"The Scarlet Letter" Chapters 9-11

 I think my absolute favorite part of these chapters was how much dramatic irony there was. The town all thinks of Dimmesdale as a "godly youth" (Hawthorne 130) and a "saint on earth" (130), which is pretty darkly hilarious considering how they treat and think of Hester, who committed the same crime as Dimmesdale. Even when Dimmesdale tries to confess and explains what a terrible guy he is they just think of him as even more worthy of their reverence (pg 130)! These scenes are pretty funny to read because we're let in to Dimmesdale's secret through the clues that Hawthorne has given us throughout the book, and because the community is essentially painted as really stupid. They are literally praising a person who has committed a crime that (if they knew about it) would result in his social and religious expulsion from the community! It will be interesting to see what happens when/if the community finds out what Dimmesdale has done. 

I also think these chapters made me have a lot more sympathy for Dimmesdale than I had previously. A few chapters earlier, it was easy to be frustrated with him for not standing with Hester and bearing the weight of their actions together. However, after hearing that he does not confess his sins to the community because he thinks "no good can be achieved by them; no evil of the past redeemed by better service" (119) and this is leading to his "unutterable torment" (119), I now think of Dimmesdale as more selfless than selfish. My frustration is now more directed towards Chillingworth, whose evil is "[growing] still the more obvious to sight" (115) and who is trying to get vengeance on a man who so clearly in pain and already recognizes the mistake he has made. I can't be all that frustrated with Chillingworth for being mad (his wife did cheat on him), but he has let his need for vengeance consume him and is literally smiling (pg. 123) as he leaves Dimmesdale in incredible amounts of emotional pain. In my opinion, he could probably be a bit better of a person. Anyways, I'm open to hearing differing opinions of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, but that was just my hot take after reading these chapters.