scarlet letter test 9-12

what is a leech?

another name for a physician

appellation

name or title 

how were people close to Hester effected by her sin?

her kindred and her companions had nothing but the contagion of Hester’s dishonor

what did Roger Chillingworth decide to do?

not reveal himself as Hester’s husband, change his name, and pretend as if his old self actually died in the ocean

who did Roger Chillingworth choose as his “spiritual guide”?

Reverend Dimmesdale 

what was happening to Mr Dimmesdale?

his health began to fail because of his devotion to his job and study. he was pale and emaciated (skinny)

what did people think about if Mr Dimmesdale died? what did Dimmesdale think?

people thought: if he died, it was because the world was not worthy enough to have Dimmesdale walk on it 

Dimmesdale thought: if he died, it was because of his own unworthiness

what would Dimmesdale always do?

put his hand over his heart 

why was the timing that a physician came to town perfect?

just as people thought Dimmesdale was going to die, Roger Chillingworth came into town

what happened when Chillingworth offered medicine to Dimmesdale?

Dimmesdale refused it. Chillingworth didn’t understand why he wasn’t accepting his help when his health was declining so much. Putting his hand over his heart became a frequent habit. Dimmesdale doesn’t think he would walk with God if he died.  

despite him being in pain, Dimmesdale 

continues to put his hand over his heart

what was Dimmesdale’s and chillingworth’s relationship like?

they spent a lot of time together and became very close because Chillingworth became Dimmesdale’s medical adviser. They talk about everything but Dimmesdale never reveals what Chillingworth wants to know (his secret). 

why was Chillingworth so interested in Dimmesdale?

not only Dimmesdale’s disease, but also his character and qualities interested Chillingworth 

why did Chillingworth watch Dimmesdale carefully?

the more he gets to know him, the more it will help him figure out what’s wrong with Dimmesdale and his character 

what question does Chillingworth think about Dimmesdale’s sickness?

it is physical or mental?

• Chillingworth wants to really get to know and analyze Dimmesdale so he could figure out what’s actually wrong with him and his secret

• “few secrets can escape an investigator, who has opportunity and license to undertake such a quest, and skill to follow it up”

what did Dimmesdale and chillingworth begin to do?

they began to live with each other, which people thought was the best thing for Dimmesdale. This makes it harder for Dimmesdale to keep his secret.

how would Dimmesdale respond to people suggesting he should take a wife?

he rejected it 

where did Dimmesdale and Chillingworth move in?

moved in with a widow and each have their own apartments, but they still see each other all the time 

what was in Dimmesdale’s apartment? what does this represent?

a tapestry that showed the scriptural story of David and Bathsheba and Nathan the prophet. David was with Bathsheba, even though she had a husband. 

• this shows that Dimmesdale is the father

what did people first think about Chillingworth helping Dimmesdale?

at first, they thought it was the hand of Providence (God) that Chillingworth helped Dimmesdale for the purpose of restoring Dimmesdale to health 

how did people’s view of Chillingworth change?

people began to doubt him. they thought that something about him was off/weird, but had no proof against him 

what physical change was there in Chillingworth?

he became uglier and more evil looking — the change in his face became more and more obvious the oftener people looked at him 

what conclusion did people make about Dimmesdale’s health and Chillingworth?

Dimmesdale was either haunted by satan himself or satan’s emissary, Roger Chillingworth. They thought he was being tortured by either of them because of how holy he is.

what could be seen in the minister’s eyes?

gloom and terror → the battle was a sore one and the victory was anything but secure 

what is Chillingworth doing?

everything he can to find out Dimmesdale’s secret

why couldn’t Dimmesdale see that Chillingworth was his enemy?

because of all the stuff he had going on mentally. he didn’t trust anyone, so he couldn’t tell that Chillingworth was his enemy because he was suspicious of every person. 

what does Chillingworth say when Dimmesdale asks him where he got those dark, flabby herbs?

he says that they are new to him, and that he found them growing from an unmarked grave. they grew out of his heart and represent some secret that was buried with him that he never confessed. he says that they might have grown from his buried heart to make manifest an unspoken crime.

how did Dimmesdale respond?

he said that maybe the man desired to confess his sin, but couldn’t. if someone was buried with a secret, no one would ever know about it. 

what does Dimmesdale say about keeping secrets?

it’s fine to keep secrets as long as they are confessed on judgement day

what does Chillingworth ask when Dimmesdale says that people should confess their sins on judgement day?

why not just reveal the secrets here? shouldn’t they just confess their sins as soon as they can to be relieved of the guilt?

what conflict does Dimmesdale talk about?

• most people confess their sins. why would someone prefer to keep their secret buried in their heart, rather than confess and let the world take care of it.

• some people keep their sins because of their own nature. no good can come from confessing. why would someone confess when only bad things would come from it? people pretend to be pure but their hearts suffer from their sin

how does Chillingworth respond to Dimmesdale saying that people pretend to be pure while their hearts suffer from their sin?

those men are lying to themselves. how is it better to put on a false show than God’s own truth? 

what was Dimmesdale’s and chillingworth’s whole conversation about?

whether it’s better to confess ur secret or keep it hidden — which is better, public sin or private sin?

how does Dimmesdale change the subject?

he asks Chillingworth if what he’s doing is actually helping him 

what happened before Chillingworth could answer?

they heard a girl laughing. they looked out of the open window and saw Hester and pearl passing by

what were pearl and Hester doing?

pearl started to dance on the graves. Hester told her to behave more politely. then, pearl gathered prickly burrs and arranged them along the lines of the scarlet letter, but hester didn’t pluck them off. 

what is pearl’s character like?

she looks perfect from afar, but when you analyze her, she’s far from it

what does Chillingworth ask about pearl?

what is she, is she evil, does she have any affections 

what did pearl do?

she threw one of the prickly burrs at Dimmesdale, causing him to duck out of the way in fear. then she told her mother that they should go away or the black man will catch her, but not pearl. she says that the black man already has hold of the minister (Chillingworth already has him)

what does Chillingworth ask Dimmesdale about Hester?

do u think she’s less miserable now that her sin is public (the scarlet letter) 

how does Dimmesdale respond to Chillingworth about Hester’s sin being public?

he says that he believes that it’s better that her sin is public and that she is free to show her pain

how does Chillingworth respond to Dimmesdale’s earlier question about whether he is actually helping him?

he says that the disease is what I seem to know, yet he doesn’t know it. he begs for Dimmesdale’s pardon, then asks him if he is hiding something from him. he says that Dimmesdale is the only person that he’s seen the physical and mental so clearly overlap. a bodily disease could be a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part. 

what is ironic about Dimmesdale’s response?

he says that it would be silly to call in a physician and then hide what’s really wrong, but that’s exactly what he’s doing

how does Dimmesdale respond when Chillingworth asks him to reveal his secret so that he could heal his bodily sickness?

he says that he won’t reveal it to an earthly physician, but to the one Physician (God). 

he says that he is going to let God do whatever he wants with him, but who are you (Chillingworth) to meddle with this? 

• after this, he rushes out of the room (confirmation that he’s hiding something) 

how did Chillingworth react to Dimmesdale storming out of the room?

he says that they will be friends again soon and that it is good that they got there because he’s a step closer to finding out his secret 

what does Dimmesdale say after a few hours have gone by?

there was no excuse for him getting so angry. he apologized and asked Chillingworth to continue his care of him because he’s probably the only reason why he’s still alive 

what happens when Dimmesdale falls asleep?

he’s usually a very light sleeper, but now he is in a deep sleep. Chillingworth went up to Dimmesdale and moved the vestment that always covered his chest where Dimmesdale would put his hand. when he saw what was under it, he was horrified but joyful because it was confirmation that he is hiding something and of what he was hiding.

how did the relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale change after their incident?

it externally was the same, but was really now of another character. Chillingworth seemed calm and gentle, but he had a quiet depth of malice and wished for a more intimate revenge than anyone had ever wished upon an enemy. 

how did Chillingworth have his revenge on Dimmesdale?

Dimmesdale’s soul was on display and Chillingworth was an active part of his torture. he would torture him mentally, always indirectly reminding Dimmesdale of his sin.

how did Dimmesdale start to feel about Chillingworth?

he thought something was off about him but couldn’t figure out what. Dimmesdale was repulsed by Chillingworth but doesn’t know why, so he just blamed it on his sin effecting his heart 

what was ironic about what was happening with Dimmesdale?

while suffering from a bodily disease and trouble in his soul, he was doing very well at his job and gained a lot of popularity.

• his anguish in his daily life allowed for him to do his job extremely well

how did people see Dimmesdale?

extremely holy. in their eyes, he could do nothing wrong and the very ground he walked on was sanctified.

what was different in the way people thought about Dimmesdale’s death compared to how he thought about his death?

• if he died before the old people did, they would ask to be buried near him because of how holy they saw him as

• dimmesdale questioned if grass would grow on his grave because of how bad he has been acting 

what did dimmesdale wish to say to everyone?

you believe me to be so holy, but everything you see me as is fake. 

• calling himself a fraud and a liar 

sometimes he would actually say this, but no one believed him and just thought he was being humble. they thought that if he thinks he’s so bad, what does he think about everyone else? 

how did Dimmesdale feel about himself?

he loved the truth and hated lying, so he hated himself

how would Dimmesdale punish himself?

1. whipped himself 

2. fasting/starving himself - not to purify the body, but to starve himself until he couldn’t hold himself up as an act of penance 

3. said vigils every night, all night; not sleeping 

what were the different ways dimmesdale said his vigils?

sometimes in complete darkness

sometimes with a lamp

sometimes looking at himself in a mirror with the most powerful light

what happened when Dimmesdale would say his vigils?

he would start seeing things in the mirror 

what would he see?

diabolical shapes, a group of angels, dead friends, his father and mother, who turned away from him as she passed by, Hester and pearl, who pointed at Hester’s letter and then Dimmesdale’s chest

what does dimmesdale think about what he’s seeing?

he knows that they aren’t real, but they might as well be because that’s what’s plaguing him 

what was the only truth that continued to give dimmesdale a real existence on earth?

the anguish in his soul and how it was expressing itself in his aspect 

what happened on one of the nights when dimmesdale was punishing himself?

he began to sleepwalk (somnambulism) to the scaffold, where Hester suffered her first hours of public torment 7 years ago (time jump) 

why could no one see dimmesdale?

everyone was asleep, but even if they weren’t, it was so dark that they wouldn’t be able to see him anyway

what are the two things that Dimmesdale suffers from?

remorse and cowardice — remorse drove him to the scaffold where he wants to confess his sin, but cowardice holds him back 

what does Dimmesdale do while on the scaffold?

he screams and says, “it is done” because the whole town probably heard him and is going to find him on the scaffold. but the town didn’t wake, and if they did, they just went back to sleep.

• when dimmesdale opened his eyes, the only person he saw was governor bellingham and mistress hibbins at their window with a lamp in their hands, trying to see what the noise was, but couldn’t

who did dimmesdale first see walk by? what happened?

Reverend Wilson, who had been praying at the bedside of a dying governor winthrop

• dimmesdale has a vision of himself speaking to Wilson and asking him to come on the scaffold with him, but it was only in his imagination 

what did dimmesdale begin to worry about?

someone from town would see Dimmesdale on the scaffold and go knocking door to door, telling everyone to go look at him. he thinks if people saw him, they would connect him with Hester

• Dimmesdale is paranoid and delusional 

who are the second and third people Dimmesdale sees? what happens?

as he’s laughing, he hears a child laughing, and recognizes that it’s pearl and Hester. 

• he yells out to them and asks if they are really there, which they are. he asks hester why she’s here, and she answers by saying that she was at governor Winthrop’s deathbed cause she was taking measurements for a robe

• dimmesdale tells Hester and pearl to join him on the scaffold, where all three of them could stand together — they all joined hands, with pearl in the middle connecting dimmesdale and Hester 

what happens once they all start holding hands?

Dimmesdale felt an energetic feeling, a rush of new life — the three of them formed an electric chain

what is the conversation that happens between pearl and dimmesdale?

pearl asks if dimmesdale would stand with them tomorrow, where everyone could see. he says no because of cowardice, and that he will stand with them on judgement day. pearl laughed and tried to pull away her hand, but the minister held it and called her his child. pearl asks again if he would stand with her and her mother, but he says no again and that they will stand together on judgement day. 

why is pearl asking if Dimmesdale will stand with them?

not because she thinks he’s her father, but because she’s an outcast who has never been treated nicely. she’s finally being kindly treated, but no one is around to see it.

what does dimmesdale see while holding their hands on the scaffold?

a meteor shower, which is shining light on the scaffold. the shining light showed the minister, with his hand over his heart, Hester with the scarlet letter, and pearl, herself a symbol of their sin, connecting them two 

why does pearl let go of Dimmesdale’s hand?

she starts pointing at something across the street, but Dimmesdale is looking up at the meteor shower with both hands over his chest

what was common about a meteor shower?

It was interpreted as revelations from a supernatural source 

what did Dimmesdale see while looking at the sky?

the meteor’s spelling the letter “A” — the narrator says that he probably saw the A because of his guilt, and that another person’s guilt would’ve made them see another symbol

who was pearl pointing at?

Roger Chillingworth — the light from the meteor shower showed his expression upon looking at dimmesdale, which was a look of evil 

what happens when Dimmesdale sees Chillingworth?

• he asks Hester who he is and that he hates him. he says that his soul shivers at him and he has a nameless horror of him. (Hester remembers her promise and doesn’t tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth is to her)

• pearl says that she could tell dimmesdale who he is. when she whispers in his ear, she mumbles gibberish, which makes Dimmesdale ask her if she is mocking him. she responds by saying that he is not bold or true because he refused to stand with them tomorrow

what does Chillingworth say when he approaches the scaffold?

he says that we dream in our waking moments and walk in our sleep, and asks Dimmesdale to let him lead him home. dimmesdale asks how he knew he was here, and Chillingworth says he didn’t know and he was coming back from governor Winthrop’s bedside, doing whatever he could to ease his pain. Chillingworth tells dimmesdale that he is going to be tired for his sabbath duty tomorrow, which makes Dimmesdale agree to go home with him 

how was Dimmesdale during the sabbath?

he preached the richest and most powerful discourse

what does the sexton give to dimmesdale?

the sexton is holding Dimmesdale’s black glove and tells him that it was found on the scaffold. the sexton believes that satan dropped it there to try and ruin Dimmesdale’s holiness. dimmesdale was confused on whether or not the events of last night were a dream 

what did the sexton tell dimmesdale about what was seen in the sky?

a red letter A, which they interpreted to stand for angel (for governor winthrop) — dimmesdale says that he did not hear of the letter in the sky

what is the difference between Dimmesdale’s decline and chillingworth’s decline?

dimmesdale: his health declined → mostly bc of his guilt (+ his punishments he would inflict on himself)

chillingworth: his features declined → becoming more sinister (physiognomy - outside appearance reflects inside appearance - spending years psychologically torturing dimmesdale)

how many years has it been since Hester was first on the scaffold?

7