We notice that Mr. Dimmesdale feels tormented by his own guilt. He questions his bitterness as a “cover-up” from Chillingworth, hiding the fact that doesn’t want to be revealed. Supposedly, according to this brief information, this chapter is called the “Leech” because Dimmesdale is consumed by his own guilt and secrecy. In addition, the leech also describes the physician, who sucks the wellness of Dimmesdale. In the beginning of the novel, Chillingworth was introduced as a more of a courteous individual. We soon discovered that he a former spouse of Hester, as well as a well-trained physician. In addition, he practices “black art” as a form of medicine that he adopted from the Native American study during his captivity. However, according …show more content…
He tries to confess to the public but ends up failing every time. This leads to a problem where the people start having sympathy for Dimmesdale; they fail to understand the significance of his confession and the minister disapproves of that. The more he tried to reveal the truth, the more sympathy the society felt for him and the more holy they claimed he was. But the more he felt sympathy, the more he’d hate himself. Hawthorne creates a loop for him that Dimmesdale can escape. But he has no potential to do it. This represents Dimmesdale’s fault and responsibility for getting Hester pregnant. Pearl pointing at the Scarlet Letter and then at the minister shows that he’s equally involved in this as Hester, even though he didn’t expose himself to the public. Dimmesdale even mentioned that Peal was sent by God as a reminder of her committed crime. Pearl is also a reminder to him since he’s responsible, too. The irony of the story’s conflict is that Hester took the blame on herself. In this part of the chapter, Hawthorne shows Dimmesdale’s regret for his isolation; Hester took all the blame on herself, seemingly because she still loves him. The scaffold represents punishment, and Dimmesdale missed out on everything that poor Hester had to endure. Him stepping onto the platform shows that he’s trying to better perceive Hester’s predicament by stepping into her