Conservation of Sin: Hester's Redemption for Chillingworth's Damnation (Chapters 13-15)

The primary theme of Chapters 13 through 15 is redemption and damnation.

 Specifically, the chapters document Hester's gradual reclamation of her dignity, compassion, and place among the townsfolk, contrasting it with Chillingworth's own descent into vengefulness and anger via a confrontation between the two. In Chapter 13, the reader is introduced to the timespan between Hester's branding and the present day. Over the last seven years she has become a more reserved and compassionate woman. She offers refuge to harried souls and through them achieves a form of salvation. Indeed, Hester is described as a "self-ordained Sister of Mercy, or, we may rather say, the world's heavy hand had so ordained her, when neither world nor she looked forward to the result. (Hawthorne, 146)" The townsfolk cast aside their hatred and disgust for her, deeming her a saint among men with the scarlet letter a badge of honor. Even as her social status is altered, so too is Hester's mental status. She becomes less a woman than a cold statue, even as she assumes a freedom of speculation. Hester's reclamation of strength and power becomes apparent when she decides to confront Chillingworth, to whom she promised a debt of silence some seven years ago. Here is where the reader is pulled abruptly from the optimism of Hester's rise to the darkness in Chillingworth's heart.

While Hester has found strength in her role as the bearer of the letter, Chillingworth has succumbed to the darkness in his heart seeking vengeance on the man who gifted her that letter. In doing so, "old Roger Chillingworth was a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil, (Hawthorne 153)". He has spent seven years subtly tormenting Dimmesdale, keeping him alive to torment him further like a child's plaything. From a devoted husband and scholar, Chillingworth has morphed into a monster. Even when Hester pleads with him to release Dimmesdale from his grasp, Chillingworth is more concerned with revenge than Hester to even consider it. Chillingworth even recognizes his own destruction, "[lifting] his hands with a look of horror, as if he had beheld some frightful shape, which he could not recognize, usurping the place of his own image in a glass. (Hawthorne 155)". Chillingworth has become more monster than man. In doing so, he has lost salvation. We, the readers, are asked to feel pity and revulsion towards Chillingworth.

What kind of parallels can be drawn from these situations? Can we read into Hester and Chillingworth as two sides of the same coin? Is Hester's own redemption intended to be a sign that salvation is available to even the most base of men? In contrast, does Chillingworth teach us about the depths to which high men may sink? Here we can clearly see Chillingworth's spiritual demise reflected in modern cinema: The Dark Knight tells a tale of Harvey Dent, former attorney and the scourge of Gotham's underworld alongside the Batman. Alas, when Harvey's face is partially burnt off, so too are his morals. Dent becomes a twisted criminal figure, killing when his two-headed coin suits him. A former compass of morality is melted into a beacon of darkness. Chillingworth and Dent are mere archetypes, figures which we must hate and aspire to avoid. In contrast, Hester's own rise to saintly figure is heavily reminiscent of the Batman himself from Batman Begins, coming from a twisted past to a bright future, looked upon as a savior by the townsfolk. The Batman begins his journey in the slums and then jail, traveling to a ninja dojo but rejecting their evil ways and using their knowledge to fight crime. Hester begins her spiritual quest at the prison, returning to the scaffold and then living a life of piety, providing help to all and seeking recourse from none. They are the epitome of the classical heroes, who made the decisions to better themselves and rise up from the pits in which they dwelled. These are the figures we need to emulate - refusing to dwell on the past and instead looking to the future, fighting tooth and nail to ensure that they are better tomorrow than they were today.

These are the figures that Hawthorne chooses to depict, but the lessons they teach span far beyond his time.