Scarlet Letter Lecture Chapters 20 to 22 Focus

Scarlet Letter Lecture Chapters 20 to 22 Focus again on Dimmesdale’s Dilemma and Hester-Dimmesdale Relationship

Chapter 20 The Minister in a Maze Note the critical significance of chapter title? • Draws our attention and compels us to focus again on the internal spiritual conflict within Dimmesdale – Dimmesdale’s Dilemma; • However – at this point in the plot – Dimmesdale is transformed from the weak, pitiful figure we saw entering the Forest in Chapter 16 – to a character with a revitalized and renewed sense of purpose in life; • This becomes strikingly apparent through the Narrator’s enumerated representations of Dimmesdale’s temptations through his encounters with various local community members—an old deacon; the eldest female of his church; a young maiden; and ‘a knot of little Puritan children’;

From Chapter 19 p 185 Recalling from Chapter 19 Hester’s remarks to Pearl • “But in the days to come he will walk hand in hand with us. ” • “We will have a home and a fireside of our own; and thou shalt sit upon his knee; and he will teach thee many things, and love thee dearly. Thou wilt love him, wilt thou not? ” Then the Narrator represents Pearl’s point of view • “And will he always keep his hand over his heart? ” inquired Pearl. We note Pearl shows no real favor to the clergyman. • Deeper critical significance of her probing question?

Chapter 20 - Plot Development The Minister in a Maze As Dimmesdale leaves Hester and Pearl behind on the forest path - he reviews the plan they have devised for their great escape from Boston New England; • Hester is to discreetly secure a passage for the three of them on a ship - now in port, and bound for England. • When Hester tells Dimmesdale that it will probably be four days until their departure, he is glad. In three days time, he plans to preach the Election Day sermon (marking the inauguration of the new Governor) and has decided that this would be the most ideal moment to expose his guilt, and officially renounce his pastoral career in the service of the Puritan church.

At this point in the Plot we see As the Narrator tells us This sailing vessel had recently arrived from the Spanish Main, and, within three days’ time, would sail for Bristol. [Chapter 20, p 187] • Dimmesdale also believes that going to Europe would be the best choice; • Remaining behind and opting instead to live in the forest is something his health could not cope with; What was ‘the Spanish Main’?

The Spanish Main The Spanish New World Empire • In this period, Spain’s imperial annexations included present day Florida and the Western shore of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas • The south American continent (Latin America) • And the Caribbean;

From Chapter 20 p 187 Echoes of Venice as against Cyprus It had been determined between them, that the Old World, with its crowds and cities, offered them a more eligible shelter and concealment than the wilds of New England, or all America, with its alternatives of an Indian wigwam, or the few settlements of Europeans, scattered thinly along the seaboard. Not to speak of the clergyman’s health, so inadequate to sustain the hardships of a forest life, his native gift, his culture, and his entire development would secure him a home only in the midst of civilization and refinement; the higher the state, the more delicately adapted to it the man.

Crossing over to the world of Othello • Compare Dimmesdale in this regard with - Desdemona’s move from Venice to Cyprus; Venice • A Renaissance European city-state of ‘civilization and refinement’ • Cyprus – a Venetian outpost – where the benefits of Venetian civilization are not available; a movement away from a more secure social order; to more random and uncertain conditions; • The principal loser here is Desdemona – in Cyprus – she is isolated from her family, and more exploitable by her male tormentors;

The Change – in Dimmesdale; The Narrator comments [Chapter 20] No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true. [p 188] Not the less, however, came this importunately obtrusive sense of change. [p 189] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ‘Importunately’ Troublesomely urgent or persistent in solicitation ‘obtrusive’ Noticeable or prominent in an unwelcome or intrusive way

Chapter 20 p 189 I am not what I am This phenomenon, in the various shapes which it assumed, indicated no external change, but so sudden and important a change in the spectator of the familial scene, that the intervening space of a single day had operated on his consciousness like the lapse of years. The minister’s own will, and Hester’s will, and the fate that grew between them, had wrought this transformation. It was the same town as heretofore; but the same minister returned not from the forest. He might have said to the friends who greeted him, — “I am not the man for whom you take me!

Dimmesdale communes with himself; (In Soliloquy) - Chapter 20 p 192 “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? ”

Note Timing of Mistress Hibbins Chapter 20 p 193 • The Narrator interjects and tells us At that moment when the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale thus communed with himself, and struck his forehead with his hand, old Mistress Hibbins, the reputed witch-lady, is said to have been passing by. Whether the witch had read the minister’s thoughts or no, she came to a full stop, looked shrewdly into his face, smiled craftily, and—though little given to converse with clergymen—began a conversation. “So, reverend Sir, you have made a visit into the forest, ” • Dimmesdale following this encounter reflects – “Have I then sold myself to the fiend…”

Recall - Chapter 12 p 130 -131 Second Scaffold Scene And thus while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. He shrieked aloud; an outcry that went pealing through the night…. At another window, appeared old Mistress Hibbins… Beyond the shadow of a doubt, this venerable witch-lady had heard Mr. Dimmesdale’s outcry, and interpreted it, with its multitudinous echoes and reverberations, as the clamour of the fiends and night-hags, with whom she was well known to make excursions into the forest.

Chapter 20 p 194 Dimmesdale’s Pastoral Career [Dimmesdale] He had by this time reached his dwelling on the edge of the burial-ground… [he] took refuge in his study. Here he had studied and written; here, gone through fast and vigil, and come forth half alive; here, striven to pray; here, borne a hundred thousand agonies! There was the Bible, in its rich old Hebrew, with Moses and the Prophets speaking to him, and God’s voice through all!

Recall Othello Act 3 Scene 3 p 137 Othello to Iago O now, for ever Farewell the tranquil mind; Farewell content; Farewell the plumed troops, and the big wars That make ambition virtue. O farewell! Farewell the neighing steed… Pride, pomp and circumstance of glorious war! Farewell! Othello’s occupation gone.

Chapter 20 p 194 cont Dimmesdale’s Reflections and Ironies But he seemed to stand apart, and eye this former self with scornful, pitying, but half-envious curiosity. That self was gone! Another man had returned out of the forest; a wiser one; with a knowledge of hidden mysteries which the simplicity of the former never could have reached. A bitter kind of knowledge at that!

Old Roger Chillingworth enters p 194 While occupied with these reflections, a knock came at the door of the study… It was old Roger Chillingworth that entered. The physician knew then, that, in the minister’s regard, he was no longer a trusted friend, but his bitterest enemy.

Chapter 20 p 196 “But, touching your medicine, kind Sir, in my present frame of body I need it not. ” “I thank you from my heart, most watchful friend, ” said the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, with a solemn smile. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter 20 – Scene ends on a note of hope, optimism, regeneration and renewal;

Chapter 21 The New England Holiday p 197 • All kinds of people including sailors and Indians have taken time off from work to see the procession in the market-place in the little metropolis of the colony • Public holiday; an eventful day; • To mark the commencement of the political year of the Colony / the Settlement of New England; • For today – a new Governor is beginning to rule over them; • Note- Hester still clad in a garment of course gray cloth; • The narrator describes the scenes and events of this holiday, and the attitudes behind them;

Chapter 21 p 199 -200 Pearl to Hester about Dimmesdale “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 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!”

Chapter 21 p 200 Note Narrator’s Commentary and Voice Into this festal season of the year—as it already was, and continued to be during the greater part of two centuries—the Puritans compressed whatever mirth and public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared scarcely more grave than most other communities at a period of general affliction.

Narrator’s Voice and Point of View Attitude / tone of the narrator’s representation of the Puritans in his reflective commentary? • The narrator comments in a sardonic tone that the Puritans have lightened up to a point equal to that of people who are greatly troubled. • The tone of the narrator’s commentary is sharply satirical;

Chapter 21 p 204 • Chapter 21 - Ends on a note of high tension and chilling suspense? • Why?

From Chapter 21 p 204 Note lyrical elements in the Prose Now, if never before, it answered a very good purpose, by enabling Hester and the seaman to speak together without risk of being overheard; and so changed was Hester Prynne’s repute before the public… “So mistress, ” said the mariner, “I must bid the steward make ready one more berth than you bargained for!” “What mean you? ” inquired Hester, startled more than she permitted to appear. “Have you another passenger? ” “Why, know you not, ” cried the shipmaster, “that this physician here—Chillingworth, he calls himself— is minded to try my cabin-fare with you? ”

Chillingworth also coming on board Critical Significance? • Chillingworth’s plan to join Dimmesdale along with Hester and Pearl on the ship bound for Bristol; • Retributively - Chillingworth wishes to ensure Dimmesdale does not escape punishment; • Symbolically - suggestive that Dimmesdale wherever he goes – he cannot ever outrun his conscience in this life or that of God’s knowledge in the life hereafter

Moving to Chapter 22 p 205 The Procession Before Hester Prynne could call together thoughts, and consider what was practicable to be done in this new and startling aspect of affairs, the sound of military music was heard approaching along a contiguous street. It denoted the advance of the procession of magistrates and citizens, on its way towards the meeting-house; where, in compliance with a custom thus early established, and ever since observed, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale was to deliver an Election Sermon.

The Social Hierarchy From Chapter 22 p 207 Next, in order to the magistrates came the young and eminently distinguished divine, from whose lips the religious discourse of the anniversary was expected. His was the profession, at that era, in which intellectual ability displayed itself far more than in political life; for—leaving a higher motive out of the question—it offered inducements powerful enough, in the almost worshipping respect of the community, to win the most aspiring ambition into its service.

Chapter 22 The plot thickens in a downward spiral • Any lingering hope that the lovers can rise above their problems is dashed by the distant ‘abstracted’ look about Dimmesdale - as he proceeds to the Meeting-House; • Hester can see the great gulf between them at this point; ‘He seemed so remote from her own sphere, and utterly beyond her reach. ’ p 207 -208 • Even Pearl can see that this is not quite same man she had met in the forest; ‘[Pearl] felt the remoteness…’ p 208 • And Hester’s conversation with Mistress Hibbins who speaks of the forest meeting of Hester and Dimmesdale – shows more unravelling of their secrets – thus foreshadowing the revelation of Dimmesdale’s sin;

Interpretative Commentary Hester endures many painful moments in Chapter 22: • Dimmesdale aloofness / remoteness as he passes; • Mistress Hibbins probing and prying questions and her prophesies; • The ship captain’s message about Chillingworth’s intentions; • The hurtful stares of the visiting people as she stands by the scaffold; • This last scene – where people begin staring at Hester’s Scarlet Letter - A - for little reason – allows us to see that Hester predicament has not positively progressed very far in these seven long years;

And the great Ironic contrast • As Dimmesdale is surrounded by an admiring and adoring crowd of onlookers in the Meeting-House; Ironically - • Hester, in contrast, is outside in the market-place and surrounded by a more hostile crowd

From end of Chapter 22 p 214 Compare with Othello in Act 4 Scene 2 While Hester stood in the magic circle of ignominy, where the cunning cruelty of her sentence seemed to have fixed her for ever, the admirable preacher was looking down from the secret pulpit upon an audience, whose very inmost spirits had yielded to his control. The sainted minister in the church! The woman of the scarlet letter in the marketplace! What imagination would have been irreverent enough to surmise that the same scorching stigma was on them both?

From Othello Act 4 Scene 2 p 189/191 Othello addressing Desdemona: Had it pleased heaven To try me with affliction, had they rained All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head, Steeped me in poverty to the very lips, Given to captivity me and my utmost hopes, I should have found in some place of my soul A drop of patience. But alas, to make me A fixed figure for the time of scorn To point his slow unmoving finger at!