These chapters are PACKED- I touched on every chapter in an attempt to give some sort of overview, but it still felt like a lot. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, along with his “physician” Roger Chillingworth take center stage and reveal a ton about their identity to both each other and the audience.
Chapter 12 opens with Dimmesdale approaching and standing on the scaffold that Hester had once stood for her public event seven years prior. He seems to be so overwhelmed with guilt and self-hatred that “he shrieked aloud” (Hawthorne 134). Dimmesdale appears distressed with the weight of his secret (which we have guessed is adultery with Hester), and this scene comes off to me as almost manic. As a minister, he should be the last person to commit such a shameful act because he preaches to the community against these sins; in fact, I think that he should receive the greatest punishment if he is ever discovered. Dimmesdale later sees Hester and Pearl coming from Winthrop’s deathbed, and he invites the two to join him on the scaffold. Not once but TWICE Dimmesdale rejects Pearl’s request to join her there the next day, which completely opposes his feelings on the previous page of guilt. I was disappointed in Dimmesdale here, didn’t he just say that he was ashamed? I guess he went in the night to not be discovered, but still. AND THEN, the letter A appears in the sky - what???? AND THEN ROGER APPEARS?!! This is too much; at this point, Dimmesdale’s identity is clear to both the audience and to Roger. But then, he just goes back home with Roger? Like nothing happened? And then he PREACHES the next day? And he gets his glove back, but I feel like there are bigger issues than that.
In the following chapter, a few years have passed. Hester notices changes in Dimmesdale, and I also notice changes in her. Given the way that Hester has worn her scarlet letter with dignity, many renamed the significance of the letter to mean “Able” (146). However, she still has no friends or connections. I love the line “The world’s law was no law for her mind” (148). Despite her having changed and grown, her thoughts remain constant and they remain her own.
Our final chapter of the reading is a conversation between Hester and Chillingworth. Chillingworth has aged and become revenge-hungry. Long story short, Chillingworth admits to doing evil towards the minister. He says he has changed from a “kind, true, just” man to “A fiend” (156).
Something I noticed: the word “iron” was repeated several times throughout these past few chapters(I think 4 times): what does that mean?
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