Sunday, November 6, 2011

In chapter 10, How does Pearl's behavior in the cemetery express a link between Dimmesdale and Hester?

One day Dimmesdale questions his doctor about an
unusual-looking plant. Chillingworth remarks that he found it growing on an unmarked
grave and suggests that the dark weeds are the sign of the buried person’s unconfessed
sin. The two enter into an uncomfortable conversation about confession, redemption, and
the notion of “burying” one’s secrets. As they speak, they hear a cry from outside.
Through the window, they see Pearl dancing in the graveyard and hooking burrs onto the
“A” on Hester’s chest. When Pearl notices the two men, she drags her mother away, saying
that the “Black Man” has already gotten the minister and that he must not capture them
too. Chillingworth remarks that Hester is not a woman who lives with buried sin—she
wears her sin openly on her breast. At Chillingworth’s words, Dimmesdale is careful not
to give himself away either as someone who is intimately attached to Hester or as
someone with a “buried” sin of his own. Chillingworth begins to prod the minister more
directly by inquiring about his spiritual condition, explaining that he thinks it
relevant to his physical health. Dimmesdale becomes agitated and tells Chillingworth
that such matters are the concern of God. He then leaves the
room.

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