Dialectical Journals #21-55

Dialectical Journal 21 (Page 130)

"It is done! The whole town will awake, and hurry forth, and find me here!"

Dimmesdale screams and hopes the town will wake up and see him there to end his suffering. He hopes in vainly that he will be discovered because he can't say what he has done himself. It is like at the beginning of the book when he practically dares Hester to call him down but she doesn't. It is funny that he finally worked up the courage to tell them and no one is there, althow it was the middle of the night.

Dialectical Journal 22 (Page 134)

“Come up hither…But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting.”

Dimmesdale still is too cowardly to come out into the daylight and confess. The darkness covers his sin.  Hester will not expose him and believes it is his duty to confess. Pearl realizes that he belongs with her and her mother on the scaffold during the daylight not just hidden at night.

Dialectical Journal 23 (Page 137) ‘Who is that man….. take my hand, and mother’s hand, to-morrow noontide.”

The Black Man strikes again when he made Hester promise not to tell anyone who he was in the prison. Dimmesdale begs her to help him discover why he is so afraid of Chillingworth, but her code of honor stops her. Pearl knows but won’t tell because she wants Dimmesdale to stand with her and her mother and confess.

Dialectical Journal 24 (Page 138)

“It was found…..remarked the old sexton, grimly smiling.”

Chillingworth was standing near the scaffold and saw the scene play out with his wife and her lover and their daughter. The glove represents Dimesdale and Chillingworth is  Satan that the sexton spoke of who was trying to steal Dimmesdale’s soul.

Dialectical Journal 25 (Page 139)

“In her late singular interview…..along with it its obligations.”

Hester cannot believe that Dimmesdale’s nerves are shot and is morally defeated. She feels that it is all her fault that he is in this position because of her actions of not telling him who Chillingworth really was. She believes Dimmesdale is on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Dialectical Journal 26 (Page 141)

“The letter was the symbol….with a woman’s strength.”

Hester’s position in the community has changed. She is admired for her strength and courage. She has turned the A into a valuable lesson of responsibility and developed a place in the puritan society although she still is outside of it.

Dialectical Journal 27 (Page 145)

“Hester could not ask herself…talked together in the prison-chamber.”

Hester has realized that she has become a strong person and is able to take on Chillingworth. She is no longer afraid of him. She feels that she has allowed Dimmesdale to be thrown to the Devil because she didn’t stand up and tell him who Chillingworth really was. She still has a sense of moral consciences to ask for Chillingworth’s permission before telling him though.

Dialectical Journal 28 (Page 147)

‘Why, Mistress, I hear good things…..should speak a different purport.’

Hester will not let the magistrate take away her letter. Her role is now defined by the scarlet letter A, and Pearl is a product of that A. Hester will not allow the Puritans to define who she is anymore. The purpose of the A has turned from negative to positive.

Dialectical Journal 29 (Page 148)

“This unhappy person had effected such a transformation by devoting himself….and deriving his enjoyment thence…”

Chillingworth has, for seven years, derived pleasure out of torturing Dimmesdale.. Harming Dimmesdale truly has become his life at this point in the book.

Dialectical Journal 30 (Page 149)

“Since that day, no man… the power left to me to be true.”

Hester confronts Chillingworth and his evil influence on Dimmesdale. She accuses him of torturing his every move and thought. Dimmesdale is clueless to that he is actually Hester’s husband and she feels that she taking part in Chillingworth plan by not stating who he really is.

Dialectical Journal 31 (Page 152)

“Peace, Hester peace… and deal as thou wilt with yonder man”

Hester realized that the sin she committed and her punishment has ruined both Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. She knows she had paid for her sins many times and wants to be released from its burden. Chillingworth grasps that Hester knows that Dimmesdale is a broken man and enjoys her despair and allows her to tell him the truth.

Dialectical Journal 32 (Page 153)

“Would he not suddenly sink into the earth… so much the uglier the higher he rose toward heaven?”

Chillingworth’s heart had been corroded from within, and the seed of revenging had grown into a dark weed of obsession. Chillingworth soul and heart no longer remain but became the dark, and deadly plants he gathered.

Dialectical Journal 33 (Page 154)

“Yes, I hate him. He has done me worse wrong than I did him!”

Hester finally realized what an evil person Chillingworth had become. She reflects how her life with him carried some of her ugliest memories, and how he deceived her also and tricked her into marrying him. She becomes conscience that her sin doesn’t compare to what he did to her.

Dialectical Journal 34 (Page 158)

“Mother! Mother! Why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?”

Pearl had connected her mother scarlet letter A with the minister’s hand over his heart. Hester is willing to lie about the meaning of the letter A to protect her daughter. She has always stood up and been able to accept the consequences of what the A meant except for now.

Dialectical Journal 35 (Page 160)

“Mother,” said little Pearl,“…nothing on my bosom yet!’

When Hester wears the A, the sun doesn’t hit her but when she removed it, the sun shines on her and makes her glow. Pearl asks questions that make her mother uncomfortable, but reveal truths. The sun doesn’t shine on sinners or on the sign of a sin although the sun shines on Pearl who is a product of sin.

Dialectical Journal 36 (Page 160)

“Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?”
Pearl thinks the scarlet letter is a normal thing that women get when they’re all grown up. She doesn’t see it in a negative light; she sees it as a coming of age thing.

Dialectical Journal 37 (Page 161)

“And mother, the old dame said that this scarlet letter was the Black Man’s mark on thee… dost thou go to meet him in the night-time?”

People in the village don’t know what Hester’s letter stands for, so many rumors have been concocted to describe how and why she got it. One theory is there is a Black Man who has people sign their name in his book and forever is marked with a scarlet letter. Temptation is the Black Man, luring people in and marking them forever. Both Hester and Dimmesdale are marked because of it.

Dialectical Journal 38 (Page 162)

“Continually, indeed, as it stole onward, the streamlet kept up a babble, kind, quiet, soothing, but melancholy, like the voice of a young child that was spending its infancy without playfulness….”

This connects with Nature by Emerson, and the transcendentalist idea of how man is connected to nature and god. Nature reflects the emotions and characteristics of a person, this brook represents Pearl’s lack of interaction with other children. She doesn’t know how to play, and that has made her sad.

Dialectical Journal 39 (Page 163)

“And, mother, he has his hand over his hand….as thou dost, mother.”

Pearl thinks that the black man has left his mark on Dimmesdale also and questions why he doesn’t wear his on the outside instead of hidden on the inside. His illness comes from the secret held within his heart, which is why he always walks around with his hand held over his heart. Pearl has connected the link between her father and mother’s sin.

Dialectical Journal 40 (Page 164)

“There was a listlessness in his gait; as if he saw no reason for taking one step farther…to fling himself down at the root of the nearest tree, and lie there passive for evermore.”

Dimmesdale has been eating away at himself for seven years because of the guilt he is filled with. The forest is the only place Dimmesdale is able to relax. Because it is so secluded, Dimmesdale is comfortable enough to stop faking his happiness and let out all of his emotions. He is so upset by the sin he has committed he can barely muster up enough energy to continue existing.

Dialectical Journal 41 (Page 168)

‘Hester Prynne was now fully sensible…coult not be other than malevolent.’

Hester takes full blame for Dimmesdale’s demise. Due to her oath to Hollingsworth, she felt she betrayed Dimmesdale.  In reality, she never broke her promise to Dimmesdale as to never reveal he was the father of Pearl so Hester becomes the  most powerful character at this point. She took full blame for their sin and has had to carry the burden.

Dialectical Journal 42 (Page 170)

“May God forgive us both… Thou and I, Hester, never did so!”

Dimmesdale forgives Hester for not telling him about Chillingsworth, but he should be apologizing for not helping Hester. She should be the one who is angry at Dimmesdale for the seven long years of not having anyone except Pearl who loved her and treated her with respect. They come to terms by stating the Chillingworth is worse than what sin they committed.

Dialectical Journal 43 (Page 172)

‘There is happiness to be enjoyed…..Up and away!’

Dimmesdale finally realizes that his secret sin and split identity is killing him. He recognizes that Hester has become the stronger person and begs her to tell him what to do. Her solution is to run away to save himself. This is not the needed confession which will ease his soul but a band aide to run away from the secrets that haunt him.

Dialectical Journal 44 (Page 184)

“Hester next gather up the heavy tresses….now that she is sad.”

Pearl forces Hester back into her role of the woman with the scarlet letter.  Pearl isn’t willing to accept her father yet until he publicly accepts her. She wants honesty and openness from both her mother and father.

Dialectical Journal 45 (Page 195)
‘The physician knew then, that, in the minister’s regard...as he took his leave.”
 Dimmensdale and Chillingworth are still playing games. Chillingsworth has been devoured by revenge and hate and is no longer human. Dimmesdale pretends that the doctor is good and has healed him when in fact Chillingworth’s lies and secrets have turned him into the devil.

Dialectical Journal 46 (Page 200)
“Be quiet, Pearl! Thou understandest not these things, said her mother.”
Hester quiets Pearl and tells her not to acknowledge Dimmesdade because she still believes she needs to keep their love secret in order to preserve it. This logic is the same that lead her to lying about the sin in the first place. Their love is based on deception. Pearl is really the only one who understands their love because she is unconstrained by the rules of Puritanism

Dialectical Journal 47 (Page 224)

“Nothing was more remarkable than the change……..transmuted into golden love.”

Chillingsworth withers away because he nothing to hate anymore. The secret is out in the open. Hester and Dimmesdale were bound together by mutual sin, which was more powerful than a ceremony of marriage. He cannot do anything to hurt Hester anymore. There is only one person left in her life she truly loves; Pearl. Pearl has always seen the real identity of Chillingsworth and is beyond his reaches of evil

Dialectical Journal 48 (Page 227)

‘But there was a more real life for…..life successful to such an end!’

The scarlet letter is no longer a badge of shame. She returns and resumes wearing the scarlet letter because her past is part of her identity. It cannot be erased because the townspeople have decided it is shameful. She has created a life, which the scarlet letter has come to symbolize as an adversity to overcome and of knowledge gained rather than a sign of failure and disapproval. She is an example of redemption and self-empowerment.

Dialectical Journal 49 (Page 228)
‘So said Hester Prynne…. Light gloomier than the shadow’
Hester and Dimmesdale are followed to their grave by the Puritan’s judgment. They are laid to rest together but separate enough so even in eternity they cannot be together.  The reddish A is red and its light stands out more than the black background. This symbol has become confusing and ambiguous. At the end Hester was somewhat respected, but the letter even in death marks her guilty of a sin of the Puritan society.

Dialectical Journal 50 (Page 169)

“That old man…he was my husband!”

Hester confesses to Dimmesdale that Chillingworth is her husband. Dimmesdale realizes why Chillingworth has been torturing him, and falls to his knees.

Dialectical Journal 51 (Page 169)

“Woman, woman, thou art accountable for this! I cannot forgive thee!”

Dimmesdale is blaming Hester for not telling him that Chillingworth was her husband. He thinks it’s her fault that he has been suffering at the hands of her previous love. This is ironic because they are equally responsible for the sin that happened years before their encounter.

Dialectical Journal 52 (Page 171)

“Think for me, Hester! Thou art strong. Resolve for me!”

He was willing to have relations as a minister, and should be the one leading the flock. Instead, The weak Dimmesdale is expecting Hester, who has been persecuted for seven years, to solve his problems with Chillingworth.

Dialectical Journal 53 (Page 172)

“Then there is the broad pathway of the sea!”

This refers to Moses parting the red sea and leading his people to the promise land. Hester wants to take Dimmesdale and go back to a remote area where no one would ever know them.

Dialectical Journal 54 (Page 185)

“Doth he love us?” said Pearl, looking up with acute intelligence into her mother’s face. “Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?”

Pearl knows that Dimmesdale is her father and, in her own way, is forcing the issue that he be held accountable for her existence, as well as the letter on her mother’s breast.

Dialectical Journal 55 (Page 185)

“The minister – painfully embarrassed, but… and the purpose is soon to be fulfilled.”

Dimmesdale kisses Pearl, and Pearl races to the brook and races off. Dimmesdale is not ready to admit that he is the father, and until he acknowledges Pearl as his daughter, Pearl doesn’t want to have anything to do with him.