Pearl then asks him to stand with her the next day at noon. He asks them to stand with him, which they do. While standing there, Hester and Pearl arrive. He stands on the scaffold and imagines the whole town watching him with a letter emblazoned on his chest. One night Dimmesdale is so overcome with shame about hiding his secret that he walks to the scaffold where Hester was publicly humiliated. Chillingworth eventually discovers that Dimmesdale is the true father of Pearl, at which point he spends every moment trying to torment the minister. He uses his reputation to get transferred into the same home as Arthur Dimmesdale, an ailing minister. Roger Chillingworth earns a reputation as a good physician. Pearl grows up to be wild, even refusing to obey her mother. Hester earns her money by doing stitchwork for local dignitaries, but she often spends her time helping the poor and sick. She and Pearl live there in relative solitude. Hester moves into a cottage bordering the woods. Chillingworth then forces her to promise never to reveal his true identity as her cuckolded husband. He tells her that he will find out who the man was, and he will read the truth on the man's heart. In the crowd Hester recognizes her husband from Amsterdam, Roger Chillingworth.Д¬hillingworth visits Hester after she is returned to the prison. On the scaffold she is asked to reveal the name of Pearl's father, but she refuses. Hester carries Pearl, her daughter, with her. She has stitched a large scarlet A onto her dress with gold thread, giving the letter an air of elegance. Hester is forced to wear the letter A on her gown at all times. Hester is being led to the scaffold, where she is to be publicly shamed for having committed adultery.

Scarlet letter annotations