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.