Scarlet Letter D.J. # 47 - Chapter 22: Part 1.

"It was the observation of those who beheld him now, that never, since Mr. Dimmesdale first set his foot on the New England shore, had he exhibited such energy as was seen in the gait and air with which he kept his pace in the procession. There was no feebleness of step, as at other times; his frame was not bent; nor did his hand rest ominously upon his heart. Yet, if the clergyman were rightly viewed, his strength seemed not of the body. It might be spiritual, and imparted to him by angelic ministrations. It might be the exhilaration of that potent cordial, which is distilled only in the furnace-glow of earnest and long-continued thought. Or, perchance, his sensitive temperament was invigorated by the loud and piercing music, that swelled heavenward, and uplifted him on its ascending wave. Nevertheless, so abstracted was his look, it might be questioned whether Mr. Dimmesdale even heard the music. There was his body, moving onward, and with an unaccustomed force. But where was his mind? Far and deep in its own region, busying itself, with preternatural activity, to marshal a procession of stately thoughts that were soon to issue thence; and so he saw nothing, heard nothing, knew nothing, of what was around him; but the spiritual element took up the feeble frame, and carried it along, unconscious of the burden, and converting it to spirit like itself. Men of uncommon intellect, who have grown morbid, possess this occasional power of mighty effort, into which they throw the life of many days, and then are lifeless for as many more." (pg. 207 2nd paragraph)


Again, this energy is because of Hester and Pearl that one day in the wood when they talked. This is a good example of Hester being Dimmmesdale's medicine and the effects that is has. The fact that a day or two before this he had troubles walking up and down stairs and now that he has met up with Hester, he can march proudly down the street for this ceremony is a sigh of how powerful hope is.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 46 - Chapter 21: Part 3.

"“What a strange, sad man is he!” said the child, as if speaking partly to herself. “In the dark night-time, he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stood with him on the scaffold yonder! And in the deep forest, where only the old trees can hear, and the strip of sky see it, he talks with thee, sitting on a heap of moss! And he kisses my forehead, too, so that the little brook would hardly wash it off! But here in the sunny day, and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him! A strange, sad man is he, with his hand always over his heart!”" (pg. 199 8th paragraph)
Pearl notices that Dimmesdale can only reveal his sin when he is in the 'shadows'. the only times he does so is in the middle of the night on the scaffolding and in the dark forest. When he is in public he cant do so and to make it even worse he wont even acknowledge the two of them, instead he holds his hand over his heart to cover his pain. Pearl feels sorry for him that he has all this pain, and has the ability to get rid of it, but decides to hide it, with his hand over his heart. 

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 45 - Chapter 21: Part 2.

"Pearl was decked out with airy gayety. It would have been impossible to guess that this bright and sunny apparition owed its existence to the shape of gloomy gray; or that a fancy, at once so gorgeous and so delicate as must have been requisite to contrive the child’s apparel, was the same that had achieved a task perhaps more difficult, in imparting so distinct a peculiarity to Hester’s simple robe. The dress, so proper was it to little Pearl, seemed an effluence, or inevitable development and outward manifestation of her character, no more to be separated from her than the many-hued brilliancy from a butterfly’s wing, or the painted glory from the leaf of a bright flower. As with these, so with the child; her garb was all of one idea with her nature. On this eventful day, moreover, there was a certain singular inquietude and excitement in her mood, resembling nothing so much as the shimmer of a diamond, that sparkles and flashes with the varied throbbings of the breast on which it is displayed. Children have always a sympathy in the agitations of those connected with them; always, especially, a sense of any trouble or impending revolution, of whatever kind, in domestic circumstances; and therefore Pearl, who was the gem on her mother’s unquiet bosom, betrayed, by the very dance of her spirits, the emotions which none could detect in the marble passiveness of Hester’s brow."
Hester is hiding herself in these gray clothes because she thinks that the "A" gets her enough public attention. What I find weird is that she hides herself behind her clothes, but creates these really colorful dresses for pearl. Hester is trying to fit in with the rest of the town, while Pearl is trying to be herself and show it. I think that Hester would like to wear colorful dressed and express how she really feels but she is to worried about the society's judgements about her. Imagine what they would say if she was walking around in bright dresses, with the "A"on her chest.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 44 - Chapter 21: Part 1.

"On this public holiday, as on all other occasions, for seven years past, Hester was clad in a garment of coarse gray cloth. Not more by its hue than by some indescribable peculiarity in its fashion, it had the effect of making her fade personally out of sight and outline; while, again, the scarlet letter brought her back from this twilight indistinctness, and revealed her under the moral aspect of its own illumination. Her face, so long familiar to the townspeople, showed the marble quietude which they were accustomed to behold there. It was like a mask; or rather, like the frozen calmness of a dead woman’s features; owing this dreary resemblance to the fact that Hester was actually dead, in respect to any claim of sympathy, and had departed out of the world with which she still seemed to mingle." (pg. 197 2nd paragraph)
Hester was so wrapped up in Pearl and the secret that kept Dimmesdale part of the society that she wasn't really all there. She was physically but not mentally. She was dead to the townspeople, she had sinned, and nothing can completely fix that, no matter what she did. She has too much stuff on her mind having to do with finally being upfront about who Pearl's father is, and what their plans are for leaving the town are.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 43 - Chapter 20: Part 3.

"Before Mr. Dimmesdale reached home, his inner man gave him other evidences of a revolution in the sphere of thought and feeling. In truth, nothing short of a total change of dynasty and moral code, in that interior kingdom, was adequate to account for the impulses now communicated to the unfortunate and startled minister. At every step he was incited to do some strange, wild, wicked thing or other, with a sense that it would be at once involuntary and intentional; in spite of himself, yet growing out of a profounder self than that which opposed the impulse. For instance, he met one of his own deacons. The good old man addressed him with the paternal affection and patriarchal privilege, which his venerable age, his upright and holy character, and his station in the Church, entitled him to use; and, conjoined with this, the deep, almost worshipping respect, which the minister’s professional and private claims alike demanded. Never was there a more beautiful example of how the majesty of age and wisdom may comport with the obeisance and respect enjoined upon it, as from a lower social rank and inferior order of endowment, towards a higher. Now, during a conversation of some two or three moments between the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale and this excellent and hoary-bearded deacon, it was only by the most careful self-control that the former could refrain from uttering certain blasphemous suggestions that rose into his mind, respecting the communion-supper. He absolutely trembled and turned pale as ashes, lest his tongue should wag itself, in utterance of these horrible matters, and plead his own consent for so doing, without his having fairly given it. And, even with this terror in his heart, he could hardly avoid laughing to imagine how the sanctified old patriarchal deacon would have been petrified by his minister’s impiety!" (pg. 189 3rd paragraph)
He was in the forest so long that 'natural' impulses started wanting to take over his actions. Pearl, and her wildness started to affect him. He left the forest different, because he started to feel free, he felt more capable of being able to express himself. "The minister’s own will, and Hester’s will, and the fate that grew between them, had wrought this transformation." (pg. 189 2nd paragraph)

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 42 - Chapter 20: Part 2.

"“What is it that haunts and tempts me thus?” cried the minister to himself, at length, pausing in the street, and striking his hand against his forehead. “Am I mad? or am I given over utterly to the fiend? Did I make a contract with him in the forest, and sign it with my blood? And does he now summon me to its fulfilment, by suggesting the performance of every wickedness which his most foul imagination can conceive?”" (pg. 192 3rd paragraph)
Even though Hester and Dimmesdale have come up with a way to get out of this town and be together, it doesn't mean that what they plan to do is right. His sin still haunts him. If he goes to Europe he will just be hiding his sin in Europe. The sin will forever haunt Dimmesdale until he has forgiven himself, and expressed the truth to everyone.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 41 - Chapter 20: Part 1.

"The excitement of Mr. Dimmesdale’s feelings, as he returned from his interview with Hester, lent him unaccustomed physical energy, and hurried him townward at a rapid pace. The pathway among the woods seemed wilder, more uncouth with its rude natural obstacles, and less trodden by the foot of man, than he remembered it on his outward journey. But he leaped across the plashy places, thrust himself through the clinging underbrush, climbed the ascent, plunged into the hollow, and overcame, in short, all the difficulties of the track, with an unweariable activity that astonished him. He could not but recall how feebly, and with what frequent pauses for breath, he had toiled over the same ground only two days before. As he drew near the town, he took an impression of change from the series of familiar objects that presented themselves. It seemed not yesterday, not one, nor two, but many days, or even years ago, since he had quitted them. There, indeed, was each former trace of the street, as he remembered it, and all the peculiarities of the houses, with the due multitude of gable-peaks, and a weathercock at every point where his memory suggested one. Not the less, however, came this importunately obtrusive sense of change. The same was true as regarded the acquaintances whom he met, and all the well-known shapes of human life, about the little town. They looked neither older nor younger, now; the beards of the aged were no whiter, nor could the creeping babe of yesterday walk on his feet today; it was impossible to describe in what respect they differed from the individuals on whom he had so recently bestowed a parting glance; and yet the minister’s deepest sense seemed to inform him of their mutability. A similar impression struck him most remarkably, as he passed under the walls of his own church. The edifice had so very strange, and yet so familiar, an aspect, that Mr. Dimmesdale’s mind vibrated between two ideas; either that he had seen it only in a dream hitherto, or that he was merely dreaming about it now." (pg. 188 paragraph 2)

I brought up the idea of Hester being Dimmesdales medicine and this back up my point, because as soon as he leaves he feels instantly better and starts jogging back to town. He has gained a physical energy that he has been struggling with for so long. I think the true medicine though was hope. His condition was worsening as he hid his secrets from the people in the town, but now that there is hope that he can be with his family and live outside of this judgmental society the hope in his heart has healed him.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 40 - Chapter 19: Part 4.

“Doth he love us?” said Pearl, looking up with acute intelligence into her mother’s face. “Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?” (pg. 1855th paragraph)
Pearl wants everything that is hidden in the 'shadows' to be brought into the 'public light'. However, if this happens it would probably ruin the relationship between her mother and Dimmesdale. If they were to run away, they wouldn't be confronting their sin, and it would be like not acknowledging Pearl.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 39 - Chapter 19: Part 3.

“I have a strange fancy,” observed the sensitive minister, “that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again. Or is she an elfish spirit, who, as the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden to cross a running stream? Pray hasten her; for this delay has already imparted a tremor to my nerves.”
Pearls side of the brook represents innocence and honesty, because she has been honest her entire life. She was never like all the other children she was wild and adventurous, nature was her playroom she never tried to be what the society wanted her to be. The other side was a side of dishonesty, a hidden place. Although they were together, which felt amazing to them there connection was on the other side of the brook. In order for them to reach that side of the brook they have to admit that Dimmesdale is the father.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 38 - Chapter 19: Part 2.

“Thou canst not think,” said the minister, glancing aside at Hester Prynne, “how my heart dreads this interview, and yearns for it! But, in truth, as I already told thee, children are not readily won to be familiar with me. They will not climb my knee, nor prattle in my ear, nor answer to my smile; but stand apart, and eye me strangely. Even little babes, when I take them in my arms, weep bitterly. Yet Pearl, twice in her little lifetime, hath been kind to me! The first time,—thou knowest it well! The last was when thou ledst her with thee to the house of yonder stern old Governor.” (pg. 181 2nd paragraph)

Children are innocent and pure, and can feel his corruption and his secret. The kids of the town are all influenced from their parent's aspects of Hester's situation or sin. They have a better capability of picking up on unusual things in life at a young age because they don't have as many responsibilities as their parents. Pearl, however, already knows of Dimmesdale's hidden sin, so she is able to be kind to him.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 37 - Chapter 19: Part 1.

It was with a feeling which neither of them had ever before experienced, that they sat and watched Pearl’s slow advance. In her was visible the tie that united them. She had been offered to the world, these seven years past, as the living hieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret they so darkly sought to hide,—all written in this symbol,—all plainly manifest,—had there been a prophet or magician skilled to read the character of flame! And Pearl was the oneness of their being. Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubt that their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoined, when they beheld at once the material union, and the spiritual idea, in whom they met, and were to dwell immortally together? Thoughts like these—and perhaps other thoughts, which they did not acknowledge or define—threw an awe about the child, as she came onward. (pg. 180 4th paragraph)
This is when they had the first feeling of family, and when they were watching Peal walk towards the them it was like a dream. Pearl was the reason that they were together now. Her symbol was evident to them, but to the rest of the society it was still mysterious because no one knew who her father was. They continued to compare her features to their own, and Pearl was definitely her father's child. 

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 36 - Chapter 18: Part 2.

"Pearl had not found the hour pass wearisomely, while her mother sat talking with the clergyman. The great black forest—stern as it showed itself to those who brought the guilt and troubles of the world into its bosom—became the playmate of the lonely infant, as well as it knew how. Sombre as it was, it put on the kindest of its moods to welcome her. It offered her the partridge-berries, the growth of the preceding autumn, but ripening only in the spring, and now red as drops of blood upon the withered leaves. These Pearl gathered, and was pleased with their wild flavor. The small denizens of the wilderness hardly took pains to move out of her path. A partridge, indeed, with a brood of ten behind her, ran forward threateningly, but soon repented of her fierceness, and clucked to her young ones not to be afraid. A pigeon, alone on a low branch, allowed Pearl to come beneath, and uttered a sound as much of greeting as alarm. A squirrel, from the lofty depths of his domestic tree, chattered either in anger or merriment,—for a squirrel is such a choleric and humorous little personage that it is hard to distinguish between his moods,—so he chattered at the child, and flung down a nut upon her head. It was a last year’s nut, and already gnawed by his sharp tooth. A fox, startled from his sleep by her light foot-step on the leaves, looked inquisitively at Pearl, as doubting whether it were better to steal off, or renew his nap on the same spot. A wolf, it is said,—but here the tale has surely lapsed into the improbable,—came up, and smelt of Pearl’s robe, and offered his savage head to be patted by her hand. The truth seems to be, however, that the mother-forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child." 
The dark forest is usually a bad evil place but when pearl is there and she is playing in it she turns it into a good place. Because she is supposed to represent free nature i think that it over powers the evil of the forest.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 35 - Chapter 18: Part 1.

“Do I feel joy again?” cried he, wondering at himself. “Methought the germ of it was dead in me! O Hester, thou art my better angel! I seem to have flung myself—sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackened—down upon these forest-leaves, and to have risen up all made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been merciful! This is already the better life! Why did we not find it sooner?” (pg. 176 3rd paragraph) being with Hester and pearl makes him feel automatically better. the reason he is getting sick is because he is keeping what he did a secret not because he did the actual thing. being with his little family makes him feel better. It is like Hester and Pearl are his medicine.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 34 - Chapter 17: Part 2.

“Thou shalt not go alone!” answered she, in a deep whisper." (pg. 173 6th paragraph)
WHAT!!!! Dimmesdale has made Hester go through this torture by herself for the past 7 years and now that he is going to do something that is hard she is going to help her. I know that he was being privately tortured but still. I think the only reason that Hester wants to go with him is because she feels guilty for not telling him sooner that Chillingworth was her husband. 

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 33 - Chapter 17: Part 1.

"“I do forgive you, Hester,” replied the minister, at length, with a deep utterance out of an abyss of sadness, but no anger. “I freely forgive you now. May God forgive us both! We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world. There is one worse than even the polluted priest! That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin. He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart. Thou and I, Hester, never did so!" (pg. 170 3rd paragraph) 
I think it is ironic that Chillingworth is torturing Dimmesdale for his sin, while getting revenge is an even worse sin in this case. Chillingworth knows that, but he does not need the forgiveness from god like Dimmesdale. He is not as faithful, but I don't think Dimmesdale understands how a person can be so evil, how is intentions could be so dark.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 32 - Chapter 16: Part 2.

"As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl’s features, her mother could have fancied that the child had absorbed it into herself, and would give it forth again, with a gleam about her path, as they should plunge into some gloomier shade. There was no other attribute that so much impressed her with a sense of new and untransmitted vigor in Pearl’s nature, as this never-failing vivacity of spirits; she had not the disease of sadness, which almost all children, in these latter days, inherit, with the scrofula, from the troubles of their ancestors. Perhaps this too was a disease, and but the reflex of the wild energy with which Hester had fought against her sorrows, before Pearl’s birth. It was certainly a doubtful charm, imparting a hard, metallic lustre to the child’s character. She wanted—what some people want throughout life—a grief that should deeply touch her, and thus humanize and make her capable of sympathy. But there was time enough yet for little Pearl!" (pg. 160-161 9th paragraph)
It was almost as if Pearl had taken away the sunshine by absorbing it like a flower. the sun to Pearl is like an energy source. This relates back to her being a part of nature. she is a growing flower and the sun gives her life. This means she would die in the shadows or evilness.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 31 - Chapter 16: Part 1.

"“Mother,” said little Pearl, “the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom. Now, see! There it is, playing, a good way off. Stand you here, and let me run and catch it. I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”"


This represents pearls innocence, even though she is supposed to symbolize her mothers sin, she does not really have any sins of her own. That is why the sun (light) does not hide from her and does from Hester. Pearl claims that she does not wear anything on her chest yet, meaning that she has nothing to be ashamed of, or to hide........YETTTTTTTTT!

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 30 - Chapter 15: Part 2.

"Her final employment was to gather sea-weed, of various kinds, and make herself a scarf, or mantle, and a head-dress, and thus assume the aspect of a little mermaid. She inherited her mother’s gift for devising drapery and costume. As the last touch to her mermaid’s garb, Pearl took some eel-grass, and imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother’s. A letter,—the letter A,—but freshly green, instead of scarlet! The child bent her chin upon her breast, and contemplated this device with strange interest; even as if the one only thing for which she had been sent into the world was to make out its hidden import."

Being a mermaid goes back to freedom. Being a mermaid is like being bird where they're able to do what they please, they are free to do what they want. Pearl made herself a scarf, and a headdress as a costume, and considered that to be a talent like her mothers sewing. When i think of green i thing of friut and except for green fruit when fruit is green it is unripe, like apples or bananas. The green letter A can symbolize unripeness (Pearls young age) as for her still being too young to know what it truly symbolizes. Green also has to do with nature, because most nature is green. 

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 29 - Chapter 15: Part 1.

"So Roger Chillingworth—a deformed old figure, with a face that haunted men’s memories longer than they liked!—took leave of Hester Prynne, and went stooping away along the earth. He gathered here and there an herb, or grubbed up a root, and put it into the basket on his arm. His gray beard almost touched the ground, as he crept onward. Hester gazed after him a little while, looking with a half-fantastic curiosity to see whether the tender grass of early spring would not be blighted beneath him, and show the wavering track of his footsteps, sere and brown, across its cheerful verdure. She wondered what sort of herbs they were, which the old man was so sedulous to gather. Would not the earth, quickened to an evil purpose by the sympathy of his eye, greet him with poisonous shrubs, of species hitherto unknown, that would start up under his fingers? Or might it suffice him, that every wholesome growth should be converted into something deleterious and malignant at his touch? Did the sun, which shone so brightly everywhere else, really fall upon him? Or was there, as it rather seemed, a circle of ominous shadow moving along with his deformity, whichever way he turned himself? And whither was he now going? Would he not suddenly sink into the earth, leaving a barren and blasted spot, where, in due course of time, would be seen deadly nightshade, dogwood, henbane, and whatever else of vegetable wickedness the climate could produce, all flourishing with hideous luxuriance? Or would he spread bat’s wings and flee away, looking so much the uglier, the higher he rose towards Heaven?" (pg. 153 1st paragraph) Robert Chillingworth as we know does not symbolizes the devil; this is because when he found out that Dimmesdale has carved an "A" in his chest, Chillingworth was surprised, if he was the devil he would not have been surprised. I do think he is closely related to the devil, like he is a demon or something, or someone who is working for the devin kinda like they thought a witch was back then. I have grown up relating hell to fire. Multiple times in the book have they related to fire. Chilingworths intentions don't come from something good he has changed into this monster who only wants revenge and as he is making Dimmesdale crazy, because he is going mad himself. Which is creating him into a demon. 

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 28 - Chapter 14: Part 2.

"Hester bade little Pearl run down to the margin of the water, and play with the shells and tangled seaweed, until she should have talked awhile with yonder gatherer of herbs. So the child flew away like a bird, and, making bare her small white feet, went pattering along the moist margin of the sea. Here and there, she came to a full stop, and peeped curiously into a pool, left by the retiring tide as a mirror for Pearl to see her face in. Forth peeped at her, out of the pool, with dark, glistening curls around her head, and an elf-smile in her eyes, the image of a little maid, whom Pearl, having no other playmate, invited to take her hand and run a race with her. But the visionary little maid, on her part, beckoned likewise, as if to say,—“This is a better place! Come thou into the pool!” And Pearl, stepping in, mid-leg deep, beheld her own white feet at the bottom; while, out of a still lower depth, came the gleam of a kind of fragmentary smile, floating to and fro in the agitated water." (pg. 147 1st paragraph) In the same paragraph as Pearl being a bird, she is again part of nature. She's compared to an elf with dark shiny curls. She's outside the town's rules, and can dance, run, and play unlike any child in the society. She does not have any friends so she has no one to play with, so instead she pretends to have a friend (imaginary friend / her reflection) in the water. Her mother, regardless of what people may think of her now are still obays laws.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 27 - Chapter 14: Part 1.

"Hester bade little Pearl run down to the margin of the water, and play with the shells and tangled seaweed, until she should have talked awhile with yonder gatherer of herbs. So the child flew away like a bird, and, making bare her small white feet, went pattering along the moist margin of the sea. Here and there, she came to a full stop, and peeped curiously into a pool, left by the retiring tide as a mirror for Pearl to see her face in. Forth peeped at her, out of the pool, with dark, glistening curls around her head, and an elf-smile in her eyes, the image of a little maid, whom Pearl, having no other playmate, invited to take her hand and run a race with her. But the visionary little maid, on her part, beckoned likewise, as if to say,—“This is a better place! Come thou into the pool!” And Pearl, stepping in, mid-leg deep, beheld her own white feet at the bottom; while, out of a still lower depth, came the gleam of a kind of fragmentary smile, floating to and fro in the agitated water." (pg. 147 1st paragraph) This is a continues motif throughout the book between Pearl and  nature(imps, elves, birds ect.). Being part of nature is considered being wild. This was against the town's beliefs and expectations of no one being independent. She has no law because she lives life out of society. She doesn't have to live like everyone else under the constraints of the society. She's free, like a bird.

Vocab 11/8/11

Loquacity - N - talkativeness - Jake's loquacity in class got him detention.


Importunate - ADJ -  persistent or demanding - He was so importunate that i gave into him.


Chirurgical - ADJ -  relating to surgery - the chirurgical conversation made the girl sick


Physiognomy - N - A persons facial expressions that relate to their inner feelings - the mans physiognomy made everyone in the room believe he was sad.


Ignominy - N - disgrace - his ignominy made him get banished.


Misanthropy - N - hatred or dislike of human kind - the policeman's misanthropy to the criminal was great


Invigorated - V - to fill with life and energy - when he got shocked he felt invigorated.


Irrefragable - ADJ - not to be disputed or contested. - the evidence was irrefragable.


Galliard - N - a spirited dance for two dancers in triple rhythm - the two of them danced the galliard all night


Sombre - ADJ - gloomily & dark - the sombre night made me sad.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 26 - Chapter 13: Part 2.

"The rulers, and the wise and learned men of the community, were longer in acknowledging the influence of Hester’s good qualities than the people. The prejudices which they shared in common with the latter were fortified in themselves by an iron framework of reasoning, that made it a far tougher labor to expel them. Day by day, nevertheless, their sour and rigid wrinkles were relaxing into something which, in the due course of years, might grow to be an expression of almost benevolence. Thus it was with the men of rank, on whom their eminent position imposed the guardianship of the public morals. Individuals in private life, meanwhile, had quite forgiven Hester Prynne for her frailty; nay, more, they had begun to look upon the scarlet letter as the token, not of that one sin, for which she had borne so long and dreary a penance, but of her many good deeds since. “Do you see that woman with the embroidered badge?” they would say to strangers. “It is our Hester,—the town’s own Hester,—who is so kind to the poor, so helpful to the sick, so comfortable to the afflicted!” Then, it is true, the propensity of human nature to tell the very worst of itself, when embodied in the person of another, would constrain them to whisper the black scandal of bygone years. It was none the less a fact, however, that, in the eyes of the very men who spoke thus, the scarlet letter had the effect of the cross on a nun’s bosom. It imparted to the wearer a kind of sacredness, which enabled her to walk securely amid all peril. Had she fallen among thieves, it would have kept her safe. It was reported, and believed by many, that an Indian had drawn his arrow against the badge, and that the missile struck it, but fell harmless to the ground."       (pg. 141 & 142 third paragraph) In this instance, the cross could symbolize redemption. People that believe that Christ died on the cross to wash away the sins of mankind, are redeemed in the eyes of God and will go to Heaven. The same idea goes for Hester by wearing the scarlet letter, and having Pearl to show her sin. Eventually her sins start dwindling away, and the A stands for something more than just an 'adulterer'. 

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 25 - Chapter 13: Part 1.

In the thirteenth chapter, Hester's place in the society changes. People start to look at her differently, they know she sinned, but they let her into their world a little more. Instead of identifying the "A" with "Adultery" it suddenly means "Able". even more, is that Hester realizes how much Dimmesdale suffers under the big secret. It's not his mind that's affected but his body that gets weaker and weaker.    


"In her late singular interview with Mr. Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne was shocked at the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced. His nerve seemed absolutely destroyed. His moral force was abased into more than childish weakness. It grovelled helpless on the ground, even while his intellectual faculties retained their pristine strength, or had perhaps acquired a morbid energy, which disease only could have given them. With her knowledge of a train of circumstances hidden from all others, she could readily infer, that, besides the legitimate action of his own conscience, a terrible machinery had been brought to bear, and was still operating, on Mr. Dimmesdale’s well-being and repose. Knowing what this poor, fallen man had once been, her whole soul was moved by the shuddering terror with which he had appealed to her,—the outcast woman,—for support against his instinctively discovered enemy. She decided, moreover, that he had a right to her utmost aid. Little accustomed, in her long seclusion from society, to measure her ideas of right and wrong by any standard external to herself, Hester saw—or seemed to see—that there lay a responsibility upon her, in reference to the clergyman, which she owed to no other, nor to the whole world besides. The links that united her to the rest of human kind—links of flowers, or silk, or gold, or whatever the material—had all been broken. Here was the iron link of mutual crime, which neither he nor she could break. Like all other ties, it brought with it its obligations." (pg. 139 first paragraph)


I think you can see it as self inflected injury. Both Hester and Dimmesdale have a guilty conscience because Hester thinks she should help Arthur by revealing Chillingworth's real identity and Dimmesdale thinks he should step out of the shadow to be indicted too.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 24 - Chapter 12: Part 2.

"She silently ascended the steps, and stood on the platform, holding little Pearl by the handThe 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 life than his own, pouring like a torrent into his heart, and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and the child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed an electric chain." (pg. 134 second paragraph) Being with Pearl and Hester, and holding Pearl's hand makes Dimmesdale automatically feel better. They together make a bond that makes the minister feel better, that no medicine of the time could. The pain that he has been feeling is gone in an instant when he is up there with his "family". Pearl is kind of a symbol of nature a light and her mother is also connected to nature so when he holds them the darkness inside of him disappears. Pearl brings light to his life, and he could keep the light with him if he just confessed to the whole town his sin.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 23 - Chapter 12: Part 1.

"It is done! The whole town will awake, and hurry forth, and find me here!" (pg. 130 third paragraph) Dimmesdale shrieks in the middle of the night on the scaffold where Hester Prynne once was, living through her hours of public humiliation. His guilt had driven him there, but what good does that do if it's when everyone in the town is sleeping? It makes him look like even more of a coward, and he continues to depend on the shadows to hide. He can't make up his mind to come clean or not.

Also, K.C. is a giant alien cat in a human body disguise. No one will really discover this until he reveals his identity at the next talent show, whilst enslaving the entire human race... You've BEEN WARNED!

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 22 - Chapter 11: Part 2.

"Inside a heart" The tittle, is a symbol of the inner struggles Dimmesdale is facing. Even though the scars that he has caused are on the outside the pain he is feeling is all inside. I think he loves Hester and Pearl and to see them everyday knowing that he could fix is what is killing him, because stress can cause a lot if harm to the body if you don't know hot to fix it. He has thought about telling everyone on many occasion, especially now since his illness is giving him so much popularity, but he just can't. I think that he is scared of what the public is going to do to him but he is dying anyways because he is holding this secret in. I think that he should keep the secret in, i know its not the right thing to do but if he does tell he might get rid of his illnesses but the town will probably hang him or put him in prison.

Scarlet Letter D.J. # 21 - Chapter 11: Part 1.

"It is inconceivable, the agony with which this public veneration tortured him! It was a genuine impulse to adore the truth, and to reckon all things shadow-like and utterly devoid of weight or value, that had not its divine essence as the life within their life. Then what was he?--a substance?--or the dimmest of all shadows? He longed to speak out, from his own pulpit, at the full height of his voice, and tell the people what he was. "I, whom you behold in these black garments of the face heavenward, taking upon myself to hold communion, in your behalf, with the Most High Omniscience.--I, in whose daily life you discern the sanctity of Enoch,--I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a gleam along my earthly track, whereby the pilgrims that shall come after me may be guided to the regions of the blest,--I, who have laid the hand of baptism upon your children,--I, who have breathed the parting prayer over your dying friends, to whom the Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted,--I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!"" (pg. 125 second paragraph) Dimmesdale wants and needs to be honest in order to survive, but he's afraid of lose his job and the respect of all the towns people, he also doesn't want to cause Hester or Pearl any more pain than they have already gone through because if he comes forward this will reopen the wound as if it was her first day on the scaffolding. For not being honest earlier, he's embarrassed for hiding his secret for this long, and looks like a coward. He's helped everyone in town, and they all listened to his sermons and took what he said into perspective. He's basically a hypocrite when saying that "It was his genuine impulse to adore the truth, and to reckon all things shadow-like." Shadows go back to the ability to hide the truth, and cover his lie. The shadows have sucked the life from him, and is now pale, but if he turns his face towards heaven, he will have to tell the truth and light will be shown upon him.