The Scarlet Letter IRA #8

The Scarlet Letter


Summary :Chapters 8-10

           We left off when Hester and Pearl visited the home of Governor Bellingham. Governor Bellingham enters his living room with a few individuals: Reverend Dimmesdale and Hester's ex-husband, the physician who lives under the pseudonym, Roger chillington. Everyone in the room starts to question Pearl's belief of religion. They wonder whether the child should be in Hester's care because they want Peal to be educated in the ways of the Lord. Hester disagrees on that decision and tells them that she can provide all the education about the Lord that is needed. Suddenly Rev. Dimmesdale speaks up and encourages the governor that this women has learned from her mistakes and has the ability to care for her child. (This is interesting. I wonder why he of all people would stand up for her, when he made her life a living hell? Literally) The eight chapter devotes its' entire self to Roger Chillington, who we all know is actually Hester's ex-husband. The chapter talks about his medical skills and how nobody has a clue that he is pretending to be someone else.  Reverend Dimmesdale soon falls ill and Roger is up to the challenge to figure out his condition. As the physician takes care of the young reverend, he convinces the pious man to let him move in and provide at-home care. As the years go by, the reverend and the doctor start to become good friends and get extremely close. I believe that Roger has a reason for this relationship as if he has a hunch that this young man of God has been hiding something. Many of the town villagers believe that there is a change in the doctor and the reverend as if the devil is among them. There is a rumor going around that Roger Chillington, the skilled physician that knows Native American herbal methods that can save people from diseases that the colonist don't even know about yet, uses methods that are unholy and satanic. Reverend Dimmesdale is getting to be very suspicious about the skilled doctor and may start believing the rumors that surround the city about his friendly doctor. The two men watch Hester and Pearl walking through the graveyard, and this is where the doctor brings up the subject of repentance and sin. The physician is starting to get even more suspicious about Dimmesdale , and his tenaciousness to figure out what this pastor is hiding will be his main objective. The minister talks about how Hester and how "it is better for Hester to  suffer her pain, than to cover it up in his heart"(213).  If you notice the underlined and bolded word "his' you can tell it means something like maybe a confession or something. The reverend finally asks his health care professional if he is making any progress in find out his condition or disease. Roger points out that the symptoms are strange and that the minister may not have revealed all of his symptoms. He points out this disease cannot be medical, but some "spiritual ailment" that he is suffering. Reverend Dimmesdale freaks out and storms out of the room as if through some kind of rage or passion.  The doctor feels that this goody-two shoes minister has so much  passion and the inability to  control himself, that he has done something so terrible that he is contradicting himself when talking about sin and repentance.  


 The major theme that I can pull out from these three chapters is Sin and Repentance. of course this is probably the major theme of the entire story. This theme is followed by the symbolism of irony and how the most pious individuals could be seen as the best Christians on the outside, but on the inside they are hiding something underneath their skin that is so terrible, they refuse to repent their sins in fear that they will not be saved, or their reputation will be blown. The character who I believe has displayed the most irony is Reverend Dimmesdale because he is preaching about sin and repentance and how it is better to suffer the pain than keep the pain. That is just not true, because  we all know because inside his soul he knows that he has done something wrong. There is another theme called the "spiritual ailment" in which the skilled doctor believes is the young reverend's disease or condition. I  believe that because his soul is in deep pain. Or maybe his condition is both medical and spiritual as if he is so worked up over his sin that  he maybe developing signs of a stroke or heart attack because of the amount of stress put on a holy man.