Cynthia Lin COMP 200: Advanced Composition The Rhetoric of Scandal Dr. Luz Ramirez SUNY College at Oneonta February 13, 2001 Presentation - The Scarlet Letter, Chapters XXIII - XXIV In these, the final chapters of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, I will discuss Dimmesdale's confession and fallout that it caused. I. Eloquence and Brilliance      Arthur Dimmesdale, sensing that his time is at an end, delivers a sermon so great that, according to the townspeople, "never had a man spoke in so wise, so high, and so holy a spirit, as he that spake that day...(Hawthorne 167)." It marks the highest point of Dimmesdale's life, but as the sermon ends, so ends the energy that has sustained him ever his since meeting with Hester in the forest. This does not go unnoticed by his parishioners: The glow, which they had just before beheld burning on his cheek, was extinguished, like a flame that sinks down hopelessly among the late-decaying embers. It seemed hardly the face of a man alive, with such a deathlike hue; it was hardly a man with life in him, that tottered on his path so nervelessly, yet tottered, and did not fall! (Hawthorne 169)      Taking small, deliberate steps towards the scaffold and pillory, Dimmesdale calls out, "Hester, come hither! Come, my little Pearl! (Hawthorne 170)" Pearl runs to him immediately and hugs his knees. Hester walks "slowly, as if impelled by inevitable fate, and against her strongest will...but paused before she reached him (Hawthorne 170)." Ever near, Roger Chillingworth grabs Dimmesdale and demands that he stop, but Dimmesdale laughs him off and tells Chillingworth that he will now escape his evil influence: "Thy power is not what it was! With God's help, I shall escape thee now! (Hawthorne 170)" Even without the brilliant energy he possessed during his sermon, the minister speaks strongly and eloquently against the leech; he denounces Chillingworth as one would denounce Satan. II. Confessions      The crowd is bewildered by the actions of the minister. Dimmesdale tells them that he should have stood with Hester seven years earlier. Determined to reveal his secret, he tells Hester, "I am a dying man. So let me make haste to take my shame upon me. (Hawthorne 171)" Dimmesdale indicates that he has secretly worn the badge of the scarlet letter the whole time, without anyone knowing it. Hawthorne writes that, "With a convulsive motion he tore away the ministerial band from before his breast. It was revealed! (Hawthorne 172)"      Having finally confessed, the minister sinks down to his knees and asks Pearl to kiss him now. She does, and: A spell was broken...as her tears fell upon her father's cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl's errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled. (Hawthorne 173)      Dimmesdale dies on the scaffold. Pearl's role as the living scarlet letter is finally over, and the moral that she was meant to teach is learned by Dimmesdale and Hester, who finally take responsibility for their sin. III. In Days After      The exact events of the third and final scaffold scene are much debated by the townspeople. Some deny that, "there was any mark whatever on his breast, more than on a new-born infant's. (Hawthorne 174)" Those same people believe that the minister had not confessed his guilt, nor was he even connected to Hester's guilt: ...the minister, conscious that he was dying,--conscious also, that the reverence of the multitude placed him already among saints and angels,--had desired, by yielding up his breath in the arms of that fallen woman, to express to the world how utterly nugatory is the choicest of man's own righteousness. (Hawthorne 174)      Soon after Dimmesdale's death, Roger Chillingworth also passes, leaving all of his wealth and property to Pearl. After disappearing with Pearl for several years, Hester returns to live the rest of her life in her cottage, and becomes famous throughout the community for her help with the poor and sick. Hawthorne infers that Pearl is happily married and living overseas in Europe (Hawthorne 177). Hester eventually dies and is buried in the King's Chapel cemetery. Questions For Discussion: 1. Why is it that no one agrees on the events of the final scaffold scene? 2. Why does Hester return to New England when she could have lived in relative anonymity elsewhere?