My Answer to the Question

• In chapter eleven, Dimmesdale is so full of despair and confliction that he tortures himself with a whip. The book says he is "laughing bitterly at himself the while and smiting so much the more pitilessly because of that bitter laugh." In addition, and although fasting was custom for Puritans, Dimmesdale would fast for long, unhealthy periods of time, until his knees trembled. This scene is very vivid to me; I can picture what a man would look like if he physically beat himself. Hawthorne is excellent at forming a picture into the reader's mind. I can feel Dimmesdale struggling and not knowing what to do.

• Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale stand on the scaffold at night, holding hands. The final missing piece of the puzzle, Dimmesdale, is solved. There is an exciting energy among them that night; a meteor soars through the sky, and a letter A forms. Although only for a second or two, that moment, when the three are together, is a special, perfect moment. It is almost like time is frozen and everything is going to be fine. The short moment ends, and the three of them discern Chillingworth standing on the ground in the darkness. This one person is the cause of Hester and Dimmesdale's problems. I find this scene very interesting because there is that glimpse of hope soon followed by the blackness that obscures any of the hope there is.

• In chapter fourteen, Chillingworth realizes what a horrible, evil man he has become. He sees that the once good, moral, kind-hearted person he once was is now gone forever. Hawthorne writes that Chillingworth has lost his "human heart." Hester begs him to return to his former self and relinquish his desire for revenge, but Chillingworth cannot. Again Hawthorne vividly paints a picure in the reader's mind of what Chillingworth is going through. Chillingworth is aware of his actions, but knows that it is too late to go back.