Kelly Fawcett
Instructor S. Knapp
English 1B
14 May 2011
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Annotated Bibliography
Mercy for Hester was a result of being loved by Reverend Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth.
Chillingsworth:
"bent his eyes on Hester...(though he was) a man accustome to looking inward... unless they bear relation to something with in his mind...A writhing horror twisted itself across his features...powerful emotion"(44,45)
Why was Chillingsworth so horrified if he was not in love with Hester?
“When Hester Prynne fastened (her eyes) on his...He slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips"
Chillingsworth seemed to care about Hester and need time to process the current events.
"Been long held in bonds among the heathenfolk…in some two years or less the woman has been a beweller here"(45)
Chillingsworth may have somehow felt responsible for leaving Hester alone for two years.
“It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. but he will be known!- he will be know! - he will be known!"(46)
Only a man in love and very jealous would be so insistent and passionate about knowing the lover of a woman that he estranged.
“The medicine is ...for good; and were it my child...I could do no better" (52)
Chillingsworth treats Pearl and Hester with compaction when he visits them in the prison.
"it was my folly...what had i to do with youth and beauty like thine own" "we have wronged each other"(53)
Chillingsworth blamed himself for Hester’s problems because, of the differences in their ages and he being overly committed to his love for knowledge. Yet, he still admires her beauty.
“There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him…thy acts are like mercy" said hester"(54)
Chillingsworth felt relief that Hester’s sentence was mild in comparison to what it could have been.
“thou and thine... belone to me....."(54)
Chillingsworth laid claim to his step-daughter. He had a deep seeded devotion to his commitment to family.
"Skilful men, of the medical and chirurgical profession were of rare occurrence in the colony...The only surgeon was one who combined the occasional exercise of that noble art with the daily and habitual flourish of a raor." (80)
Chillingsworth was welcomed by the needy town as a physician.
Dimmesdale:
“The penalty there of in death. But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only a space of three hours on of he natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom”(46)
Being a clergyman ,Dimmesdale, had a hand in Hesters penalty and the mercy that was taken on her.
"I (Mr. Wilson, clergyman) have striven with my young brother(Dimmesdale)...I have sought ... he should deal with you"(48)
The responsibility of sentence had been laid on Dimmesdale.
After Dimmesdale pleaded for Hester to confess the name of her accomples Hester replied, ““Never!”...looking, not at Mr. Wilson but into the deep and troubled eyes of the younger clergyman" (49)
Hester was in love with Dimmesdale and protects him.
"wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart! She will not speak"(50)
Dimmesdale commended Hester and thanks her for her silence, even though he feet he should be exposed and punished for it.
“This boon was meant above all things else, to keep the mother's soul alive, and to preserve her from blacker depths of sin...it is good for this poor, sinful woman that she hath an infant immortality, a being capable of eternal joy or sorrow, confided to her care, to be trained up by her to righteousness,- to remind her, at every moment, of her fall-but yet to teach her as it were by the Creator's sacred pledge that, if she bring the child to heaven, the child also will bring its parent thither!"(77)
Dimmesdale intervenes to keep his lover and child together.
“At the custody hearing; Pearl...stole softly towards him[Dimmesdale], and taking his hand in the grasp of both her own, laid her cheek against it; A caress so tender and withal so unobtrusive, that her mother, who was looking on, asked herself,-'Is that my Pearl?' ... The minister, -for save the long-sought regards of woman, nothing is sweeter than these marks of childish preference...The minister looked round, laid his hand on the child's head, hesitated an instant, and then kissed her brow." (78)
This was a demonstration of the mutual love between father and daughter and hints that their may have been more contact between the two than is noted in the book.
"Arthur Dimmesdale put forth his hand, chill as death, and touched the chill hand of Hester Prynne. The grasp old as it was took away what was dreariest in the interview. They now felt themselve, at least, inhabitants of the same sphere… Without a word more spoken,- neither he nor she assuming the guidance, but with an unexpressed consent,- they glided back into the shadow of the woods"(122,123.)
Even after 7 years the couple are still drawn to each other and move in unison just as a long time married coupe would.
In the forest Dimmesdale asked; "Hester,...hast thou found peace?"
He has genuine concern for Hester.
“I do forgive you, Hester' replied the minister, at length with a deep utterance, out of an abyss of sadness, but no anger. 'I freely forgive you now...We are not, Hester< the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!" (125,126)
When Hester told Dimmesdale about Chillingsworth, shortly after the shock he forgave her without anger. He suddenly has intense hatred for Chillingsworth and maintains a view of purity about Hester and his feeling for each other.
In the forest; “ Life had never brought them a gloomier hour...yet it[the forest] enclosed a charm that made them linger upon it and claim another, and another and, after all, another moment."(126)
Even though it was extreamly risky that the couple spend time together, they still wanted to spend time together holding hands and being alone in the forest.
When Hester was convincing Dimmesdale to sail away he tells her: "I must die here! There is not the strength or courage left me to venture into the wide, strange, difficult world, alone!... Alone, Hester!"(128)
He seemed to have been searching for any reason possible to not leave Hester or to keep her near him without begging her. When she said she would go too, he is elated, and returned home with excitement and uncommon thoughts for him.
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