Chapter 18- A Flood of Sunshine

Summary:

                This chapter begins with the decision for Hester and Dimmesdale to run away together, and finally escape from the guilt of their sins- an easy choice for Hester to make, but more difficult for the minister due to his life of obeying authority. However, he says that since there is no hope of him achieving happiness in the afterlife, there was no reason for him to continue suffering as he has been in the present. As Dimmesdale agrees to the plan, Hester takes off her scarlet letter and tosses it aside. She then continues to let her hair loose, and is portrayed as an attractive woman once again. The sun breaks through the sky and falls upon Hester. Meanwhile, Pearl is off playing in the forest. She gathers berries, interacts with some of the animals, and decorates herself with wildflowers. When Hester calls for her daughter, Pearl reluctantly begins to approach.

Point 1: Dimmesdale and Religion

                Once Dimmesdale has agreed to run away with Hester, he seems to become a new man. Hawthorne writes, “The decision once made, a glow of strange enjoyment threw its flickering brightness over the trouble of his breast. It was the exhilarating effect—upon a prisoner just escaped from the dungeon of his own heart—of breathing the wild, free atmosphere of an unredeemed, unchristianized, lawless region”  (155). Here, Hawthorne is ultimately talking about religion and puritan society; the religion in this town is what was keeping Dimmesdale prisoner. Reverend Dimmesdale has lived the past seven years harming himself due to the guilt brought on by the prevalent christian values. The strict rules prevented the minister from being with Hester, accepting his daughter, and confessing sins. Hawthornes way of criticizing the religion is to give Dimmesdale a moment to be free from this prison, and experience what it is like to live without the shackles forcing him to live a life of guilt. Dimmesdale is ecstatic, and gets a taste of the wild like he has never had before. 

Point 2:  The Sun, Hester, and Pearl

                Throughout the last few few chapters, the sun has been used to show goodness. Earlier on, the sun would not fall upon Hester. However, once she casts aside the letter “A,” the sun beams down on the transformed woman. “All at once, as with a sudden smile of Heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees” (Hawthorne 156).  Hester is finally acknowledged as the good soul she is once she has taken off the scarlet letter and let down her hair. Also, Hester is again compared to Pearl through this sunlight. Pearl has always been able to catch the sun, as she does once again in this chapter, “Hester smiled, and again called to Pearl, who was visible, at some distance, as the minister had described her, like a bright-apparelled vision, in a sunbeam, which fell down upon her through an arch of boughs” (Hawthorne 157).This reinforces the similarities between Hester and Pearl. Pearl is often viewed as Hester's internal thoughts and feelings that are hidden by the scarlet letter. Now that the letter has been removed, the natural imagery of sunlight highlights the fact that Hester is able to be herself without the letter upon her chest. The two are equals, at least for a moment.

Wow factor: Hearing Implants

 

The woman in this video hears herself for the first time and is ecstatic. It is something unlike anything she has ever heard before, and the emotion is impossible to miss. Similarly, Dimmesdale has similar feelings as he lets go of his sins for a given moment. He escapes from the shackles of the religious puritan society, and gets his first taste of what it is like to be free. Hester also has similar feelings as she takes the “A” off of her chest. She is relieved, and is experiencing emotions that have been kept hidden all this time. The woman in the video, Aruthur Dimmesdale, and Hester Prynne are each breaking free from different confining elements.