"Thy power is not what it was! With God's help, I shall escape thee now!" (226)
As John Proctor learned in the end of The Crucible, God is the final judge. Dimmesdale realized he did not have to punish himself or let others punish him, for God is merciful. Knowing that Dimmesdale is a priest, it is somewhat ridiculous that he did not realize this earlier. By admitting to everyone that he was the one who should have been standing on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl the last seven years, he broke his contract with the Devil and repaired the guilt that has hurt his heart. The remedy for his pain was a passage to Heaven.
"Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. [...] Pearl's errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled" (229)
Pearl had done her duty. The sin and wrong she exemplified for Hester and Dimmesdale was now insignificant. The secret was out. Dimmesdale confessed and his misery would be ended in Heaven. Both As had been exposed, bringing Hester and Dimmesdale together. Pearl was "the tie that united them" (186), and now that these conflicting parts had joined, Pearl became normal and could now kiss her father, Dimmesdale. The strange and elfish Pearl was gone. Who would have thought Pearl would be married in the future?
Vocabulary:
"So etherealized by spirit as he was, and so apotheosized by worshipping admirers, did his footsteps, in the procession, really tread upon the dust of the earth?" (224)
1) extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world (Apple Dictionary)
2) heavenly or spiritual (Apple Dictionary)
"Old Roger Chillingworth knelt down beside him, with a blank, dull countenance, out of which the life seemed to have departed" (228)
1) a person's face or facial expression (Apple Dictionary)
0 comments:
Post a Comment