The Scarlet Letter Dialectical Journal

ENTRY 4 : ( CH 12-14)

Type of quote Quote Significance

Hawthorne describes how
Dimmensdale think when he
is at the scaffold where 7-
years ago Hester was there
and be punished publicly
alone.”He had been driven
hither by the impulse of that
Theme –d
Remorse which dogged him
Hidden sin can cause
every where , and whose
unnecessary guilt and can
own sister and closely
eat away at a person’s soul
linked companion was that
Cowardice which invariably
drew him back with her
tremulous gripe , just when
the other impulse had
hurried him to the verge of a
disclose”(p.144)
Hawthorne describe the t
meaning of the meteor to
Dimmensdale’s guilt .”Not
but the meteor may have
shown itself at that point
,burning duskily through a
Symbolism- veil of cloud ;but with no
Meteor such shape as his guilty
imagination gave it ;or; at
least ,with so little
definiteness ,that another’s
guilt might have seen
another symbol in it “
(p.151)
Hawthorne describe how
much Chillingworth has
changed- he becomes more
devil then before :”In a
world , old Roger
Symbolism-
Chillingworth was a striking
Chillingworth (cold –
evidence of man’s faculty of
hearted)
transforming himself into a
devil , if he will only , for a
reasonable space of time ,
undertake a devil’s office(p-
166)
 The feeble and most
sensitive of spirits could do
neither , yet continually did
one thing or another ,which
Use of sin and guilt intertwined ,in the same
inextricable knot , the agony
of heaven –defying guilty
and vain repetance