Scarlet Letter 3

1) "It might be that another feeling kept her within the scene and pathway that had been so fatal. There dwelt, there trode the feet of one with whom she deemed herself connected in a union, that, unrecognized on earth, would bring them together before the bar of final judgment, and make that their marriage-altar, for a joint futurity of endless retribution" (Hawthorne 74).

It is finally revealed as to why Hester will not divulge the name of her lover, Reverend Dimmesdale. It is because she loves him. Anyone who was forced to endure Hester's punishment would surely flee after they had served their time. Hester, however, stays in Boston, because of the one person she loves--Dimmesdale. It must be why she initially descended into sin for him, and why she would not reveal his name to the public. Hester, like Abigail, believed that she and Dimmesdale had formed a secret union, and that union is keeping her from leaving Boston. Even more so, she believed that Dimmesdale loved her in return. Why else would he sin with her in the first place? Hester soon realized, though, that it was just a delusion. She came to her senses, and blamed the notion on the Devil, trying to tempt her over fully into darkness. It is a common fantasy among those who love but do not know if they are loved in return. They fantasize that everything means something. Hester had to stay in Boston because of Dimmesdale. She could not reveal his sin because her silence was all for him. Dimmesdale really loved her, and someday they would be together, if she silently went along with everything thrown at her. It is also common for those dreamers that they quickly come to reality, and understand how illogical some of those things were. This is exactly Hester's situation. She wants to believe that Dimmesdale loves her, and that is the reason she will not reveal his name; though she loves him as well, some part of her believes his love to be false.

2) "She[Hester] shuddered to believe, yet could not help believing, that it[Scarlet Letter] gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts...could they be other than the insidious whispers of the bad angel, who would fain have persuaded the struggling woman, as yet only half his victim, that the outward guise of purity was but a lie, and that, if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom besides Hester Prynne's?" (80).

Everyone sins. That is a truth universally acknowledged. None of us are perfect. In the old theocracy of Boston, however, they liked to pretend to be. These Puritans had to be perfect, because only perfection was allowed in their Utopia. Whenever someone did sin, they were ostracized as an outcast, such as Hester. She sinned, and now she is forced to remember that sin for the rest of her natural life, forever cursed by the Scarlet A upon her breast. Everyone looks down on her and her child, deeming them the very embodiment of sin. Meanwhile, those condescending townspeople are purporting perfection and purity. They are far from that. Everyone does something they are not proud of, and these Puritans can be no exception. That is what Hester begins to see, thanks to her scarlet stigma. Like her husband, she now has the uncanny ability to see the sins in others. The infernal flame ignited within her brand burns away the false pretenses of others, showing them for what they really are. Hester is slowly realizing this, s everyone so often she will feel someone eyeing her, and notice that is a maiden shyly looking away at her gaze, as though she shares Hester's scorn in silence. It is with this ability Hester is able to see Pearl in a different light. She sees that Pearl is beautiful, but also sees a dark malice within her that scares Hester to the core: "It was a face, fiend-like, full of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of features that she had known full well, though seldom with a smile, and never with malice in them. It was as if an evil spirit possessed the child, and had just then peeped forth in mockery" (89). Hester sees herself in Pearl, but even more so than herself, she see malice. Pearl is incredibly intelligent, and is smart enough to know that no heavenly father sent her, but an earthly one did. She would even lash out at the children who gathered around her and stared, the physical manifestation of what Hester would have wanted to do. Pearl has a dark side, and Hester's own scarlet letter allows her to see it.