Scarlet Letter 21-24

So, we've reached the end.

Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale, at the start of the reading, are heading back to Europe, where they can live free and happily together. All is well until it is announced that Chillingworth will be accompanying the party. As we all know, Chillingworth is a major solipsist, and as I mentioned in class last Thursday, there is no way this story would ever come to a close without Chillingworth destroying himself and taking someone else down with him. Though not in an incredibly overt way, this did come to pass, as emphasized by the eventual fates of the two men.

Originally, as plans were made to leave, Dimmesdale seemed to be able to relax and his health improved. Even Pearl, who had met Dimmsdale in the woods only a few days prior, could barely recognize Dimmsdale as he walked through the square, as his health made him seem like a new man. For a moment, we could think everyone was going to have their happy ending, as Dimmsdale took the pulpit/scaffolding/whatever we're calling it to deliver one final sermon in the New World. Though through Hester's eyes, Dimmsdale's new ability to walk without shame drove a distance between the two, overall, it seemed for a fleeting moment that the three could live without scrutiny back in Europe.

That is, until, in the middle of chapter 22, when Mistress Hibbons speaks to Hester and Pearl, saying, "But this minister! Let me tell thee in thine ear! When the black man sees one of his own servants, signed and sealed, so shy of owning to the bond as is Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, he hath a way of ordering matters so that the mark shall be disclosed in open daylight to the eyes of all the world! What is it that the minister seeks to hide, with his hand always over his heart? Ha, Hester Prynne!" (221, the bottom half of last full paragraph). This is a major twist, and at first, while reading it, I was fairly sure Chillingworth's vindictive solipsism would be the cause of this revelation, but of course, it was not. In fact, Dimmesdale stood up in front of the entire town and brought Hester and Pearl up to stand with him, claiming Pearl as his own flesh and blood daughter, and admitting to his old sin with Hester.

Now, we've all read the book, so we don't need to delve into a ton of plot summary right now. We all know that no one got their perfect ending, nice family, or triumph over solipsism, because Dimmesdale, despite being young and in the best health we've seen him in over the course of the novel, dies almost immediately. He bore the mark on his body (an A he carved into himself?) to the entire town, and shares the burden with Hester. He finally receives acceptance from his daughter, Pearl, and yet, before he can experience any of the sweet relief this admission brought, he died. Soon after, Chillingworth dies, leaving Pearl a sizeable inheritance, and Hester and Pearl return to Europe just the two of them, leaving the Scarlett Letter as nothing more than a legend in Boston's oral history.

I'm not going to get into our fishbowl topic, but I think it's incredibly important that we consider two things. Firstly, what is the significance of the rapid progression of events between Dimmesdale's confession and death? For me, I interpreted that piece to be that even though Dimmesdale "repented", a few words 7 years after the fact cannot replace the lack of inaction in terms of being in his child's life and helping the woman who bore his child bear the shame in the time in which she needed emotional support to do so. This could be a critique of the nature of the Puritan church, deeply and strictly religious, yet, not always ethical, and how that became the eventual death of the Puritan faith.

Secondly, I've been talking a lot about a "happy ending" and a positive resolution for Hester and Pearl. Though this book is by no means a fairytale, I do interpret Dimmesdale's death, followed by that of Chillingworth, to be a positive resolution in their own right. Two men, both morally weak, tried to enter the lives of Hester and Pearl in various ways, Chillingworth via manipulation and secrecy, and Dimmesdale by trying to be Pearl's father only when it was convenient. Hester and Pearl's being able to depart to Europe (with a sizeable inheritance) leaves them empowered all by themselves as we've seen throughout the book. If Dimmesdale had confessed and lived, there's a huge chance he would have been written into their lives in a way he did not necessarily earn, and at least for me, that would weaken the strength of Hester and Pearl as independent women. Perhaps, though the death of the two leading males and flight from Boston by Hester and Pearl, was not exactly the happy ending we expected, it was the happy ending we deserved.