The Scarlet Letter Chapter Summaries, Essay Example

Chapter 4

Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, pays her a visit in prison.  Posing as a doctor, he offers her medicine.  In conversation, he reveals that he was optimistic to think he could keep a beautiful woman like Hester satisfied.  He urges her to reveal the identity of her lover, but she refuses.  He indicates that he will find out her lover even without her help.

Chapter 5

This chapter skips through several years of Hester’s life.  She is released from prison and makes a living by sewing.  She lives outside of town and sews burial shrouds, robes, etc. for the townspeople.  However, she is not allowed to sew anything for a marriage.  She begins charity work making clothes for the poor, but these people often insult her.

Chapter 6

This chapter focuses on Hester’s daughter, Pearl.  She is described as an imp.  She is moody and impulsive, but she is the center of her mother’s life.  She is ridiculed by the children of the town and invents imaginary friends to keep her company.  Additionally, she is obsessed with the scarlet A, constantly touching it and asking Hester about it.

Chapter 7
Hester visits Governor Bellingham’s mansion.  She is delivering a pair of gloves she sewed, but she really wants to know if Pearl is going to be taken from her.  The Governor and other townspeople believe that Pearl is a demon-child and that Hester is in danger.  Those who believe that Pearl is human believe she needs a better mother than Hester.  At the end, Pearl sees a suit of armor and is entranced by a reflection of Hester, a reflection with a huge A.

Chapter 8

Governor Bellingham, Wilson, Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale all meet Hester at the mansion to determine whether Hester should keep Pearl.  Hester states that she will help Pearl by teaching her the lessons she has learned from her own shame.  Wilson tests the religious knowledge of Pearl, and the men seem intent on taking the child away.  Hester asks Dimmesdale for help, and he convinces the men to let Hester keep Pearl.  Lastly, Mistress Hibbins invites Hester to a witches’ meeting.

Chapter 9

This chapter is devoted to Hester’s husband, Roger Chillingworth.  He is a very intelligent man who has studied the sciences and was abducted by Indians who taught him more skills.  He hides his identity from the townspeople, and they are thankful of his skill as a physician.  Dimmesdale becomes sick, and Chillingworth convinces the town’s leadership to let him live with Dimmesdale to help cure him.  However, Dimmesdale’s health continues to decline, and townspeople begin to think Chillingworth is the Devil.

Chapter 10

Dimmesdale and Chillingworth grow closer as doctor and patient.  Chillingworth devotes himself to finding the cause of Dimmesdale’s poor health.  While having a conversation, they encounter Hester and Pearl, who says that the minister is already taken by the Black Man.  The conversation between Dimmesdale and Chillingworth continues on the theme of hidden sin.  Dimmesdale tries to hide his connection to Hester, but Chillingworth has found out what he wanted to know; he sees the presumed A on Dimmesdale’s chest.

Chapter 11

Dimmesdale is tormented by Chillingworth, who knows his guilt now.  He wants rid of the doctor but cannot come up with a reason to dismiss him.  Dimmesdale’s poor health and guilt allow him to deliver his most powerful sermons ever.  In a dream, he sees Hester and Pearl.  Hester points to her A and then to his chest.  Dimmesdale begins vigils in which he fasts for long periods, scourges himself with a whip, and punishes himself.  He eventually decides during the night to mount the scaffold that Hester was forced to stand upon for her sin.

Chapter 12

Dimmesdale gets up on the scaffold and screams in pain.  All the townspeople believe it is a witch’s voice.  Reverend Wilson passes on the way back from Governor Winthrop’s deathbed but does not notice Dimmesdale.  On the same journey, Hester and Pearl pass by.  Pearl notices the minister and laughs when he laughs.  Hester and Pearl mount the scaffold with Dimmesdale and stand together as a family.  A meteor passes overhead and forms a scarlet A in the sky.  Roger Chillingworth watches from afar and then comes to the scaffold and asks the minister to come down.

Essay

Shunning is a practice in human society that has endured from ancient to modern times.  Originally, almost all shunning practices originated in religious regulation and rules.  Most religions have abandoned the practice, excepting the Amish, Catholics (who practice excommunication), and a few other groups.  However, in modern society, shunning takes other forms, but it has, at its base, the same formula, removing a member of the society from the group, socially and often physically.

One person who has experienced shunning is the professional golfer, Tiger Woods.  A few years ago, Tiger Woods was found to have had multiple affairs while still married to his wife, Elin.  He committed an inordinately large number of affairs over a short time.  The affairs became public knowledge when Elin attacked Tiger’s car after she uncovered the affairs.  The result of these affairs was a public shunning that has continued into the present.

The effects of Tiger’s affairs were wide-ranging.  When his indiscretions became public, the first effect is that Tiger lost millions of dollars in sponsorships.  His largest sponsors, Nike, Gatorade, and Buick, terminated him from his contracts.  Additionally, the sports media excoriated him.  His performance in golf tournaments suffered.  He went from being the most famous and successful golfer to just an upper range professional golfer.  Lastly, his wife, who was a hugely successful model, divorced him and took the children with her.

Tiger Woods shares little with Hester Prynne.  Hester Prynne had one small affair with an otherwise righteous man.  While Hester was wrong for her one sin, the obvious evil in The Scarlet Letter is Roger Chillingworth, who seeks the destruction of a righteous, tortured man.  Hester only succumbed to passion once and suffered thereafter.  Tiger Woods did not have one small transgression but many.  He also never fully repented of his errors and seems to have continued the same lifestyle after his shunning.

Public shunning is neither a relic of the past nor a practice just employed by religious institutions.  From the fallen sports star to the high school nerd, many people experience shunning from their social group.  Despite the circumstances, shunning is intensely painful.  Humans are social creatures and denying a human social interaction is a type of death.  No one deserves that fate.