Chapters 23-24: Beauty and the Scarlet A

When reading these chapters, I was surprisingly pleased by the way Nathaniel Hawthorne wrapped up this novel. Throughout the course of the story, I assumed that the ending of the novel would be very vague and unclear; however the rich ending was quite the contrary.  When Hawthorne wrote in that Dimmesdale died, I thought it was appropriate, because it led to a clear relationship between acknowledging a sin, versus hiding it. As shown through the rest of Hester’s life, she lives normally; going through her daily tasks and has grown as a person from her experience. People knew about her sin, and although it was difficult at first because she was shunned from the Puritan community, it ultimately benefited her. As for Dimmesdale, since he kept his sin a secret for seven years, he was never able to develop this change of character, and he also was not able to see what it was like to be an outcast from the Puritan society, and then over the course of time be let back in. Dimmesdale kept his secret hidden, and therefore the guilt ate away at him for those seven years, until it ultimately killed him. The idiom “eating away at me” relates highly to this situation with guilt and Dimmesdale. The guilt ate away at Dimmesdale until he was unable to handle it anymore and it eventually killed him. Also, when Hawthorne wrote that Hester returned to her cottage and New England I felt that this was a surprise, but I think it was completely necessary. As the saying goes, people usually “return to the scene of the crime” in this case, Hester back to the scene in which she committed her sin. I feel as though if Hester had never returned to the cottage after leaving with Pearl, she would have never gotten closure with the situation with Dimmesdale. I feel like Hester needed to leave the area for awhile, recollect her thoughts and then was able to revisit New England for closure with the situation between Dimmesdale and her. Lastly, I think the way Hawthorne ended Pearl and Dimmesdale’s relationship is one of closure as well. Throughout the novel, there has never been a strong bond between Dimmesdale and Pearl, since she has always been skeptical of him, because of her supernatural-like powers to know that he is her father, even though he does not admit it. This strong closure between them, and the moment they share before Dimmesdale’s passing, is exactly the way a perfect fairy tale story would go. Even though the rest of the novel is far from fairy tale-like, this ending allowed the hope that Pearl and the rest of the characters, not Chillingworth since he was the villain, would have a happily ever after, even though these past seven years have been more like a horror film.

One of the quotes from these chapters that I wanted to highlight was when the sunlight beams down on Dimmesdale, right before he says his final goodbyes. Hawthorne writes this as, “The sun, but little past its meridian, shone down upon the clergyman, and gave a distinctness to his figure, as he stood out from all the earth to put in his plea of guilty at the bar of Eternal Justice” (Hawthorne 227). Throughout the course of the novel, light and dark has been a constant motif. Here, the motif is present again, in relationship to Dimmesdale, and professing his sin. Sunlight is a symbol for vulnerability, so the sun shines here because this is the most vulnerable moment for Dimmesdale. His is vulnerable as to admitting his sin finally after withholding it for seven years, and the sunlight signals this. Hawthorne takes the time to include this minuscule detail, because on a literary level it is more powerful than just the sun appearing.

            Another noteworthy point of these chapters is the essence of music in relation to the action. As we have looked at previously in Death of a Salesman, music signals Willy to go back into one of his delusions. This idea is not the same, however it is important to mention Hawthorne’s attention to music. He writes, “Now was heard again the clangor of the music, and the measured tramp of the military escort, issuing from the church-door” (Hawthorne 223) and again writes, “The minister here made a pause; although the music still played the stately and rejoicing march to which the procession moved. It summoned him onward,—onward to the festival!—but here he made a pause” (Hawthorne 224). In both these incidents with music, a change of feeling is occurring, as with Willy and his change of mind. On page 223, music is heard when the crowd begins to roar about Dimmesdale after he has made his speech. This shows the crowd’s excitement because the energy in the crowd is increasing as the music plays. Also, in the second mention of music on page 224, the action and excitement of the crowd builds even more until Dimmesdale is standing on the scaffold, with Pearl and Hester, about to confess his sin. Unlike in Death of a Salesman, when the music symbolizes a delusion or simpler time, in the Scarlet Letter it symbolizes excitement, or increased energy. This is similar to movies, because the music is always a dead giveaway about what is going to happen and causes suspense. The music is causing the suspense between the reader and Dimmesdale, since his confession of sin is building inside of him just waiting to burst out.

            To relate to chapters 23-24, my gossamer thread is connecting Pearl to the Beast, from Beauty in the Beast. One the surface, these two characters seem completely different; the beast is a gruesome, eerie, and horrifying figure of fictional literature, and Pearl, a small, childish little girl. How is it possible that these two could be related? Well, when looking deeper, it can be shown that Pearl and the Beast both represent evil, or the devil, in their respected fairy tales. The Beast has been held in the secluded castle, hiding, and growing angrier every day that he is not able to be in contact with humans and that nobody likes him. This is because he has been transformed into a beast, and no one wants to befriend him, let alone love him. The same occurs with Pearl. She is secluded in the cottage in the woods with her mother. Also, no one wants to befriend her because she is the product of adultery, and both her mother and father are now receiving unless amounts of guilt. Pearl also grows more evil as the days without much human contact continues. Lastly, Pearl and the Beast both are wealthy, or become wealthy. The Beast has received his money from being a prince, as he was before he became a beast, and Pearl who now has acquired the land left to her from Chillingworth, makes her the youngest heir to a lot of money. So, both these characters withhold money which can be power for them, but yet are still outliers and their money does not generate anyone to love or befriend them. Pearl development of increasingly evil is one that arose throughout the novel, not in these specific chapters. Here, in these chapters, the main relationship between Pearl in the Beast is the passage about Dimmesdale and Pearl’s kiss. Hawthorne writes at the end of chapter 23, “"Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father’s cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl’s errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled” (Hawthorne 229). This scene, of when Pearl kisses Dimmesdale relates to the scene of when the Beast kisses Belle. Here, when Pearl kisses Dimmesdale, she is transformed, and no longer withholds her prior evil. Hawthorne writes that she has become a woman, and the spell broke, which means that she is no longer the devil child she was before, with her supernatural powers. Now, Pearl is a beautiful woman, with no powers, but is still able to live a good life without them. Pearl is able to move away, find a man, and develop a normal life full of possibilities. This relates to the kiss between Belle and the Beast. The transformation that occurs with the Beast is definitely more drastic than the transformation with Pearl, especially because it was physical. As the story goes, Gaston, the villain, stabs the Beast in the back in order to kill him because he beholds mystical powers including the mirror and the rose. So, when the Beast is stabbed, he says his final goodbyes to Belle, who loves him. When she professes her love for him and her tears fall to his cheek, similarly to Pearl’s “as her tears fell upon her father’s cheek” (Hawthorne 229) it allows the Beast to come back to life and be transformed into him prior human self. This transformation is one that permits “a spell was broken”, just as Pearl. Belle professed her love to the Beast and caused this transformation to occur, just as when Pearl kissed Dimmesdale. The kiss was a symbol of love for him, although she did not say it out loud, it was understood that since she kissed him, she did really love him. These too transformations are similar in the way they come about, and how love can transform evil into good.