summary: part two

Coinciding with Hester’s emergence into the town again is Roger Chillingworth’s entry into it. Hester had been sent ahead to New England and though nobody knew her husband’s identity, they expected his eventual arrival. Chillingworth is that husband, but any theory that he is the father of the controversial baby is soon disproved, because he had been a captive of the nearby Indians for the last few years. When he becomes part of the town, it is as a stranger to everyone but Hester. The two decide the marriage was a part of a former life, and their ties are severed. However, Chillingworth’s one goal is to discover who Pearl’s father is, for Hester refuses to expose him. Hawthorne does not confirm who Pearl’s father is until the end of the novel, but I’ll have to spoil the fun for you: it’s the town’s beloved Reverend Dimmesdale.

Hawthorne uses this character like a psychological exploration of morality and guilt. The Puritan society is criticized by Hawthorne for its lack of imagination and relationship to nature. The Puritans are shown to lack Blake’s embracing of contraries, for they strive for an idealistic innocence (which they equate with righteousness) while condemning and refusing the experience and darkness of human nature. Hester and Dimmesdale are contrasted, for the former’s experience is displayed on her chest while the former hides his behind his good reputation. Dimmesdale develops a habit of clutching his heart as though in pain, and becomes noticeably weaker in his physical body. Chillingworth is accepted by the Puritans as a learned scientist and is at first highly admired for his intelligence, but as he “leeches” onto Dimmesdale as his constant companion, some begin to think he is an agent of Satan and not of God.

In the meantime, Pearl is growing up into a beautiful and wild-natured child who invokes discomfort and slight fear in everyone including her own mother. Hester wonders at times whether this unearthly creature is her human child.