Hope and doubt. Death and life. New life and the continuation of old. All of these themes are presented in the final five chapters of the Scarlet Letter.
I find it humorous that Pearl is now enthralled with the reverend when he appears so happy and light, like her. After seeing him this way she offers to go and kiss him, but Hester doesn't allow it. It is funny that Hester dares not give away the secrete before their departure, yet Dimmesdale leads them up onto the platform an hour later. Together the family (kinda) ascends the steps of the platform, along with the Roger Chillingworth, the evil caretaker and servant of the good reverend. Here, they are judged by all the members of the community. Funny that their judgement day is also election day. For one there is the power of choice, the other is predetermined.
On this platform of humility Dimmesdale dies, in a sense, the same way that Hester died 7 years past. However, this time he no longer hides in the shadows of guilt and cowardice. Hester and he share this common location of evil and shame and death, and later, they again share the same ground in the cemetery. In the first chapter the author writes that both a prison and a cemetery are essential to any town, meaning that every life commits crimes and later dies. Yet Dimmesdale was never imprisoned in a jail, he had to serve his sentence in the confinement and service of the church and his religious duties.
Pearl finds a new life. She goes to England with her mother. The reader is able to infer that she marries and starts a family, she starts her own original life away from America. Yet Hester returns, and continues to wear the Scarlet Letter. This A has become more a part of her than her own daughter. This symbol is permanent upon her, and she decides to live the rest of her life repenting for the sin she committed long ago. I believe that she feels guilty for the murder she commenced in her former lover, and the revenge that she doomed upon her husband, and for the life that she never had, along with happiness. She lived with a hopeless love in her heart, a love that she only expressed twice, once in the darkness of night and another in the shadow of the forest. Hester returned to America to continue her marked life because of this hopeless, ugly love that was trapped within her. To her, the A could have meant Always.
9A
Always An Able Atheist Angel Against Adultery And Anger. :) (that was just for fun)
2 comments:
You said that Dimmesdale wasn't really in jail, but his jail was the church and his religious duties. Maybe his jail was when he had to stay with Chillingworth or even not being able to tell his secret. What he went through was the same thing Hester went though just not in "litteraly" a jail.
this isnt a good comment but its cool how you put the 9A at the bottom. That was interesting!
Post a Comment