The Scarlet Letter · Chapter
The New England Holiday explained
On Election Day, Hester and Pearl enter the bustling marketplace.
What happens
On Election Day, Hester and Pearl enter the bustling marketplace. Hester, still wearing the scarlet letter, feels a mix of triumph and regret as she anticipates leaving Boston. Pearl is restless and perceptive, noting the minister's strange behavior. The crowd includes Indians, sailors, and townspeople. Roger Chillingworth is seen talking with the captain of a ship, who later approaches Hester to inform her that the captain has arranged an extra berth, implying a secret plan.
Themes in this chapter
Public Shame vs. Private Truth
Hester's public appearance with the scarlet letter contrasts with her inner feelings of triumph and impending freedom, highlighting the tension between her public shame and private truth.
Identity and Individuality
Pearl's vibrant dress and wild behavior emphasize her unique identity, inseparable from her nature, while Hester's gray garb and the scarlet letter define her public identity.
Characters to notice
- Hester Prynne
Hester enters the marketplace with Pearl, clad in gray with the scarlet letter. She shows a marble-like calmness, but inwardly feels a sense of triumph and regret as she anticipates leaving Boston.
- Pearl
Pearl is dressed gaily and exhibits restless, birdlike movements. She questions her mother about the holiday and the minister, showing her perceptive nature and recalling past encounters with Dimmesdale.
- Roger Chillingworth
Chillingworth is seen in the marketplace talking familiarly with the commander of a ship from the Spanish Main, indicating his ongoing involvement in the plot.
- Master Brackett
The old jailer nods and smiles at Pearl, remembering her as a baby.
Key passages
“Look your last on the scarlet letter and its wearer!—the people's victim and lifelong bondslave, as they fancied her, might say to them. 'Yet a little while, and she will be beyond your reach! A few hours longer, and the deep, mysterious ocean will quench and hide forever the symbol which ye have caused to burn upon her bosom!'”
Hester imagines telling the crowd to look at the scarlet letter for the last time, as she will soon be free from its shame when she leaves Boston by sea.
This passage reveals Hester's inner triumph and her anticipation of escaping the public shame of the scarlet letter.
“What a strange, sad man is he!... In the dark nighttime he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stood with him on the scaffold yonder. And in the deep forest... he talks with thee... But here, in the sunny day, and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him!”
Pearl observes that Dimmesdale is affectionate with them in private but ignores them in public, highlighting his hypocrisy and inner conflict.
Pearl's words underscore the theme of public shame vs. private truth, as Dimmesdale hides his connection to Hester and Pearl in public.