The Scarlet Letter Chapters 19 - 24 Commentary

Commentary: In just three days Dimmesdale and Hester will sail to England as Boston celebrates its great yearly holiday. Although the minister and his city seem alive with new energy and hope, he is in a maze of doubt and turmoil. How can he turn his back on God and leave the spot where He has put him? What will become of his congregation? Can God forgive his sin?

As Hester's lover leaves the wilderness, he experiences a hectic joy that turns almost uncontrollably into wickedness. Shocking parishoioners by speaking blasphemies and barely restraining his lust, the minister wonders whether he has given himself to Satan. Nonetheless he still intends to write and deliver the great sermon of his career on Election Day, before he leaves with Hester to England.

Election Day arrives. A new Governor is to be chosen; all work has stopped and the townspeople seem transformed -- exuberant and boisterous, as if their God had created them purely to delight themselves. Dimmesdale joins a spirited parade to the meeting house, ignoring Hester as he passes. Hester has gotten the tickets to the ship and has found that Chillingworth has also gotten a boarding pass on the same ship and made arrangements to share a cabin with Dimmesdale.

Dimmesdale, at this time, preaches a sanctified version of Hester's promise in the forest, assuring his flock they will achieve the Earthly Paradise. It is a manificient, exalted sermon by the end of which Dimmesdale is physically and emotionally spent. As the parade leaves the meeting house to the town square, Dimmesdale falters and those close enough can see he is dying. Although Chillingworth tries to stop him, the minister climbs to the scaffold alone and asks Hester and Pearl to join him. There he makes a confession as ambiguous as his life has been, referring to himself initially as "I," but shifting quickly to the third person, to the sotry of a "he" who sinned. dimmesdale tears open his shirt to reveal a mark which many see as a scarlet letter etched somehow in his flesh. Asking God to forgive Chillingworth, the minister refuses Hester the promise of a heavenly marriage and, praising God, he dies.

The last chapter is an epilogue to the drama in which after a long absence hester returns to Boston. It is in every sense her home. The scarlet letter on her breast, Hester sits in her old cottage surrounded by women who regularly bring their griefs and problems. Finally at peace and full of wisdom, Hester predicts the coming of a prophetess who will show women "how sacred love shall make us happy."

Years later, Hester is buried near Dimmesdale. A single marker serves both their graves; there, carved on a black headstone, in the scarlet letter "A."

Have Questions or Comments? Email Jay Edwards