. Dimmesdale admits that he is scared of Chillingworth, and Hester realizes that Chillingworth is slowly killing Dimmesdale, and she must help
However, her husband has found her, and is determined to find the man who solicited the baby his wife gave birth to. Ambiguity is portrayed throughout the book by utilizing characters, symbolism, and setting. Hester’s husband Roger Chillingworth, is an extremely deceptive character. While his actions are cruel, they are in the name of his love, Hester.
When Chillingworth visits Hester in prison, he claims that “his [the adulterer] fame, his position, his life, will be in my hands” (53). Chillingworth makes a vow to Hester that he will find the man who enticed her and will destroy the individual’s life and soul. As the novel progresses, Chillingworth establishes himself as the town doctor and Dimmesdale develops a mysterious illness that perplexes and worries the townspeople. His illnesses leads to Roger Chillingworth becoming his medical advisor, “as not only the disease interested the physician, but he was strongly moved to look into the character and qualities of the patient, these two men...came gradually to spend much time together” (84). Chillingworth takes advantage of the fact that Dimmesdale needs medical attention and establishes himself as a friend, with the intention of finding out personal information about Dimmesdale.
Hester finds community service, whereas the minister's sin-related repercussions cause him immense distress and a physical and emotional breakdown. Chillingworth steps in as the go-between to help Hester and Dimmesdale realize what they are going through. He evolves into someone even nastier than he was before. He devises a plan to undermine Hester's reputation, which was already in jeopardy. Tarnishing Hester’s reputation was Chillingworth’s way of getting back at Hester for the humiliation that she caused him.
He lets the urge of revenge get the best of him. Dimmesdale and Hester commit great sins too, but Chillingworth commits the greatest. Chillingworth finally makes it to Boston a year after his wife, to find her on the scaffold with a baby in her hands and a scarlet letter on her bosom. He finally gets to speak with Hester as he is treating her after three hours on the scaffold. Chillingworth says to Hester, “Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour.
Even though no one wants to be shamed, it is still a fairly evil move to deny the fact of being Hester’s husband. An additional example of hiding his identity is that Hawthorne makes it clear to the reader that Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth do not have the same last name, despite them being married. Chillingworth does this to further hide his identity and to disprove that he is indeed Hester’s husband. It is also symbolic that the root of “Chillingworth” is “chilling” which could directly relate to Roger’s new and colder outlook on life. The concluding example of hidden identity is that Chillingworth doesn’t really reveal much about his past, especially when it comes to his Indian experiences.
Dimmesdale and Hester suffers because of the sin they did. Dimmesdale feels guilt even though he never confesses that he is the farther. He would go to the scaffold at night and stand there screaming trying to get the people to come outside to see him but it was just all in his head when she would stand on the scaffold during the day with the red A on her chest she felt guilt even though she would not tell anyone who the farther is and for having an affair while her husband was missing for years. For example, Dimmesdale does not want to confess about his sin because he does not want to face the consequences. This is illustrated when Dimmesdale says, “then and there before the judgment-seat, thy mother and thou, and I must stand together” (Dimmesdale 139).
Because of this, she gets Dimmesdale involved and Chillingworth who we short after find out is Hester's husband. Everything from here begins to get even worse because of Hester and her actions. Hester never
Climbing the scaffold, he sees Hester and Pearl and calls to them to join him. He admits his guilt to them but cannot find the courage to do so publicly. Suddenly Dimmesdale sees a meteor forming what appears to be a gigantic A in the sky; simultaneously, Pearl points toward the shadowy figure of Roger Chillingworth. Hester, shocked by Dimmesdale's deterioration, decides to obtain a release from her vow of silence to her husband. In her discussion of this with Chillingworth, she tells him his obsession with revenge must be stopped in order to save his own soul.
He silences Hester in order to protect his reputation and lies about abandoning her. Dimmesdale demands Hester to reveal who her lover is but she doesn’t have enough courage to say that it is him. He too abandons Hester with their child. Chillingsworth checks in on Hester and her child as a physician in chapter four, The Interview.
Hester was sentenced to wear the scarlet letter "A" for the rest of her life and Hester was forced to stand on the scaffold, so she could be publicly humiliated for her sin. Hester and Pearl will go through life, being shamed by others. The townspeople want to see Hester suffer. Hester and Pearl are strong enough to receive the looks and the talks that they will be getting from the
Throughout the passage from The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses Hester’s baby, Pearl, to illuminate the theme of beauty in a dark place. Once released from prison, Hester, an adulterer, becomes a public spectacle. Through this hard time, Hester has her daughter Pearl to soothe her and to bring her strength and hope for a better future. By using vivid imagery and juxtaposition, Hawthorne depicts Pearl as Hester’s happiness, light, and beauty during a sad and lonely time. While in Prison, Hester is all alone and depressed.
Nonetheless, it will be hard; Hester is steadfast to make her daughter Pearl, have a life, just like any other ordinary child. Hester is a remarkable, but peculiar character,
Hester Prynne is guilty as charged for committing a sin towards her Puritan religion, committing adultery, and refusing to give up the identity of Pearl’s father. Hester deserved the punishment she was given. She knew what cheating would turn into, and the consequences of it, but she did it anyway. Thank you for taking the time to read this
The narrator portrays him as an intelligent but angry old man that does not have any interest in his wife any longer unless it is plotting revenge. One theme in this chapter is something that can slowly destroy people mentally, guilt. The irony that took place in this story is that Chillingworth is trying to find the father of his wife's child. The main theme in chapter three and four is obeying the law of the people and if failed to be done it will end in punishment. Journal Entry 3: Chapters 5-6 For the rest of Hester’s life she will be forced to wear a red embroidered “A” at all times on her clothes.
Two of the main characters with many similarities as well as differences is Hester Prynne and Rvd. Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester and Dimmesdale are both characters in the book that had their identities set up in the beginning of the story, within the first 4 chapters. Hester and Dimmesdale are the parents of Pearl, who they had in an act of adultery and sin in the eyes of the townspeople. This book goes through the story of Hester and Dimmesdale's punishments, as well as repentance.