Ryan Gormley's Awesome Blog Post

          In my opinion The Scarlet Letter finally begins to get exciting during the chapters 9-12. For me, the highlights of theses chapters are Chillingworth’s attempt at finding out Dimmsdale’s secret, and Pearl’s omniscient abilities. In these chapters the reader begins to understand the evil fire that began brewing in Chillingworth when he first saw Hester on the scaffold. In the eyes of the townspeople Dimmsdale is godlike, and similar to Jesus. On the other hand many townspeople are skeptical of Chillingworth and many see him as Satan’s servant. Chillingworth has become a well respected physician, and is asked to live with and treat Dimmsdale as Dimmsdale grows sick. The Townspeople view this arrangement as a trial for Dimmsdale to overcome the evil Chillingworth. I find the image of a holy figure fighting a devilish figure to be very similar to Adam and the snake or Jesus being tempted by the devil.

            As he spends time with Dimmsdale, Chillingworth uses his finely tuned traits as a physician to diagnose Dimmsdale’s sickness. However, during this process, Chillingworth’s morally ethical practice falls to ruin as he begins to desire the manipulation of Dimmsdale. Hawthorne describes this process in which Chillingworth goes about delving into Dimmsdale:

            “He groped along as stealthily, with as cautious a tread, and as wary an outlook, as a thief entering a chamber                      where a man lies half asleep, -or, if it may be, broad awake, -with the purpose to steal the very treasure which this             man guards as the apple of his eye. In spite of his premeditated carefulness, the floor would now and then creak;                 his garments would rustle; the shadow of his presence, in a forbidden proximity, would be across the victim”                    (Hawthorne 118).

              I find the comparisons and the irony in this passage very interesting. Hawthorne describes Chillingworth to be a “cautious” and “stealthy” “thief”. Chillingworth is most definitely a thief because he is trying to steal Dimmsdale’s secrets and subsequently steal his freedom for, if the thieving is successful, Chillingworth will be able to reveal the secret that formerly could only have been revealed by Dimmsdale. However, leading up to this point in the novel, Chillingworth has not been very stealthy. When he asks Hester who Pearl's father is he cannot conceal the mischievous look on his face even though doing so may have influenced Hester to divulge the information. However, when committing the act of thieving Chillingworth is able to conceal his true intentions. Although Pearl and the meteor do reveal Chillingworth's true identity. This leads me to question what Dimmsdale thinks of Chillingworth. Chillingworth wants to steal Dimmsdale’s secret or in this case, the “apple of his eye” and rob him of his identity. I find this ironic because Chillingworth previously had his wife, a prized possession, stolen away by Dimmsdale’s adultery, which subsequently forced Chillingworth to change his identity completely to avoid the following shame if his identity was discovered. This passage in general interested me because of the portrayal of Chillingworth and made me question how affective Chillingworth's disguise was.

           The next highlight in the chapter for me was Pearl making an appearance during a conversation between Chillingworth and Dimmsdale. As the two men were talking and looking out over the graveyard they notice Pearl skipping amongst the tombstones with her mother in the distance. The men talk about Pearl causing her to look at them. Pearl says to Hester “Come way mother! Come away, or yonder old Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother, or he will catch you! But he cannot catch little Pearl!” (Hawthorne 122). In this moment Pearl serves as an angel of sorts to her mother but also as a messenger of the truth. She is there to warn her mother and protect her from Satan, just as angels do. She also serves as the truth because she can see the evil through Chillingworth’s guise. Later in the text when Dimmsdale is on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl and pretends to be confessing his secret to the townspeople Pearl reminds him of the truth. She does not indulge in his dreams but instead asks him if he will be on the scaffolding at noon with Hester and her. This jolts Dimmsdale back into reality and reminds him of his faults and the truth that he is too weak to confess his secret. In both instances Pearl represents the truth and is able to focus on reality amidst illusions. 

            This reminded me of Biff Loman. As we all know, in the play The Death of a Salesman Biff serves as the face of reality. As the play develops Biff becomes more and more in tune with reality. Near the end of the play Biff can see through the lies that Happy tells the family and no longer allows Willy to live in his dream world. This is similar to how Pearl sees reality through Chillingworth’s lies and prevents Dimmsdale from living in his dreams After finally coming in touch with reality completely Biff no longer tries to force himself to be a businessman. Instead he can finally do what he wants and work and live outside. Pearl acts similarly. She is born in touch with reality and acts in any way she wants regardless of what the other children do. This connection helps me realize how Pearl can be a positive character similar to Biff instead of the evil imp creature she is made out to be.