The Scarlet Letter Chapters 21-24 Recap

The Scarlet Letter Chapters 21-24 Recap

By Mrs. Jessica Seat, M.A.

Chapter 21 Summary

Hester, Dimmesdale, and Pearl prepare to board a ship back to England. However, when Hester attempts to meet with the ship master she is told that she should prepare to have an additional shipmate: none other than Roger Chillingworth who plans to follow her on her voyage.

Notable Quote

Pearl: "In the dark night-time he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as we stood with him on the scaffold younger. And in the deep forest, where only the old trees an hear, and the strip of sky see it, he talks with thee, sitting on a heap of moss! And he kisses my forehead too, so that the little brook would hardly wash it off! But here, in the sunny day, and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him! A strange, sad man is he, with his hand always over his heart!" (205).

Open Ended

Explain what the previous quote reveals about how Pearl feels about Arthur Dimmesdale.

Notable Quote

"Their [the Puritans] immediate posterity, the generation next to the early emigrants, wore the blackest shade of Puritanism, and so darkened the national visage with it, that all the subsequent years have not sufficed to clear it up. We have yet to learn again from the forgotten art of gayety."

Open Ended

What does the previous quote tell you about the Puritans in Boston village?

Chapter 22 Summary

The people and clergymen gather in anticipation of Reverend Dimmesdale's Election Day sermon. Mistress Hibbins approaches Hester in the crowd and reveals that she saw her with Dimmesdale in the woods. As the sermon begins, the ship master approaches Pearl and tells her that only she and her mother should come aboard the ship because Chillingworth has made other arrangements for Dimmesdale's passage. When Pearl relays this message to Hester she feels as though the entire crowd is staring at her scarlet letter.

Notable Quote

Mistress Hibbins: "Dost thou think I have been to the forest so many times, and have yet no skill to judge who else has been there? Yea; though no leaf of the wild garlands, which they wore while they danced, be left in their hair! I know thee, Hester; I behold the token. We may all see it in the sunshine; and it glows like a red flame in the dark. Thou wearest it openly, so there need be no question about that. But this minister! Let me tell thee, in thine ear! When the Black Man sees one of his own servants, signed and sealed, so shy of owning to the bond as is the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, he hath a way of ordering matters so that the mark shall be disclosed in open daylight to the eyes of all the world!" (216-217).

Open Ended

Explain how the previous quote functions as foreshadowing in the novel?

Chapter 23 Summary

Reverend Dimmesdale speaks to the people, and they believe that he will soon be dead because he hints of his leaving. Chillingworth arrives, but Dimmesdale tells him that God will allow him to escape the man's power. Dimmesdale invites Hester and Pearl to stand with him on the scaffold, but Hester is afraid that they will be killed by the Puritans for confessing their sin together. Dimmesdale confesses his sin by revealing his scarlet letter and promptly dies. Pearl kisses Dimmesdale and is overcome with grief.

Notable Quotes

"Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him [Dimmesdale], with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed.

'Thou hast escaped me!' he repeated more than once. 'Thou hast escaped me!'

'May God forgive thee!' said the minister, 'Thou, too, hast deeply sinned!'"

Open Ended

Explain this last interaction between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. How has Dimmesdale escaped, and how has Chillingworth sinned deeply?

Chapter 24 Summary

This chapter is more of an afterward. We learn that Dimmesdale has left his land in both Boston and England to Hester and Pearl in his will. We learn that Hester returned to Boston and lived the rest of her life wearing the scarlet letter in her cottage. Nobody knows where Pearl is, but it is suspected that she is alive and happily married. Rumors say that Hester spent a lot of time knitting baby clothes late in her life that many believe to be for Pearl's own child. Hester continues to visit the grave of Dimmesdale until her own death.

Notable Quote

"After exhausting life in his efforts for mankind's spiritual good, he had made the manner of his death a parable, in order to impress on his admirers the mighty and mournful lesson, that, in the view of Infinity Purity, we are sinners all alike. It was to teach them, that the holiest among us has but attained so far above his fellows as to discern more clearly the Mercy which looks down, and repudiate more utterly the phantom of human merit, which would look aspiringly upward" (231).

Open Ended

What does Dimmesdale hope that people have learned from his story?

Poll

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