Proceeding on in the reading of Scarlet Letter, the reader delves into the guilt of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and the relationship that forms between himself and Roger Chillingworth.
The new found relationship between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth is nonetheless ironic in that both men have a relationship with Hester Prynne, yet neither of the men knows it. The two became friends because the “mysterious old Roger Chillingworth became the medical advisor of the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale” because Chillingworth “was strongly moved to look into the character and qualities of the patient.” Then two men “spent much time together”, and Dimmesdale, “a true priest, a true religionist” soon became interested and enjoyed “the occasional relief of looking at the universe through the medium of another kind of intellect”, in other words, a scientific view on life that Chillingworth provided. Although the two differ in beliefs on the wide aspect of the world, what the two have in common is the relationship each men share with Hester. It’s a bit ironic that Chillingworth is attempting to release a lie and sin out of Dimmesdale, when Chillingworth himself is keeping a secret. Is Dimmesdale and Chillingworth’s relationship going to provide clues that Chillingworth needs to uncover the truth about Pearl being Dimmesdale’s daughter? And what will happen to the two’s relationship if either of them uncover who each man really is?
The home that Chillingworth and Dimmesdale reside in has ironic characteristics. The walls of Dimmesdale’s room “were hung round with tapestry said to be from the Gobelin looms” which represented “the Scriptural story of David and Bathsheba.” David was a biblical character who committed adultery with Bathsheba. Also, on the wall, was “Nathan the Prophet”, who accused David of his actions. Irony in the biblical story upon Dimmesdale’s wall is that he is in fact David, Hester is Bathsheba, and Chillingworth is Nathan.
Chillingworth has various ways in achieving the task for Dimmesdale to tell the sin he committed. While collecting medicinal herbs one day, Chillingworth found a “dark, flabby leaf.” When asked by Dimmesdale where Chillingworth found such a drab looking weed, Chillingworth says he found them “growing on a grave” and the weeds “have taken upon themselves to keep him in remembrance”, for the man had no tombstone upon his gravesite. Perhaps the weeds “grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime” Chillingworth retorts to Dimmesdale, hoping to uncover the secret from him.
When pressured again about the symptoms Dimmesdale is feeling and as to what is making him sick, Chillingworth continues to question Dimmesdale. Angered by the persistent questioning, Dimmesdale still refuses to tell. Chillingworth responds with saying that “nothing is lost” and that the two will “shall be friends again anon. But see, now, how passion takes hold upon this man, and hurrieth him out of himself! As with one passion, so with another! He hath done a wild thing ere now, this pious Master Dimmesdale, in the hot passion of his heart!” The statements and actions Chillingworth has towards Dimmesdale makes the reader wonder if Chillingworth knows what Dimmesdale did?
Pearl continues to show a “demonic” and “elfish” side to her personality throughout the story. While walking with Hester one day, Pearl gathered “prickly burrs from a tall burdock, and arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter” upon Hester’s breast, which “Hester did not puck off.” Pearl then looked up at Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale in the window, and “threw one of the prickly burrs” at him. The burrs symbolize sin, and the importance of not only putting a burr on the scarlet “A” upon Hester, but also throwing one at Dimmesdale correlates the two together, therefore foreshadowing that Dimmesdale is Hester’s adulterer. Also, the burrs are “prickly” and stick to a person right away, symbolizing how the sin each committed sticks and pokes each one, therefore unable to forget about it.
The guilt that Dimmesdale feels overpowers his ability to act in a rational manner. Chapter 12, “The Minister’s Vigil” is titled so because Dimmesdale wakes in the middle of the night, and “reached the spot, where, now so long since, Hester Prynne had lived through her first hour of public ignominy.” While standing on the scaffolding, Dimmesdale, “without any effort of his will”, screamed aloud, “an outcry that went pealing through the night…as if a company of devils detecting so much misery and terror in it, had made a plaything of the sound, and were bandying it to and fro.” After the relentless cry that Dimmesdale let out, he was sure that the town would all hear, and that everyone would know of his sin. However, no one heard, and if anyone in the town did, they just thought that it was “the witches” in the town. Shortly after, Hester and Pearl saw Dimmesdale standing upon the scaffolding, and stood with him, joining hands. The very moment that Dimmesdale touched Pearl’s hand, “there came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own, pouring like a torrent into his heart…as if the mother and child were communicating their vital warmth into his half-torpid system.” Being together and joined in an “electric chain” with Pearl and Hester created “warmth” throughout Dimmesdale’s body, as if all the emotional pain and guilt he had been feeling earlier was suddenly healed. When asked by Pearl if Dimmesdale will hold Pearl’s and Hester’s hand when the two must stand up there again, Dimmesdale said “another time.” A flash of light then clouded up the sky and Dimmesdale saw an “appearance of an immense letter,-the letter A,-marked out in lines of dull red light.” The ‘A’ that Dimmesdale sees up in the sky symbolizes the guilt that Dimmesdale has, not only in being the adulterer, but also not being able to confess it to his congregation, and most importantly himself.
While standing on the scaffolding, “Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gazing at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart.” Could the mark on Dimmesdale’s chest that Chillingworth saw be an A? Is that why Dimmesdale always has his hand on his chest, because of the pain and guilt that he feels?
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