The Scarlet Letter Chapter 21 Summary and Analysis is part of the course Hero No Fear Literature.

Hester and Pearl go to the marketplace to watch the procession and celebration as elected officials assume their offices.Hester would like to leave Boston and have a life as a woman again.Pearl dances as she waits for the procession while she meditates on her future.Hester appears to watch the procession passively, because she alone senses Hester's excitement.Hester continues to be asked questions by Pearl.She wants to know if the minister will acknowledge them like he did on the midnight scaffold.Hester told her not to call out to Dimmesdale.Hester was told by the captain of the Bristol-bound ship that they will have company on their trip to Europe.The first of several chapters that constitute the third scaffold scene is Analysis Chapter 21.Hawthorne shows the major conflicts in the light of day and in a very public place in these chapters.The difference in public and private behavior is one of the first issues addressed.Hawthorne says that on this most festive day, the people "compressed whatever joy and public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared barely more grave."Hester is an example of the difference between the gloom of Puritan outward life and the excitement she feels inside.There is no indication that she plans to leave the colony with Pearl and Dimmesdale.She is excited about the fact that she will no longer have to wear the scarlet letter because it will be flung to the bottom of the ocean.She must endure her shame until they are safely away.Pearl's comments point to the doom facing Dimmesdale unless he publicly repents.She describes the minister as sad and strange...With his hand always over his heart!The minister can't acknowledge her or her mother in the sunny day.Dimmesdale can never be at peace with Hester or his conscience if he does not confess his part in their sin.Hester discovers that Chillingworth will also leave on the ship to Bristol.Dimmesdale might be able to outrun his conscience in the future.It appears that Chillingworth will not allow him to escape punishment wherever he goes.Glossary of people who live in the same area.The cup of bitter herbs and wormwood represents what Hester feels inside behind her composed face.The Golden Age in arts and literature was named after Elizabeth I.There are two counties in southwestern England.The water of life is called aqua-vitae.Whiskey is a strong liquor here.Stealing, laying waste, depredations.Honesty is uprightness in one's dealings.Scurvy or ship-fever is a disease caused by lack of vitamins C and E.

As elected officials assume their offices, Hester and Pearl go to the marketplace to watch the procession.Hester would like to leave Boston and have a life as a woman again.Pearl dances as she waits for the procession while she meditates on her future.Hester appears to watch the procession passively, because she alone senses Hester's excitement.

Hester continues to be asked questions by Pearl.She wants to know if the minister will acknowledge them like he did on the midnight scaffold.Hester told her not to call out to Dimmesdale.

Hester was told by the captain of the Bristol-bound ship that they will have company on their trip to Europe.

Chapter 21 is the first of several chapters that lead to the climax of the novel.Hawthorne shows the major conflicts in the light of day and in a very public place in these chapters.

The difference in public and private behavior is one of the first issues addressed.Hawthorne says that on this most festive day, the people "compressed whatever joy and public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared barely more grave."Hester is an example of the difference between the gloom of Puritan outward life and the excitement she feels inside.There is no indication that she plans to leave the colony with Pearl and Dimmesdale.She is excited about the fact that she will no longer have to wear the scarlet letter because it will be flung to the bottom of the ocean.She must endure her shame until they are safely away.

Pearl's comments point to the doom facing Dimmesdale unless he publicly repents.She describes the minister as sad and strange...With his hand always over his heart!The minister can't acknowledge her or her mother in the sunny day.Dimmesdale can never be at peace with Hester or his conscience if he does not confess his part in their sin.

Hester discovers that Chillingworth will also leave on the ship to Bristol.Dimmesdale might be able to outrun his conscience in the future.It appears that Chillingworth will not allow him to escape punishment wherever he goes.

The cup of bitter herbs and wormwood represents what Hester feels inside behind her composed face.

The Golden Age in arts and literature was named after Elizabeth I.

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