GoEvents
1. During the night, Arthur Dimmesdale leaves his home to walk about the village, and he finds himself at the scaffold, which he climbs upon. 2. He thinks about his sin and shrieks aloud at the pain he feels. He thinks the townspeople will come to find him, revealing his secret, but no one comes. 3. Reverend Wilson walks past Arthur, but doesn't notice him. 4. Hester and Pearl arrive, after the death of Governor Winthrop. 5. Pearl and Hester climb upon the scaffold and stand hand-in-hand, forming an "electric chain." 6. Pearl asks the minister to stand with her and Hester the next day, but he says he cannot stand with them yet, so Pearl gets angry. 7. A meteor apprears in the sky, wich looks like a flaming letter "A." 8. Chillingworth, who was spying from afar, comes to take Arthur back to his home. Quotes
1. "On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain. Without any effort of his will, or power to restrain himself, he shreiked aloud..." (Hawthorne 102). 2. "The minister felt for the child's other hand and took it. The moment that he did so, there came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other than his own, pouring like a torrent into his heart, and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed an electric chain," (Hawthorne 105). 3. "'Wilt thou stand here with mother and me to-morrow at noontide?' inquired Pearl." (Hawthorne 105). 4. "And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embriodered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol and the connecting link between the two," (Hawthorne 106). 5. "We impute it, therefore, soley to the disease in his own eye and heart, that the minister, looking up toward the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter,--the letter A,--marked out in lines of dull red light," (Hawthorne 107). |
"And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embriodered letter glimmering on her bosom; and little Pearl, herself a symbol and the connecting link between the two."
Analysis
Minister Dimmesdale hits rock bottom in this scene, as he finally understands the internal conflict he is suffering, which is caused by his inability to reveal his sin. Him standing on the scaffold is parallelism to Hester's trial on the scaffold, and symbolizes how both he and Hester should have stood trial together many years ago. It also shows how his experience regarding the sin was opposite Hester's, as his sin has been confined to his soul, rather than out in the public like Hester's, which is eating him alive. The connection that is made between Arthur, Pearl, and Hester shows that the three are meant to stand together as a family, for all to see, hence the "electric chain." Pearl asking the minister to stand with her and her mother the following day is important because it shows that Pearl has made a link between the minister and her mother, as she has begun to recognize their familial bond. Finally, Chillingworth observes all of this, which solidifies his theory that Dimmesdale is Hester's fellow-adulterer, and this is not a good revelation for the sake of Dimmesdale. |