tchful eye of HestherÆs husband seeking him out and that he needed to be brought before the community and branded as a sinner (Hawthorne 173). With his expiring breath, he tells Hester, ôHad either of these agonies been wanting, I had been lost for ever!ö (Hawthorne 173). Curiously, Hawthorne shows Dimmesdale as following the conventional path even in his death. Dimmesdale cannot believe that he will be saved unless he suffers dreadfully. Hester is not as conventional in her own interpretation of her experience.
As Dimmesdale lays dying, Hester seems astonished that they shall not meet again (Hawthorne 173). It is as if she believes that the depth of their love has created a bond which should not be broken by life or death. Hester as a woman excluded from the community due to her sin cannot as easily allow its rules and values to be her own. As a clergyman, Dimmesdale has been invested in the community proper. This is a position of status and respectability which has been denied Hester from the start. Hawthorne allows the treachery of this double standard for women to be revealed in the destiny of HesterÆs bastard child, Pearl. Hawthorne allows Dimmesdale to receive a kiss from his unacknowledged daughter shortly before he dies (Hawthorne 173). During that kiss, ôa spell is brokenö (Hawthorne 173). Hawthorne poetically indicates that by being able to share this parting kiss, Pearl will now be allowed to ôbut be a woman in theö world (Hawthorne 173). The wildness of her infancy has been dispelled. Pearl will be allowed to experience a mix of the worldÆs joy and sorrow rather than doomed to ôfor ever do battle with the worldö (Hawthorne 173). Hawthorne seems to be indicating that with the outrageous ignominy imposed upon her parents, coupled with the communityÆs slowly dawning recognition of their undue harshness, the world will be a more balanced place for future generations.
Yet HesterÆ...