Continuing with Pearl, I got the feeling that, while Hester loves her daughter, Pearl is part of the burdened that Hester carries; there seemed to be a mix of resentment. Perhaps, it’s because willful Pearl is such a handful, and she is a constant reminder to Hester why she alienated from others. I’m not sure if I read into that right, but that’s the feeling I got from it. When it looks as if that Pearl might be taken from Hester, Dimmesdale steps in and advocates for Hester; this was the first time in the novel that I found anything redeemable in Dimmesdale as a character. From that the story delves deeper as Chillingworth and Dimmesdale become roommates, for lack of a better word. I found the use and wordplay of “leech” in reference to Chillingworth to be interesting; as it becomes clear the doctor seems to be one of the reasons for Dimmesdale’s deteriorating health, acting as both as a leech and a plague to his patient-he strongly pursues in trying to get Dimmesdale to admit what clutches at his troubled mind and soul. I found it equally interesting that Pearl reference to Chillingworth as the “black man”- I found this to be important to the strong symbolism in the story that has a particular tendency to focus on the inner facets of the characters’ personalities. It was somewhere in this section that I began to feel sorry for Dimmesdale, when before I viewed him as a pathetic, spineless man. I was able to recognize Dimmesdale’s pain and the heavy weight that burdens his soul, as he begins to lose his mind; the instability of his mindset becomes increasingly apparent, especially when he starts seeing hallucinations of Hester and Pearl. When Dimmesdale is upon the scaffold, it looks as if he’s about to crack open and lose the last bit of his sanity, but then Hester and Pearl come along; I liked this part because they seem to pull him back a little from the darkness that’s consuming his mind.
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