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Chapter 11 – The Interior of a Heart
Here’s the theme song I wrote for a new sitcom I’m going to pitch around Hollywood: “The doctor and the reverend/ Always hittin’ the streets!/ One has a secret! / The other's a giant creep!”
Those wacky cut-ups, Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, are still at it: the reverend continues carrying the enormous load of a soul-crushing secret, and the doctor tortures him by making references to it. Dimmesdale is finally starting to grow suspicious of Roger, but he keeps convincing himself that he’s being paranoid.
Besides, the only way this guy could know his secret is if he snuck into the minister’s room in the middle of the night and undressed him to look at his chest. Oh, wait, that’s the horrible thing that happened in the last chapter! Basically Chillingworth has turned into a pesky younger brother who is constantly warning Dimmesdale that he’s going to tell mom unless he lets him read his comic book collection, even though Dimmesdale knows Chillingworth is going to ruin them. Wait, I’m sorry. What were we talking about?
To look at the silver lining, now that the reverend is unable to think about anything but his constant, nagging guilt, he’s rockin’ the church with some real kick-@$$ sermons: crowd pleasers about the nature of sin, temptation, and the human condition. Dimmesdale really wants to tell everyone about what he’s going through, but unfortunately, he just can’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he stays up all night and is haunted by visions of his guilt.
One of these visions involves Hester and Pearl appearing magically in his room. Hester points to the scarlet letter on her chest and then points at Dimmesdale's chest. Even though he knows he’s hallucinating, he assumes that what he’s seeing is a message from God and not just something conjured up by his own sleep-deprived, guilt-racked mind. Some people in Dimmesdale's situation might try reading a book, drinking some warm milk, maybe counting some sheep, but Dimmesdale chooses to torture himself.
The narrator says the reverend punishes himself by fasting, holding long meditation sessions, and whipping himself. Some readers might point to the religious symbolism of this scene and argue that it casts Dimmesdale in the role of the Christ figure. Others might do a Freudian reading and identify Dimmesdale's physical wounds as his attempt to show the world his inner turmoil. I, on the other hand, want to know if Dimmesdale already had the whip or if he had to go out and buy it.
If he already had it, my question is “why?” He doesn’t seem to own any horses. It’s not an effective weapon with which to keep burglars away. Indiana Jones won’t come out for a very long time, so he’s probably not a fan. And if he had to go out and buy it, how awkward must that conversation with the local leathersmith have been? I guess he could say he was going to work it in to one of his sermons, but even so, that must have been an awkward moment for both of the men.
Finally, Dimmesdale comes to the decision that he is going to hold a vigil on the scaffold where our story began. I’m glad I didn’t live back then. If I had to bear a terrible secret like this, once I found out there was walking involved, I probably would’ve just said, “eh, I’ll be fine” and then gone back to watching TV. What’s that? There was no TV back then? Well, that’s just great.
Chapter 12 – The Minister’s Vigil
I can’t decide if “The Minister’s Vigil” sounds more like a Madonna song or a horror film.
Dimmesdale is standing on the scaffold, feeling sorry for himself, when suddenly he feels a burning sensation in his chest. I’d suggest he’d better have a doctor take a look at it, but that’s what got him in trouble in the first place! (Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be here all night.) The sudden pain causes him to scream. Being the conscientious townsperson that he is, Dimmesdale becomes worried that someone in town might have heard him. Lucky for him, the few people who did thought it was the devil again. I’d really like to know who started this rumor and what exactly the devil was doing the first time he was spotted, because he’s getting blamed for a lot of stuff.
Anyway, Dimmesdale sees Hester and Pearl walking by and calls them over. Oh, by the way, the governor died and Hester made the burial gown. We can spend a chapter on that cellar door, but the governor dying gets a line or two of discussion. Dimmesdale asks the pair to join him on the scaffold, and they do. They all hold hands, and the minister feels like an “electric chain,” which is odd as there was no such thing as electricity yet. Also, there’s no such thing as an electric chain.
Breaking what has to be an awkward moment, Pearl asks him if he would like to do this again, tomorrow, in the day, when everybody can see. Dimmesdale declines the offer. They then notice a convenient meteor streak across the sky and form the shape of the letter “A.” Clearly this meteor is the devil!
Already freaked out, Dimmesdale sees someone lurking in the shadows, watching them stand on the scaffold. I’m not even going to tell you who it is, because it should be painfully obvious (it’s Chillingworth). Dimmesdale asks Hester who Chillingworth is, but she refuses to reveal his secret identity. I don’t have a joke, I just thought it would be funny to call it a “secret identity.”
Chillingworth, who was also coming home from watching the governor die, convinces Dimmesdale to come off of the scaffold and tells him that he must have sleepwalked his way up there. The two head to their house. The next day, the church sexton hands Dimmesdale a black glove/symbol that was found on the scaffold. The sexton thinks Satan put it there. Seriously, people? If the devil was running around, punking reverends, there would be nobody running hell. That’s a fulltime job.
The sexton also tells the reverend about the “A” shaped meteor from last night. Luckily, nobody thinks it had anything to do with Hester and Dimmesdale. Instead they think it stands for “angel” and proves that Governor Winthrop ascended to heaven.
Those poor, gullible people. Governor Winthrop is actually in hell, asking the devil if he was responsible for that ruined shirt and for hiding his car keys.
All of Ramsey's Scarlet Letter posts are collected here. Enjoy!
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