The Scaffold

The Scaffold

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Chapter 14: Hester and the Physician


Chapter Summary
The chapter begins as Hester decides to go to Chillingworth and ask him to stop tormenting Dimmesdale. She and Pearl find him by the beach collecting herbs for medicines. As Hester confronts Dimmesdale, Pearl is by the water looking into her reflections in the puddles left behind by the waves. Chillingworth informs Hester that the “council” is considering allowing the removal of Hester’s scarlet letter. However, Hester states that the letter can only be removed by “divine providence,” or the natural escaping of guilt over time. Hester also states that they should tell Dimmesdale about Chillingworth’s identity, in part because Chillingworth now knows the truth about Pearl’s father. Chillingworth’s transformation to a devilish figure is also described by the narrator during the argument. Roger has been watching Dimmesdale closely, tracking his every move. This torture, Hester claims, would make him better off dead, but Chillingworth wants to preserve him so he can fulfill a living hell.

Pearl’s Self-Reflection
            Pearl spends time at the beach during the confrontation trying to find her reflection in the puddles on the shoreline. The waves come in from the sea, and when they recede, they create small puddles on the land. These waves are represented in her life by society, and the external events that shape Pearl’s self-reflection, based on a Pearl’s relevance to the sea. She is looking for her true identity, still unaware of who exactly she is, tainted by society. However, as she looks into her reflection, she does not see that devilish child everyone talks about. She sees only herself and her distinct human-like features that make her more related to beings in society.
“Here and there she came to a full stop, and peeped curiously into a pool, left by the retiring tide as a mirror for Pearl to see her face in. Forth peeped at her, out of the pool, with dark, glistening curls around her head, and an elf-smile in her eyes, the image of a little maid, whom Pearl, having no other playmate, invited to take her hand, and run a race with her” (Hawthorne, 129).
Pearl is being challenged by society to create an image of being a devil-child. However, she looks into this tempting water, seeing her own personal features. Presenting herself to the water, “Stepping in, mid-leg deep, beheld her own white feet at the bottom,” (Hawthorne, 129) she is trying to see herself with the added effect of society’s labeling of her as an outcome of major sin. Pearl is being manipulated by society in the deceiving waters where there “came the gleam of a kind of fragmentary smile, floating to and fro in the agitated water” (Hawthorne, 129). This smile can also be related to the deceiving smile of Chillingworth. He is an internally evil character himself, but his evil can be masked by his unusual smirk.

Dimmesdale and Chillingworth the Devil
            Roger Chillingworth becomes increasingly evil throughout the plot. The narrator even notes, “But the former aspect of an intellectual and studious man, calm and quiet, which was what she best remembered in him, had altogether vanished, and been succeeded by an eager, searching, almost fierce, yet carefully guarded look” (Hawthorne, 130). Chillingworth changes his life to devote himself to harvesting guilt and sins to create punishment for the sinners, as a devil would. His disguise as a doctor while using a smirk are the only differences from a devil. He spends much time watching Dimmesdale skeptically, acting as his evil shadow. Through Chillingworth’s watchful eyes, he realizes that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl.  During the argument, he shares with Hester his findings. “’My finger, pointed at this man, would have hurled him from his pulpit into a dungeon,’” (Hawthorne, 131) Although he is aware of the culprit, he does not want to reveal the secret to society because he believes that keeping Dimmesdale under his watchful eyes is more torture to him than just ending the guilt. This belief, Chillingworth states, is how he will get revenge on Dimmesdale. The guilt and secrecy within oneself is far superior than any punishment that society would give, which Chillingworth understands. For this reason only, he keeps his victim at the edge of The Sea of Fire. Hester states that Chillingworth’s watchful eyes create a living hell for Dimmesdale. “Since that day, no man is so near to him as you. You tread behind his every footstep. You are beside him, sleeping and waking. 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; and still he knows you not” (Hawthorne, 131). Hester tries to tell him to stop with the torture and just end it. She and Chillingworth share the same belief; that Dimmesdale would be better off being revealed for his sake, which is why Chillingworth wants to keep it going. Although Chillingworth states to have saved Dimmesdale from torment, he really did the opposite. Dimmesdale is suddenly removed of his previous godly state, and put through torture by the devil after following temptations to sin.

Gossamer Thread
      In this song, “Broken Mirrors,” by Rise Against, many aspects of the chapter are present in the lyrics. The song suggests that one’s “final days are near” from “a fate that we deserve.” Like Dimmesdale, his days are numbered as to when the society will hear his secret, but it is a fate that he deserves for the major sin he has done. This song expresses a similar fate, describing what will happen.
   The aspect of “broken mirrors” also expresses Pearl’s tainted reflection of herself through the influencing eyes of society.

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