In front of the prison stands an unsightly plot of. The scarlet letter chapter 4 summary and analysis enotes. Chapter 4 is especially important to understanding chillingworth. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. When hester and pearl return to prison, pearl cries uncontrollably. The stranger is hesters husband, roger chillingsworth.
The prison guards allow a doctor in to help calm her. Find a summary of this and each chapter of the scarlet letter. Throughout the novel, he is referred to as a scholar, a man most interested in studying reading about human behavior. Litcharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in the scarlet letter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work. It is june, and a throng of drably dressed puritans stands before a weatherbeaten wooden prison.
Thats the first time shes lied about it, and she can feel the evil creeping in. Hawthorne gives a view of what he has been as well as what he is to become. See a complete list of the characters in the scarlet letter and indepth analyses of hester prynne, roger chillingworth, arthur dimmesdale, pearl, governor bellingham, and mistress hibbins. Like any kid told not to ask questions, pearl continues to ask questions, until hester finally snaps at her. As to why she wears the scarlet letter, she says, i wear it for the sake of its gold thread 15. In this first chapter, hawthorne sets the scene of the novel boston of the seventeenth century. Unfortunately, however, chillingworth hints that in his pursuit of scholarship. After her return to the prison, hester prynne was found to be in a state of nervous excitement, that demanded constant watchfulness, lest she should perpetrate violence on herself, or do some halffrenzied mischief to the poor babe.
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