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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