Chapters 15-22 Outline

Chapter 15

• Hester declares that she hates Chillingworth (159)
• She blames him for tricking her into marriage (159)
• Pearl behaves in an evil manner, but she feels bad when she hurts a bird (160)
• Pearl mentions Dimmesdale’s behavior of holding his hand on his heart and asks what the scarlet letter means (161)
• Hester still believes Pearl is his punishment that will lead to redemption (163)
• Hester lies about the letter for the first time (163)
• Hester threatens Pearl for the first time (164)

Chapter 16

• Hester wants to tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is (164)
• The forest has a negative connotation, similar to “The Crucible” (165)
• Also similar to “The Crucible”, Pearl tells the story of the Devil carrying a book, in which people sign their names in blood (167)
• Pearl is compared to the brook (168)
• Pearl notices that Hester outwardly bears her sin, while Dimmesdale does the opposite (169)
• “Death was too definite an object to be wished for or avoided” (170). This refers to Dimmesdale almost wishing to die in the forest.

Chapter 17

• Hester and Dimmesdale do not immediately take of the events involving their past
• Dimmesdale tells her of how he is only tortured by the villagers who deeply respect him (172)
• He thinks she is lucky to have the scarlet letter to bear openly (173)
• She tells him who Chillingworth really is and he says that he had a feeling that he was evil all along (175)
• Hester tells him that he should run away, but he says he can’t do it alone, but she says he is not alone (179)

Chapter 18

• Hester tells Dimmesdale to stop worrying about the past and he begins to feel better
• Hester takes the scarlet letter off for the first time, and feels extremely relieved (182)
• The forest all of the sudden becomes sunny, and it loses its negativity (183)
• Pearl is playing in the forest and Hester wants her to meet Dimmesdale
• Pearl stops on the edge of the brook

Chapter 19

• Dimmesdale believes that Pearl resembles him and he was worried that the townspeople may link the two (186)

• Dimmesdale says that children do not usually like him, but Pearl was nice to him the past two times they interacted (187)
• Pearl refuses to come to Hester because she is not wearing the scarlet letter
• When Hester puts the letter back on Pearl comes to her, but she once again bears the mental anguish along with it (190)
• Dimmesdale kisses Pearl, but Pearl washes her face in the brook (191)

 

Chapter 20

• Dimmesdale and Hester plan to leave on a boat within four days, and Dimmesdale has a big sermon in three days
• As he walks back to town he feels that everything is strange and that he has only known it in a dream (194)
• “I am not the man for whom you take me” (195)
• He is afraid to speak with his deacon (196)
• He also has an awkward interaction with an old lady and a younger one who attend his church (196)
• He covers his face from the young woman because he is too ashamed and believes he may corrupt the entire town (197)
• Mistress Hibbens accuses Dimmesdale of going to the forest and interacting with the Devil
• Dimmesdale tells Chillingworth that he doesn’t want anymore of his medicine (201)
• He then writes a new sermon for the election day
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Chapter 21

• It is a town holiday because there will be a procession for an elected official (202)
• All of the people are gathered at the town market
• Pearl says that Dimmesdale is a sad man because he will only interact with Hester and her in private, but never in front of the rest of the town (205)
• Chillingworth talks with the captain of a ship, and Hester finds out that Chillingworth will also be traveling aboard the boat that she and Dimmesdale planned to take (210)

Chapter 22

• The procession begins
• Soldiers in the procession are compared to the Knights Templars (212)
• Dimmesdale seems to be more energetic in a strange way (215)
• Pearl asks if he is the same man that was with Hester and her in the forest (215)
• There are newcomers to the town market who have herd rumors that exaggerate the scarlet letter’s meaning, and Hester must deal with their glares along with the old familiar ones
• Mistress Hibbens speaks with Hester about Dimmesdale and asks her what his secret is (216)
• Dimmesdale begins to make his speech and there is lots of emotional appeal , “pathos”, in it
• The speech is compared to an organ and even if one did not understand what was being said, they would still be able to interpret the emotion in it (218)