Blogging The Scarlet Letter: Part 7 (Chapters 13 and 14)

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Chapter 13 – Another View of Hester

When we last left Colonial Boston, we saw Hester Prynne and Reverend Dimmesdale accepting their sin together as Roger Chillingworth looked on, his suspicions now confirmed, ready to exact his revenge on the man who cuckolded him ("cuckold" is such a great word). If you’re anything like me, you were probably shivering with anticipation, wondering what would happen next. It was no longer a matter of when—for the secret was out—but how? How would Chillingworth strike at our heroes who had wronged him so?!

CUT TO: Six years later. Nothing has happened. Pearl is seven. Hester is much more accepted by society. Chillingworth is just being a pest and has not struck out in a cool, flashy manner (in my mind, striking out in such a manner would involve shooting off fireworks in the shape of an “A.” I know it would be tough during this time period to get that together, but I bet he could figure it out).

In the meantime, Hester has begun delivering meals to the poor, helping the sick, and generally doing good. I have a feeling she might be trying to compensate for something...Hester is still occasionally made fun of, but the majority of the townspeople now believe that the “A” on her chest stands not for “adulterer,” but for “able.”

Hester has also noticed a change in herself. She feels as though she is no longer the emotionally charged, kind, and loving woman she once was. She believes the letter on her chest has drained her and that she is now a “bare and harsh outline” of her former self. I can really sympathize with her: I had a mullet in high school. If you think being an adulterer in the 1700s was bad, try having terrible, terrible hair in high school.

Hester also worries that there is something wrong with her daughter. She notices something “amiss” in Pearl (which I think is her way of saying she is an awful, awful brat and everyone thinks she is the devil), and worries about what it will be like for her when she grows up, given the position of women during this time.

Did I mention that there is no dialogue or action in this chapter? It’s all just description of people’s thoughts? Oh, okay, I’ll mention that now. When Hawthorne said that this chapter was “another view of Hester,” he meant, “here’s what the inside of Hester’s brain looks like.”

I wish that kid who threw mud in Chapter 7 would come back and say something.

Chapter 14 – Hester and the Physician

After all this thinking about things, some stuff actually starts to happen. Hester decides she is going to confront Chillingworth and tell him to stop pestering Dimmesdale. We don’t really get the details on what Chillingworth has been doing in the past five years, but I like to imagine that he’s gotten much more childish. I hope he's pulling sleepover pranks like dipping the reverend’s hand in warm water, or putting shaving cream in his hand and then tickling his nose.

Hester runs into her husband at the beach, where he is collecting plants for his medicines (what plants could he be collecting on the beach? This seems fishy). Chillingworth tells her he’s heard good things about her and that people are considering letting her take off the scarlet letter. Hester tells him she wouldn’t take it off even if she were allowed to (so there!) because she would still feel the burden on the inside.

I’ve been on Hester’s side throughout this entire book, but at the moment I'm feeling a little irritated with the woman. This stupid letter has been nothing but a horrible curse, and now she's saying she wants to keep wearing it? She reminds me of that one kid who pipes up with, “you forgot to give us homework, teacher!” Oh, Ms. Prynne. We truly are from different worlds.

Hester says she thinks she should tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is, and then the narrator says Chillingworth transforms his face into (you’ll never guess!) the embodiment of evil. Then the doctor thinks back to the old days, when he was a scholar in England and not a horrible person bent on destroying the reputation of a man who comforted his wife after he abandoned her in a foreign, unsettled land.

Then he realizes that he’s the biggest jerk in the world, blames Hester for turning him into what he is, and decides he no longer counts as a human being.

Really. I’m not kidding. That’s his conclusion.

Moral of this chapter: If you marry the devil, your marriage will not work out.

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