Scarlet Letter

When the sin is unconfessed, as with Dimmesdale, the darkness turns to despair.
             Climax .
             The climax occurs at the second scaffold scene, when Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl, finally divulging his secret, but still in the darkness of night. .
             Ironically, while standing there, Dimmesdale notices a large meteor in the sky that appears in the shape of the letter A. Chillingworth sees it as well, for he has been watching the three of them on the scaffold. Dimmesdale's sin is a secret no more; Chillingworth will have his revenge. .
             Outcome .
             The novel openly ends in tragedy, for the secret of Hester and Dimmesdale becomes public knowledge when the minister reveals his adultery and openly accepts Hester and Pearl, who have long suffered in silence. Ironically, Hester is "freed" by the confession, no longing bearing the Scarlet Letter alone. But Dimmesdale is also freed; although he dies after the confession, he is finally freed from the guilt of unconfessed, hidden sin and .
             the evil hold of Chillingworth over him. .
             Hester's story really ends in comedy. She leaves Boston to live again in England. When she returns many years later, she is welcomed in Boston and her advice is sought, showing she truly escaped.
             PLOT .
             Clutching her baby to her chest, the beautiful and poised Hester Prynne stands on the scaffold in the square of the small town of Boston. She is being punished for the adultery that she has committed. The townsfolk, especially the women, are not very happy about the fact that Hester has been punished only by making her wear a scarlet on her dress and standing on a scaffold for several hours of public humiliation. The judge has been lenient on her because the young woman has had a good reputation until the point of her sinfulness. .
             Hester has come to Boston from Amsterdam two years earlier. She is married to a misshapen scholar and physician who is much older than she. He has sent her alone to New England with plans to follow her at some later date.