WINTER

Chapter 15

Roger Chillingworth:

•  “A deformed old figure” (158).
  
•  “He needed to bask himself in that smile, he said, in order that the chill of so many lonely hours among his books might be taken off the scholar’s heart.” (159).
  
•  “And it seemed a fouler offence committed by Roger Chillingworth, than any which had since been done him, that, in the time when her heart grew no better, he had persuaded her to fancy herself happy by his side” (159).
  

Hester Prynne:

•  “ ‘Be it sin or no,’ said Hester Prynne, bitterly as she still gazed after him, ‘I hate the man!’ “(159).
  
• “ ‘He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong that I did him!” ‘(159).
  
• “She felt a morbid desire to ascertain the point” (161).
  
•  “In all the seven bygone years, Hester Prynne had never before been false to the symbol on her bosom” (163).
  
• Contemplative about Pearl and her purpose in the world
  

Pearl:

• “She had flirted fancifully with her own image in a pool of water, beckoning the phantom forth, and – as it declined to venture – seeking a passage, for herself into its sphere of impalpable earth and unattainable sky” (160).
  
•  “Displayed remarkable dexterity in pelting them” (160).
  
• “Had been hit by a pebble, and fluttered away with a broken wing. But then the elf-child sighed, and gave up her sport; because it grieved her to have done harm to a little being that was as wild as the sea-breeze, or as wild as Pearl herself” (160).
  
•  “Even as if the one only thing for which she had been sent into the world was to make out its hidden import” (161).
  
•  “ ‘It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!’ “(161).
  
• “Remarkable precocity and acuteness, might already have approached the age when she could be made a friend” (162).
  
•  “The evil which she inherited from her mother must be great indeed, if a noble woman do not grow out of this elfish child.” (163).
  
• Pearl developed a sudden interest in the reason why her mother bears the scarlet letter.
  

Chapter 16

Hester Prynne:

• “Hester Prynne remained constant in her resolve to make known to Mr. Dimmesdale, at whatever risk of present pain or ulterior consequences, the true character of the man who had crept into his intimacy” (164).
  
•  “Hester never thought of meeting him in any narrower privacy than beneath the open sky” (165).
•  Reasons why:
•  “she dreaded the secret or undisguised interference of old Roger Chillingworth”
• “conscious heart imputed suspicion where none could have been felt”
• “both the minister and she would need the whole wide world to breathe in”
• “ ‘The sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom’ “(165).
• “She wanted – what some people want throughout life – a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanize and make her capable of sympathy” (166).
• “ ‘Once in my life I met the Black Man! […] This scarlet letter is his mark!’ “(168)
• “Why dost thou smile so at me? Inquited Hester, troubled at the expression of his eyes. “Art thou like the Black Man, that haunts the forest round about us? Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?” (72).

Pearl:

•  “Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom” (169).
• Pearl is learning how to put two and two together: obtaining the ability to relate the her mother and the minister who has his hand over his chest

Dimmesdale:

•  “To Hester’s eye, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale exhibited no symptom of positive and vivacious suffering, except that, as little Pearl had remarked, he kept his hand over his heart” (170).
  

Chapter 17

• “It was no wonder that they thus questioned one another’s actual and bodily existence, and even doubted of their own” (171).
•  Hester and Dimmesdale meet
• Both surprised to see each other
• “Each a ghost, and awe-stricken at the other ghost!” (171).
• “They now felt themselves, at least, inhabitants of the same sphere” (171).
•  Conversation at first – very awkward

Dimmesdale is incapable of forgiving himself

•  Pages 172 – 173
•  Fact that people look up to him makes him feel worse
•  “ ‘ Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret!’ “(173).
•  Feels as if he has no one to be open with – Hester offers her friendship
•  “Thou hast long had such an enemy, and dwellest with him, under the same roof!” (173).
•  Hester confesses to Dimmesdale the intentions of Chillingworth
•  Telling Dimmesdale made Hester feel awful
•  Dimmesdale suspected it
•  Begins to blame Hester – “tho art accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee!” (175).
•  Dimmesdale then gets nervous; afraid of what Chillingworth might do next
•  176 – 179

Chapter 18

· Previously last chapter, Hester brought up the idea of them moving together abroad

•  In this chapter, Dimmesdale agrees.
•  Dimmesdale is once again happy – page 182
•  Worries if Pearl will approve of him – Hester is confident that she will

 Hester for the first time in seven years takes off her scarlet letter and throws it

•  At the beginning of the book Hester was portrayed as very beautiful while everyone looked down upon her
•  Once everyone started to like her again, she was portrayed as ugly
• Here, in this scene, Hester puts down her hair and is once again seen as beautiful – pages 182-183

Chapter 19

 Pearl shares some of Dimmesdale’s features; he’s paranoid about this and afraid that others might notice the resemblance – page 186

Dimmesdale – nervous, excited, and anxious to meet Pearl

•  “How my heart dreads this interview, and yearns for it!” (186).
  

 Pearl = mad that Hester took off her scarlet letter and refuses to obey her until she puts it back on

•  Hester is saddened once she puts her scarlet letter back on while Pearl is once again happy
• Pearl will only like Dimmesdale if he keeps his hand over his heart
•  Hester thinks this is foolish
• Dimmesdale gives her a kiss on the forehead and Pearl washes it off
•  Pearl’s reason for acting this way – feels as if her parents are ashamed of her if Hester doesn’t wear her scarlet letter and if Dimmesdale doesn’t keep his hand over his heart
•  Pages 188 – 191

Chapter 20

Dimmesdale = happy he gets to preach the Election Sermon– 193

Hester has connections – they get to leave to Europe soon

 CHANGE:

•  “Not the less, however, came this importunately obtrusive sense of change” (194).
•  “I am not the man for who you take me!”
•  Page 195

         

Upon arrival, everything seems different to Dimmesdale, including himself

Dimmesdale is definitely not himself for example:

•  Encounter with the eldest female member of his church - 196
  

 Afraid he made a deal with the devil while talking to the Mistress Hibbins

•  “and his encounter with old Mistress Hibbins, if it were a real incident, did but show his sympathy and fellowship with wicked mortals, and the world of perverted spirits” (199).
  

Breaks it off with Chillingworth

•  “the physician knew then, that, in the minister’s regard, he was no longer a trusted friend, but his bitterest enemy” (201).
  

Chapter 21

 Market place

• Hester is excited that it’s not her being acknowledged
•  New beginning for her
•  “it might be, on this one day, that there was an expression unseen before, nor, indeed, vivid enough to be detected now” (203).

 Pearl = confused as to why Dimmesdale doesn’t acknowledge them in the daylight

•  “but he will not greet thee to-day; nor must thou greet him” (205).
•  “will he hold out both his hands to me, as when thou ledst me to him from the brook-side?” (205).
•  “what a strange, sad man is he!” (205).

Chillingworth makes his appearance

• “the physician, was seen to enter the market-place, in close and familiar talk with the commander of the questionable vessel” (209).
  

Chapter 22

 Others are beginning to realize the change in Dimmesdale, including Hester

•  “Hester Prynne, gazing steadfastly at the clergyman, felt a dreary influence come over he, but wherefore or whence she knew not; unless that he seemed so remote from her own sphere, and utterly beyond her reach” (214).
  

 Pearl doesn’t even recognize Dimmesdale

•  “Mother […] was that the same minister that kissed me by the brook?”(215).
  

 Hibbins talks to Hester

•  Says that everyone will soon know about Dimmesdale’s sin
  
•  “Thou thyself wilt see it, one time or another” (217).
  

 Hester listens to Dimmesdale’s speech

• “an irresistible feeling kept Hester near the spot” (217).
  

 Pearl receives a message that should be given to her mother

•  “Then tell her that I spake again with the black-a-visage, hump-shouldered old doctor, and he engages to bring his friend, the gentleman she wots of, aboard with him. So let thy mother take no though, save for herself and thee” ( 220).
  

Message is given to Hester and everyone is staring at her and her scarlet letter

•  Back flashes – memories of when all eyes were on her