Summary—Chapter 11: The Interior of a Heart
Chillingworth continues to play mind games with Dimmesdale, making
his revenge as terrible as possible. The minister often regards
his doctor with distrust and even loathing, but because he can assign
no rational basis to his feelings, he dismisses them and continues
to suffer. Dimmesdale’s suffering, however, does inspire him to
deliver some of his most powerful sermons, which focus on the topic
of sin. His struggles allow him to empathize with human weakness,
and he thus addresses “the whole human brotherhood in the heart’s
native language.” Although the reverend deeply yearns to confess
the truth of his sin to his parishioners, he cannot bring himself
to do so. As a result, his self-probing keeps him up at night, and
he even sees visions.
In one vision, he sees Hester and “little Pearl in her
scarlet garb.” Hester points “her forefinger, first at the scarlet
letter on her bosom, and then at the clergyman’s own breast.”
The minister understands that he is delusional, but his psychological
tumult leads him to assign great meaning to his delusions. Even
the Bible offers him little support. Unable to unburden himself
of the guilt deriving from his sin, he begins to believe that “the
whole universe is false, . . . it shrinks to nothing within his
grasp.” Dimmesdale begins to torture himself physically: he scourges
himself with a whip, he fasts, and he holds extended vigils, during
which he stays awake throughout the night meditating upon his sin.
During one of these vigils, Dimmesdale seizes on an idea for what
he believes may be a remedy to his pain. He decides to hold a vigil
on the scaffold where, years before, Hester suffered for her sin.
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Chapter 11: The Interior of a Heart →
Summary—Chapter 12: The Minister’s Vigil
Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold. The pain in his breast
causes him to scream aloud, and he worries that everyone in the
town will wake up and come to look at him. Fortunately for Dimmesdale,
the few townspeople who heard the cry took it for a witch’s voice.
As Dimmesdale stands upon the scaffold, his mind turns to absurd thoughts.
He almost laughs when he sees Reverend Wilson, and in his delirium
he thinks that he calls out to the older minister. But Wilson, coming
from the deathbed of Governor Winthrop (the colony’s first governor),
passes without noticing the penitent. Having come so close to being
sighted, Dimmesdale begins to fantasize about what would happen
if everyone in town were to witness their holy minister standing
in the place of public shame.
Dimmesdale laughs aloud and is answered by a laugh from
Pearl, whose presence he had not noticed. Hester and Pearl had also
been at Winthrop’s deathbed because the talented seamstress had
been asked to make the governor’s burial robe. Dimmesdale invites
them to join him on the scaffold, which they do. The three hold
hands, forming an “electric chain.” The minister feels energized
and warmed by their presence. Pearl innocently asks, “Wilt thou
stand here with Mother and me, tomorrow noontide?” but the minister replies,
“Not now, child, but at another time.” When she presses him to name
that time, he answers, “At the great judgment day.”
Suddenly, a meteor brightens the dark sky, momentarily
illuminating their surroundings. When the minister looks up, he
sees an “A” in the sky, marked out in dull red light. At the same
time, Pearl points to a figure that stands in the distance and watches
them. It is Chillingworth. Dimmesdale asks Hester who Chillingworth
really is, because the man occasions in him what he calls “a nameless
horror.” But Hester, sworn to secrecy, cannot reveal her husband’s
identity. Pearl says that she knows, but when she speaks into the minister’s
ear, she pronounces mere childish gibberish. Dimmesdale asks if
she intends to mock him, and she replies that she is punishing him
for his refusal to stand in public with her and her mother.
Chillingworth approaches and coaxes Dimmesdale down, saying
that the minister must have sleepwalked his way up onto the scaffold.
When Dimmesdale asks how Chillingworth knew where to find him, Chillingworth
says that he, too, was making his way home from Winthrop’s deathbed.
