-The time came to elect a new governor, and similarly to the beginning where people gathered to watch Hester, they gathered in the same area.
--“It was like a mask; or, rather, like the frozen calmness of a dead woman's features; owing this dreary resemblance to the fact that Hester was actually dead, in respect to any claim of sympathy, and had departed out of the world, with which she still seemed to mingle”(203).
--“‘Look your last on the scarlet letter and its wearer!’ - the people's victim and life-long bond-slave, as they fancied her, might say to them. ‘Yet a little while, and she will be beyond your reach! A few hours longer and the deep, mysterious ocean will quench and hide for ever the symbol which ye have caused to burn on her bosom!’”(203)
-Pearl continues to ponder over why Dimmesdale cannot encounter she and Hester in the middle of the day.
--“‘He should not nod and smile at me, for all that, - the black, grim, ugly-eyed old man!’ said Pearl. ‘He may nod at thee, if he will; for thou art clad in gray, and wearest the scarlet letter. But see, mother, how many faces of strange people, and Indians among them, and sailors! What have they all come to do, here in the market-place?’”(205)
--“‘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 and 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!’”(205)
-Chillingworth appears at the procession, and appears as the most outstanding, perhaps because he is glad of something he has found out.
--“The latter was by far the most showy and gallant figure, so far as apparel went, anywhere to be seen among the multitude. He wore a profusion of ribbons on his garment, and gold-lace on his hat, which was also encircled by a gold chain, and surmounted with a feather. There was a sword at his side, and a sword-cut on his forehead, which, by the arrangement of his hair, he seemed anxious rather to display than hide”(209).
-Hester is ultimately defeated when she speaks with one of the sailors of the ship that would be bringing herself and Dimmesdale to Europe, and finds out that Chillingworth is coming. The sailor said that it was a good thing, since they may need a doctor.
--“‘Why, know you not,’ cried the shipmaster, ‘that this physician here - Chillingworth, he calls himself - is minded to try my cabin-fare with you? Ay, ay, you must have known it; for he tells me he is of your party, and a close friend to the gentleman you spoke of, - he that is in peril from these sour old Puritan rulers!’”(210)
-Hester sees Chillingworth in a lonely corner of the marketplace, and he simply smirks at her.
--“Nothing further passed between the mariner and Hester Prynne. But, at that instant, she beheld old Roger Chillingworth himself, standing in the remotest comer of the market-place, and smiling on her; a smile which - across the wide and bustling square, and through all the talk and laughter, and various thoughts, moods, and interests of the crowd - conveyed secret and fearful meaning”(210-211).
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Chapter 20: The Minister in a Maze
-The prospect of moving with Hester and getting away from Chillingworth is getting into his head.
--“The edifice had so very strange, and yet so familiar, an aspect, that Mr. Dimmesdale's mind vibrated between two ideas; either that he had seen it only in a dream hitherto, or that he was merely dreaming about it now”(194-195).
--“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 familiar scene, that the intervening space of a single day had operated on his consciousness like the lapse of years”(195).
-The minister feels guilty, since he thinks he is giving into temptation, and encounters various people on his way back to the church. Their presence seemed to irk him, to the point of wanting to teach them cruel words.
--“For instance, he met one of his own deacons. The good old man addressed him with the paternal affection and patriarchal privilege, which his venerable age, his upright and holy character, and his station in the Church, entitled him to use; and, conjoined with this, the deep, almost worshipping respect, which the minister's professional and private claims alike demanded. Never was there a more beautiful example of how the majesty of age and wisdom may comport with the obeisance and respect enjoined upon it, as from a lower social rank, and inferior order of endowment, towards a higher”(195).
--“Hurrying along the street, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale encountered the eldest female member of his church; a most pious and exemplary old dame; poor, widowed, lonely, and with a heart as full of reminiscences about her dead husband and children, and her dead friends of long ago, as a burial ground is full of storied gravestones. Yet all this, which would else have been such heavy sorrow, was made almost a solemn joy to her devout old soul, by religious consolations and the truths of Scripture, wherewith she had fed herself continually for more than thirty years”(196).
---“The instilment thereof into her mind would probably have caused this aged sister to drop down dead at once, as by the effect of an intensely poisonous infusion”(196).
--“She was fair and pure as a lily that had bloomed in Paradise. The minister knew well that he was himself enshrined within the stainless sanctity of her heart, which hung its snowy curtains about his image, imparting to religion the warmth of love, and to love a religious purity. Satan, that afternoon, had surely led the poor young girl away from her mother's side, and thrown her into the pathway of this sorely tempted, or - shall we not rather say? - this lost and desperate man”(197).
--“It was, - we blush to tell it, - it was to stop short in the road, and teach some very wicked words to a knot of little Puritan children who were playing there, and had but just begun to talk”(197-198).
-Dimmesdale encounters old Mistress Hibbins.
--“At the 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. She made a very grand appearance; having on a high head-dress, a rich gown of velvet, and a ruff done up with the famous yellow starch, of which Ann Turner, her especial friend, had taught her the secret, before this last good lady had been hanged for Sir Thomas Overbury's murder”(198).
-His encounter with Mistress Hibbins makes it clear to him what he has done wrong all along, which was giving into temptation in the first place.
--“The wretched minister! He had made a bargain very like it! Tempted by a dream of happiness, he had yielded himself, with deliberate choice, as he had never done before, to what he knew was deadly sin. And the infectious poison of that sin had been thus rapidly diffused throughout his moral system”(199).
--“The edifice had so very strange, and yet so familiar, an aspect, that Mr. Dimmesdale's mind vibrated between two ideas; either that he had seen it only in a dream hitherto, or that he was merely dreaming about it now”(194-195).
--“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 familiar scene, that the intervening space of a single day had operated on his consciousness like the lapse of years”(195).
-The minister feels guilty, since he thinks he is giving into temptation, and encounters various people on his way back to the church. Their presence seemed to irk him, to the point of wanting to teach them cruel words.
--“For instance, he met one of his own deacons. The good old man addressed him with the paternal affection and patriarchal privilege, which his venerable age, his upright and holy character, and his station in the Church, entitled him to use; and, conjoined with this, the deep, almost worshipping respect, which the minister's professional and private claims alike demanded. Never was there a more beautiful example of how the majesty of age and wisdom may comport with the obeisance and respect enjoined upon it, as from a lower social rank, and inferior order of endowment, towards a higher”(195).
--“Hurrying along the street, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale encountered the eldest female member of his church; a most pious and exemplary old dame; poor, widowed, lonely, and with a heart as full of reminiscences about her dead husband and children, and her dead friends of long ago, as a burial ground is full of storied gravestones. Yet all this, which would else have been such heavy sorrow, was made almost a solemn joy to her devout old soul, by religious consolations and the truths of Scripture, wherewith she had fed herself continually for more than thirty years”(196).
---“The instilment thereof into her mind would probably have caused this aged sister to drop down dead at once, as by the effect of an intensely poisonous infusion”(196).
--“She was fair and pure as a lily that had bloomed in Paradise. The minister knew well that he was himself enshrined within the stainless sanctity of her heart, which hung its snowy curtains about his image, imparting to religion the warmth of love, and to love a religious purity. Satan, that afternoon, had surely led the poor young girl away from her mother's side, and thrown her into the pathway of this sorely tempted, or - shall we not rather say? - this lost and desperate man”(197).
--“It was, - we blush to tell it, - it was to stop short in the road, and teach some very wicked words to a knot of little Puritan children who were playing there, and had but just begun to talk”(197-198).
-Dimmesdale encounters old Mistress Hibbins.
--“At the 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. She made a very grand appearance; having on a high head-dress, a rich gown of velvet, and a ruff done up with the famous yellow starch, of which Ann Turner, her especial friend, had taught her the secret, before this last good lady had been hanged for Sir Thomas Overbury's murder”(198).
-His encounter with Mistress Hibbins makes it clear to him what he has done wrong all along, which was giving into temptation in the first place.
--“The wretched minister! He had made a bargain very like it! Tempted by a dream of happiness, he had yielded himself, with deliberate choice, as he had never done before, to what he knew was deadly sin. And the infectious poison of that sin had been thus rapidly diffused throughout his moral system”(199).
Chapter 19: The Child at the Brook-Side
-Hester calls Pearl who is off in the woods to come and meet Dimmesdale, yet, she is at the other side of a brook from them, and is unusually reluctant to cross it. Dimmesdale seems to think that he is the reason for this.
--“‘I have a strange fancy,’ observed the sensitive minister, ‘that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again. Or is she an elfish spirit, who, as the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden to cross a running stream? Pray hasten her; for this delay has already imparted a tremor to my nerves’”(187-188).
--“Pearl, without responding in any manner to these honey-sweet expressions, remained on the other side of the brook. Now she fixed her bright, wild eyes on her mother, now on the minister, and now included them both in the same glance; as if to detect and explain to herself the relation which they bore to one another”(188).
-Hester had removed the scarlet letter, which is what seems to be preventing Pearl from crossing the river.
--“At length, assuming a singular air of authority, Pearl stretched out her hand, with the small forefinger extended, and pointing evidently towards her mother's breast. And beneath, in the mirror of the brook, there was the flower-girdled and sunny image of little Pearl, pointing her small forefinger too”(188).
-Dimmesdale advises Hester to put the scarlet letter back on, for Pearl's sake.
--“‘I pray you,’ answered the minister, ‘if thou hast any means of pacifying the child, do it forthwith! Save it were the cankered wrath of an old witch, like Mistress Hibbins," added he, attempting to smile, "I know nothing that I would not sooner encounter than this passion in a child. In Pearl's young beauty, as in the wrinkled witch, it has a preternatural effect. Pacify her if thou lovest me!’”(189)
-Dimmesdale kisses Pearl, who runs off to a nearby brook to wash it off. It is evident that Pearl is not accepting enough of Dimmesdale yet.
--“Hereupon, Pearl broke away from her mother, and, running to the brook, stooped over it, and bathed her forehead, until the unwelcome kiss was quite washed off, and diffused through a long lapse of the gliding water”(191).
--“‘I have a strange fancy,’ observed the sensitive minister, ‘that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again. Or is she an elfish spirit, who, as the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden to cross a running stream? Pray hasten her; for this delay has already imparted a tremor to my nerves’”(187-188).
--“Pearl, without responding in any manner to these honey-sweet expressions, remained on the other side of the brook. Now she fixed her bright, wild eyes on her mother, now on the minister, and now included them both in the same glance; as if to detect and explain to herself the relation which they bore to one another”(188).
-Hester had removed the scarlet letter, which is what seems to be preventing Pearl from crossing the river.
--“At length, assuming a singular air of authority, Pearl stretched out her hand, with the small forefinger extended, and pointing evidently towards her mother's breast. And beneath, in the mirror of the brook, there was the flower-girdled and sunny image of little Pearl, pointing her small forefinger too”(188).
-Dimmesdale advises Hester to put the scarlet letter back on, for Pearl's sake.
--“‘I pray you,’ answered the minister, ‘if thou hast any means of pacifying the child, do it forthwith! Save it were the cankered wrath of an old witch, like Mistress Hibbins," added he, attempting to smile, "I know nothing that I would not sooner encounter than this passion in a child. In Pearl's young beauty, as in the wrinkled witch, it has a preternatural effect. Pacify her if thou lovest me!’”(189)
-Dimmesdale kisses Pearl, who runs off to a nearby brook to wash it off. It is evident that Pearl is not accepting enough of Dimmesdale yet.
--“Hereupon, Pearl broke away from her mother, and, running to the brook, stooped over it, and bathed her forehead, until the unwelcome kiss was quite washed off, and diffused through a long lapse of the gliding water”(191).
Chapter 18: A Flood of Sunshine
-Dimmesdale feels like his moving away with Hester is him giving himself purely to temptation, but claims that it would be the only way he would be truly happy. He also asks God for forgiveness.
--“‘If, in all these past seven years,’ thought he, ‘I could recall one instant of peace or hope, I would yet endure for the sake of that earnest of Heaven's mercy. But now, - since I am irrevocably doomed, - wherefore should I not snatch the solace allowed to the condemned culprit before his execution? Or, if this be the path to a better life, as Hester would persuade me, I surely give up no fairer prospect by pursuing it! Neither can I any longer live without her companionship; so powerful is she to sustain, - so tender to soothe! O Thou to whom I dare not lift mine eyes, wilt Thou yet pardon me!’”(181)
-Dimmesdale is confident that his new life would be for the better.
--“‘Do I feel joy again?’ cried he, wondering at himself. ‘Methought the germ of it was dead in me! O Hester, thou art my better angel! I seem to have flung myself - sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackened - down upon these forest leaves, and to have risen up all made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been merciful! This is already the better life! Why did we not find it sooner?’’(182)
-Hester removes the scarlet letter and throws it off into the distance, also telling Dimmesdale to forget his dark past.
--“‘Let us not look back,’ answered Hester Prynne. ‘The past is gone! Wherefore should we linger upon it now? See! With this symbol, I undo it all, and make it as it had never been!’”(182)
--“‘If, in all these past seven years,’ thought he, ‘I could recall one instant of peace or hope, I would yet endure for the sake of that earnest of Heaven's mercy. But now, - since I am irrevocably doomed, - wherefore should I not snatch the solace allowed to the condemned culprit before his execution? Or, if this be the path to a better life, as Hester would persuade me, I surely give up no fairer prospect by pursuing it! Neither can I any longer live without her companionship; so powerful is she to sustain, - so tender to soothe! O Thou to whom I dare not lift mine eyes, wilt Thou yet pardon me!’”(181)
-Dimmesdale is confident that his new life would be for the better.
--“‘Do I feel joy again?’ cried he, wondering at himself. ‘Methought the germ of it was dead in me! O Hester, thou art my better angel! I seem to have flung myself - sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackened - down upon these forest leaves, and to have risen up all made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been merciful! This is already the better life! Why did we not find it sooner?’’(182)
-Hester removes the scarlet letter and throws it off into the distance, also telling Dimmesdale to forget his dark past.
--“‘Let us not look back,’ answered Hester Prynne. ‘The past is gone! Wherefore should we linger upon it now? See! With this symbol, I undo it all, and make it as it had never been!’”(182)
Chapter 17: The Pastor and His Parishioner
-Dimmesdale regrets what he has done, claiming that it far outweighs the good he does.
--“‘As concerns the good which I may appear to do, I have no faith in it. It must needs be a delusion. What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls? - or a polluted soul towards their purification?’”(172)
-Hester suggests that Chillingworth's torment is causing Dimmesdale to feel guilty as he is.
--“‘Thou hast long had such an enemy, and dwellest with him, under the same roof!’”(173)
-We learn that Hester's original husband was actually Chillingworth.
--“‘That old man! - the physician! - he whom they call Roger Chillingworth! - he was my husband!’”(175)
-Now it makes sense why Chillingworth is bothering to torment Dimmesdale, especially concerning an earlier point he makes.
--“‘I shall seek this man, as I have sought truth in books; as I have sought gold in alchemy. There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine!’”(70)
-Dimmesdale is aware that Chillingworth knows what Hester is up to, and is aware that he is likely to announce Dimmesdale's sin as the ultimate revenge.
--“‘Hester,’ cried he, ‘here is a new horror! Roger Chillingworth knows your purpose to reveal his true character. Will he continue, then, to keep our secret? What will now be the course of his revenge?’”(177)
-Hester suggests that Dimmesdale leaves Salem before Chillingworth can do any more to him.
--“‘Thou must dwell no longer with this man,’ said Hester, slowly and firmly. ‘Thy heart must be no longer under his evil eye!’”(177)
--“‘Give up this name of Arthur Dimmesdale, and make thyself another, and a high one, such as thou canst wear without fear or shame’”(179).
-Dimmesdale is unsure if simply going elsewhere is the best way to go, and if it will keep Chillingworth away.
--“‘O Hester!’ cried Arthur Dimmesdale, in whose eyes a fitful light, kindled by her enthusiasm, flashed up and died away, "thou tellest of running a race to a man whose knees are tottering beneath him!’”(179)
--“‘As concerns the good which I may appear to do, I have no faith in it. It must needs be a delusion. What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls? - or a polluted soul towards their purification?’”(172)
-Hester suggests that Chillingworth's torment is causing Dimmesdale to feel guilty as he is.
--“‘Thou hast long had such an enemy, and dwellest with him, under the same roof!’”(173)
-We learn that Hester's original husband was actually Chillingworth.
--“‘That old man! - the physician! - he whom they call Roger Chillingworth! - he was my husband!’”(175)
-Now it makes sense why Chillingworth is bothering to torment Dimmesdale, especially concerning an earlier point he makes.
--“‘I shall seek this man, as I have sought truth in books; as I have sought gold in alchemy. There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder, suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine!’”(70)
-Dimmesdale is aware that Chillingworth knows what Hester is up to, and is aware that he is likely to announce Dimmesdale's sin as the ultimate revenge.
--“‘Hester,’ cried he, ‘here is a new horror! Roger Chillingworth knows your purpose to reveal his true character. Will he continue, then, to keep our secret? What will now be the course of his revenge?’”(177)
-Hester suggests that Dimmesdale leaves Salem before Chillingworth can do any more to him.
--“‘Thou must dwell no longer with this man,’ said Hester, slowly and firmly. ‘Thy heart must be no longer under his evil eye!’”(177)
--“‘Give up this name of Arthur Dimmesdale, and make thyself another, and a high one, such as thou canst wear without fear or shame’”(179).
-Dimmesdale is unsure if simply going elsewhere is the best way to go, and if it will keep Chillingworth away.
--“‘O Hester!’ cried Arthur Dimmesdale, in whose eyes a fitful light, kindled by her enthusiasm, flashed up and died away, "thou tellest of running a race to a man whose knees are tottering beneath him!’”(179)
Chapter 16: A Forest Walk
-Hester sees it necessary to notify Dimmesdale of Chillingworth's character.
--“Hester Prynne remained constant in her resolve to make known to Mr. Dimmesdale, at whatever risk of present pain or ulterior consequences, the true character of the man who had crept into his intimacy”(164).
--“But, partly that she dreaded the secret or undisguised interference of old Roger Chillingworth, and partly that her conscious heart imputed suspicion where none could have been felt, and partly that both the minister and she would need the whole wide world to breathe in, while they talked together, - for all these reasons, Hester never thought of meeting him in any narrower privacy than beneath the open sky”(165).
-Hester and Pearl go to the woods to wait for Dimmesdale to go for his daily walk.
-Pearl gets suspicious of the negative connotation behind to scarlet letter.
--“‘Mother,’ said little Pearl, ‘the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom’”(165).
-Pearl mercilessly questions Hester about the scarlet letter, and suggests that Hester signed the book of some "Black Man." Hester plays along with it.
--“‘Once in my life I met the Black Man!’ said her mother. ‘This scarlet letter is his mark!’”(168)
-Pearl analyzes a nearby brook, and suspects that the sound of it flowing is trying to tell them something.
--“Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom. But, unlike the little stream, she danced and sparkled, and prattled airily along her course.”(168-169)
-Hester references her sin at this time.
--“‘If thou hadst a sorrow of thine own, the brook might tell thee of it,’ answered her mother, ‘even as it is telling me of mine!’” (169)
-Pearl suspects that Dimmesdale's act of putting his hand over his heart was because he signed the Black Man's book.
--“‘And so it is!’ said the child. ‘And, mother, he has his hand over his heart! Is it because, when the minister wrote his name in the book, the Black Man set his mark in that place? But why does he not wear it outside his bosom, as thou dost, mother?’”(169)
-Hester meets up with Dimmesdale, who seems alright to her, despite his situation.
--“To Hester's eye, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale exhibited no symptom of positive and vivacious suffering, except that, as little Pearl had remarked, he kept his hand over his heart”(170).
--“Hester Prynne remained constant in her resolve to make known to Mr. Dimmesdale, at whatever risk of present pain or ulterior consequences, the true character of the man who had crept into his intimacy”(164).
--“But, partly that she dreaded the secret or undisguised interference of old Roger Chillingworth, and partly that her conscious heart imputed suspicion where none could have been felt, and partly that both the minister and she would need the whole wide world to breathe in, while they talked together, - for all these reasons, Hester never thought of meeting him in any narrower privacy than beneath the open sky”(165).
-Hester and Pearl go to the woods to wait for Dimmesdale to go for his daily walk.
-Pearl gets suspicious of the negative connotation behind to scarlet letter.
--“‘Mother,’ said little Pearl, ‘the sunshine does not love you. It runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on your bosom’”(165).
-Pearl mercilessly questions Hester about the scarlet letter, and suggests that Hester signed the book of some "Black Man." Hester plays along with it.
--“‘Once in my life I met the Black Man!’ said her mother. ‘This scarlet letter is his mark!’”(168)
-Pearl analyzes a nearby brook, and suspects that the sound of it flowing is trying to tell them something.
--“Pearl resembled the brook, inasmuch as the current of her life gushed from a well-spring as mysterious, and had flowed through scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom. But, unlike the little stream, she danced and sparkled, and prattled airily along her course.”(168-169)
-Hester references her sin at this time.
--“‘If thou hadst a sorrow of thine own, the brook might tell thee of it,’ answered her mother, ‘even as it is telling me of mine!’” (169)
-Pearl suspects that Dimmesdale's act of putting his hand over his heart was because he signed the Black Man's book.
--“‘And so it is!’ said the child. ‘And, mother, he has his hand over his heart! Is it because, when the minister wrote his name in the book, the Black Man set his mark in that place? But why does he not wear it outside his bosom, as thou dost, mother?’”(169)
-Hester meets up with Dimmesdale, who seems alright to her, despite his situation.
--“To Hester's eye, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale exhibited no symptom of positive and vivacious suffering, except that, as little Pearl had remarked, he kept his hand over his heart”(170).
Chapter 15: Hester and Pearl
-In the beginning, Chillingworth is collecting herbs and other medicinal items.
-Hester reveals more to the reader her view of Chillingworth.
--“Would not the earth, quickened to an evil purpose by the sympathy of his eye, greet him with poisonous shrubs, of species hitherto unknown, that would start up under his fingers?”(158)
-Pearl is fooling around at the pond and adorns herself with seaweed and other objects found at the pond. She goes so far as to give herself an "A," as Hester has.
--“As the last touch to her mermaid's garb, Pearl took some eel-grass and imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother's. A letter, - the letter A, - but freshly green, instead of scarlet!”(161)
-Pearl questions Hester about the meaning of the "A" Hester wears. She also becomes aware that there is something going on between Hester and Dimmesdale.
--“‘Truly do I!’ answered Pearl, looking brightly into her mother's face. ‘It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!’”(161)
-Hester takes caution not to tell too much, since the truth may phase Pearl, or Pearl may tell others for some reason.
--“‘What shall I say?’ thought Hester to herself. ‘No! If this be the price of the child's sympathy, I cannot pay it’”(163).
-Hester tells a small lie, knowing that it is for the good of Pearl as well as herself.
--“‘Silly Pearl,’ said she, ‘what questions are these? There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about. What know I of the minister's heart? And as for the scarlet letter, I wear it for the sake of its gold-thread’”(163).
-Pearl does not feel resolved about the issue.
--“But the child did not see fit to let the matter drop. Two or three times, as her mother and she went homeward, and as often at supper-time, and while Hester was putting her to bed, and once after she seemed to be fairly asleep, Pearl looked up, with mischief gleaming in her black eyes” (164).
-Hester reveals more to the reader her view of Chillingworth.
--“Would not the earth, quickened to an evil purpose by the sympathy of his eye, greet him with poisonous shrubs, of species hitherto unknown, that would start up under his fingers?”(158)
-Pearl is fooling around at the pond and adorns herself with seaweed and other objects found at the pond. She goes so far as to give herself an "A," as Hester has.
--“As the last touch to her mermaid's garb, Pearl took some eel-grass and imitated, as best she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother's. A letter, - the letter A, - but freshly green, instead of scarlet!”(161)
-Pearl questions Hester about the meaning of the "A" Hester wears. She also becomes aware that there is something going on between Hester and Dimmesdale.
--“‘Truly do I!’ answered Pearl, looking brightly into her mother's face. ‘It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart!’”(161)
-Hester takes caution not to tell too much, since the truth may phase Pearl, or Pearl may tell others for some reason.
--“‘What shall I say?’ thought Hester to herself. ‘No! If this be the price of the child's sympathy, I cannot pay it’”(163).
-Hester tells a small lie, knowing that it is for the good of Pearl as well as herself.
--“‘Silly Pearl,’ said she, ‘what questions are these? There are many things in this world that a child must not ask about. What know I of the minister's heart? And as for the scarlet letter, I wear it for the sake of its gold-thread’”(163).
-Pearl does not feel resolved about the issue.
--“But the child did not see fit to let the matter drop. Two or three times, as her mother and she went homeward, and as often at supper-time, and while Hester was putting her to bed, and once after she seemed to be fairly asleep, Pearl looked up, with mischief gleaming in her black eyes” (164).
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