Chillingworth prevents Hester and Mr. Dimmesdale from escaping together. Chillingworth prevents Dimmesdale from getting away without public shame. If Mr. Dimmesdale could just leave, he never would have to truly confront the full extent of his sin, not just the adultery, but also his failure to take responsibility for his actions. Chillingworth now despises Hester, despite any early idea of returning to her in marriage. It may be more accurate, however, to call this hate a form of self-loathing. The initial mistake, marrying a woman who did not love him, is finally reaching its way back around to him. It is, of course, the supposed witch who can see the truth. In this case, Mistress Hibbins claims she already knows the extent of Hester and Dimmesdale's crimes. In the forest, it seems, there is no need for confession, because people live with their actions and take responsibility for them, whereas in town, there are rules and therefore sins, with so much fear and shame attached to sin that people deny the sins in the hopes of preserving their appearances among others.
Hester's location, directly next to the scaffold, is the strongest indicator that the climactic revelations will occur in this hallowed place where sins are …show more content…
She has gone from a child of lust and shame to a child of passion to a child of love and morality (in the confession of imperfection), now basking in the sunlight of truth and in the unconditional love among mother, father, and child. We will learn that Pearl goes on to have a beautiful, happy life, in which she marries and keeps her mother close to her heart, without the ill effects of her torturous early life. She is now our moral compass, pointing towards truth, for it is truth, worn not as a badge of shame, but as a badge of acknowledgment of the realities of human imperfections in spite of human dignity, that will ward off the evil of the puritanical culture of