4 November 2004
Individual vs. Community: Summary (SL)
Hester Prynne begins to fulfill a bigger role in society by assisting the sick, the poor, and the distressed even to the extent where her embroidered �A� takes on the meaning of �able� rather than that of �adulterer.� Pearl is seven years old now, meaning that seven years have passed since Hester was convicted. As Chillingworth discovers the male counterpart involved in the lechery, he grows more callous. Pearl also astutely ties a connection between Hester and Dimmesdale, associating Hester�s scarlet letter with Dimmesdale�s clutch of the heart. Hester tells Dimmesdale Chillingworth�s relationship to her, and he blames Hester for the suffering she has caused him. As a resolution, they decide to move to England to start over with new identities in a fresh atmosphere. Gradually, Dimmesdale becomes less pious, claiming to have made a bargain with the Devil. The evil bestowed in Chillingworth, however, ruins the outlook of the plan when Chillingworth is assigned to be the doctor on board of the ship heading towards England. In the shocking conclusion, Dimmesdale approaches the scaffold and confesses his sins to the crowd that stood before him for Election Day. He shows off his own scarlet letter on his chest, but the author leaves that mark ambiguous for the readers to derive their own thoughts about how it got there. Dimmesdale dies as if his death vindicates himself, and Chillingworth dies within a year after Dimmesdale�s death as if he were a leech. Hester and Pearl disappear for a while, and the story becomes a legend to the town. Unexpectedly, Hester once again returns back to her cottage in town to continue her charity work, but she dies respectably with the scarlet letter �A� free of its stigmatic nuance and is buried in the King�s Chapel graveyard that is suited for Puritan patriarchs.