Who do we find out is the father of Hester’s baby?
Dimmesdale's one-paragraph speech to Hester reveals more about his character than any description of his physical body and nervous habits that Hawthorne provides. Knowing that he was Hester's sexual partner and is Pearl's father, the speech that he gives is ripe with double meanings.
Is Arthur Dimmesdale Pearl’s father?
Arthur Dimmesdale is a respected minister in Boston and the father of Pearl. While Hester waited for her husband to arrive from Amsterdam, she met Dimmesdale and had an adulterous affair with him, which led to the birth of their daughter.
Why does Hester not reveal the father?
Hester keeps secret the name of her illegitimate child's father (Reverend Dimmesdale) and the true identity of Roger Chillingworth (her husband). She will not reveal Pearl's father to protect Reverend Dimmesdale's reputation, as he is the minister of the church.
Who is Hester’s child?
He is a symbol of the secret sinner; one who recognizes his transgression but keeps it hidden and secret, even to his own downfall. Pearl Pearl is the illegitimate daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale.
How does Chillingworth find out about Dimmesdale?
One day, not long afterward, Chillingworth finds Dimmesdale asleep in a chair. Pulling aside the minister's vestment, he stares at the clergyman's chest. What he sees there causes "a wild look of wonder, joy, and horror," and he does a spontaneous dance of ecstasy.
Why does Hester keep Chillingworth’s secret?
Why does Hester agree to keep Chillingworth's identity a secret? She only accepts to do it perhaps out of fear, or because she knows that disclosing this information would make matters worse for everybody involved.
Did Dimmesdale get Hester pregnant?
The movie begins before the book begins, when Hester Prynne first arrives in America. The film chronicles her love affair with the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. Hester becomes pregnant and is sent to jail because she is married.
Who is the baby father in the scarlet letter?
Dimmesdale Dimmesdale is a young man who achieved fame in England as a theologian and then emigrated to America. In a moment of weakness, he and Hester became lovers. Although he will not confess it publicly, he is the father of her child.
How did Dimmesdale get the A on his chest?
Apparently, those who witnessed the minister's death cannot agree upon what exactly it was that they saw. Most say they saw on his chest a scarlet letter exactly like Hester's. To their minds, it resulted from Chillingworth's poisonous magic, from the minister's self-torture, or from his inner remorse.
What happens after Dimmesdale dies?
Dimmesdale dies believing that his soul has been saved, but he does not get the chance to enjoy a life with Hester and Pearl. Hester is able to regain a sense of agency by voluntarily choosing to re-enter the community, and wearing the scarlet letter by choice rather than out of obligation.
Why did Hester name the baby Pearl?
From the text: Her Pearl–for so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant "Pearl," as being of great price–purchased with all she had–her mother's only treasure!
Why is Hester’s daughter named Pearl?
A beautiful flower growing out of sinful soil, Pearl is so named because she was “purchased with all (Hester) had—her mother's only treasure!” Because “in giving her existence a great law had been broken,” Pearl's very being seems to be inherently at odds with the strict rules of Puritan society.
What is the mark on Dimmesdale’s chest?
The red mark on Dimmesdale's chest represents the same thing Hester's scarlet letter did. The red mark on Dimmesdale's chest represents adultery in the beginning, guilt in the middle, and pain and death in the end. The stressor that made Dimmesdale feel worse was Hester's first husband Chillingworth.
Why does Pearl throw the burr at Dimmesdale?
While Hester tries to restrain her, Pearl will not be controlled by human rules. She calls out to her mother that the minister is already in the grip of the Black Man, and she mischievously throws the burrs at him that she has been using to decorate her mother's token of sin.
What does Chillingworth do to Dimmesdale in his sleep?
When Dimmesdale is in a uncharacteristic deep sleep one afternoon, Chillingworth pulls back his robe and sees something on his chest. His reaction was described as what Satan looks like when a soul goes to Hell. It shows that Chillingworth is truly evil at this point.
How does Chillingworth find out that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father?
A few days later, as Dimmesdale sleeps, Chillingworth sneaks up to him and pushes aside his shirt, where he sees something on Dimmesdale's chest that causes him to rejoice. He now knows that Dimmesdale is Hester's partner in adultery and Pearl's father.
What killed Dimmesdale?
What kills Dimmesdale? Reverend Dimmesdale dies of an illness that haunts his soul. Tormented by his terrible guilt and the psychological torture of Roger Chillingworth who has vowed that “he will be mine ” Dimmesdale is so burdened spiritually that his health fails and he can bear his sin no more.
Who got the girl pregnant in the scarlet letter?
In some relationships a child can be the catalyst that brings two people together. However, this is not the case in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne commit adultery together, and unfortunately Hester gets pregnant.
Who did Hester cheat with?
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, tells the story of Hester Prynne, her long-lost husband, Roger Chillingworth, and the man Hester has an affair with, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.
Who does Pearl marry in the scarlet letter?
She receives occasional letters from Pearl, who has married a European aristocrat and established a family of her own. When Hester dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale. The two share a single tombstone, which bears a scarlet “A.”
What does Chillingworth do for Pearl after he dies?
Chillingworth, consumed by his revenge, shrivels up and vanishes. He leaves Pearl great wealth in his will, and she and her mother disappear, presumably to Europe.
Does Chillingworth poison Dimmesdale?
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's “The Scarlet Letter”, Chillingworth is guilty of Dimmesdale's death. For one he tries to poison Dimmesdale with some medicine, he makes him suffer mentally, and he tortures him for it all and tries to make him feel guilty for all that he's done.
Why does Pearl say I have no Heavenly Father?
When the narrator describes Pearl as an “outcast,” he understates: Pearl is an “imp of evil, emblem and product of sin, she had no right among christened infants.” Pearl herself is aware of her difference from others, and when Hester tries to teach her about God, Pearl says, “I have no Heavenly Father!” Because Pearl …
Who is the black man in Scarlet Letter?
Roger Chillingworth Roger Chillingworth, Hester's long-lost husband, exemplifies this. Referred to more than once as the Black Man, Chillingworth demonstrates that our actions define our morality. In choosing the path of revenge, Chillingworth has made himself demonic.
Who is pearls Heavenly Father?
'I have no Heavenly Father! '” (Hawthorne 185). Pearl was raised with the knowledge that God is not their for her. God is not her Heavenly Father.
What is the symbolism behind Pearl’s name?
Pearl's Name: In the beginning of chapter 5 it says that Pearl got her name because she was “ of great price-purchased with all she had,-her mother's greatest treasure.” Her name is symbolic of the price that Hester payed for Pearl to enter the world.
What does Dimmesdale have on his chest?
Apparently, those who witnessed the minister's death cannot agree upon what exactly it was that they saw. Most say they saw on his chest a scarlet letter exactly like Hester's. To their minds, it resulted from Chillingworth's poisonous magic, from the minister's self-torture, or from his inner remorse.
What is Chillingworth’s secret?
Chillingworth tells her that he doesn't want to be known as a husband whose wife cheated on him, so she is not to reveal in any way that Chillingworth is her husband. Hester swears an oath that she will keep Chillingworth's secret as she has kept secret the identity of Pearl's father.
What happens to Pearl after Dimmesdale dies?
A short time later, Chillingworth also dies and leaves his fortune to Pearl; Pearl and Hester go abroad, but Hester returns alone years later to live out her days quietly in the New England community. The ending turns the story into a narrative of redemption, and one in which good triumphs over evil.
Do Hester and Dimmesdale end up together?
Dimmesdale is broken by his own sense of guilt, and he publicly confesses his adultery before dying in Hester's arms. Only Hester can face the future bravely, as she prepares to begin a new life with her daughter, Pearl, in Europe.