The Scarlet Letter Summaries Chapters 17-19

Chapters 17 and 18

Seventeen begins with Hester calling out to Dimmesdale. After he realizes that it is Hester, Dimmesdale and she begin to talk. At it's start, the conversation mainly consists of them asking eachother the same questions. Dimmesdale explains that he has felt nothing but despair since what he did. As he starts gettin very upset, Hester tels him that he has an enemy tha is making him more and more upset. When he asks her whom, she tells him the true identity of Roger Chillingworth. Hester and Dimmesdale then discuss how Roger Chillingworth is the most evil amongs them, because he is commiting his sin out of hatred, instead of out of love like Hester and Dimmesdale. Hester begins asking Dimmesdale why he stays in Boston and explains to him tht it would be better if he left. He says that he doesn't want to go alone, and she tells Dimmesdale that he doesn't have too.

In chapter eighteen, Dimmesdale talks of how he feels joy for the first time in seven years. They have now decided that they are going leave, and they will live as a family. Hester speaks about how the past is gone and then takes the scarlet letter off her breast and throws it down in the leaves. She then takes off the cap and lets her hair flow down. It is explained that these acts bring back all of Hester's beauty that had been hidden for so long. Hester then, suddenly, remembers she has a child and gets even more exicted about the life they will have. Dimmesdale asks Hester if Pearl will like him, and Hester says tht she has already shown to like Dimmesdale twice in the past. Hester calls to Pearl, who begins to go back to her mother, until she see Dimmesdale.