And Hester "pointing her forefinger, first at the scarlet letter on her bosom, and then at the clergyman’s own breast."(p.142)As mentioned before, Dimmesdale is always seen with his hand over his heart. A question plague’s Pearl’s mind...why? It also plagues Chillingsworth because in chapter ten, he "laid his hand upon his (Dimmesdale’s) bosom, and thrust aside the vestment." After a brief pause, Chillingsworth turns away with "a wild look of wonder, joy, and horror."(p.135)So certainly, there is something over his heart. Even little Pearl knows: she tells Hester that that the reason that she wears the letter is "the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart."Finally, at the third scaffold scene Dimmesdale rips open his ministerial band from his breast and reveals to all the scarlet letter on his chest. Speculation on how the scarlet letter got to his chest ran rampid. Everything from a self-inflicted torture to remorse gnawing away at him from the inside to Chillingworth’s revenge. At any rate, the scarlet letter on Dimmesdale’s chest shows that guilt is destructive. Another way to show the theme that guilt is worse than external punishment by others and that deception is destructive is to see the positive changes Dimmesdale goes through when he does acknowledge Hester and Pearl. When Dimmesdale recognizes his loved ones, he is allowed to feel an emotion other than guilt. One such time when Dimmesdale defends Hester at the governors’ house. Here he speaks with an unaccustomed emotion so evident, that later Chillingsworth mentions it. "You speak with a strange earnestness," he said.(p.114)There is also the second scaffold scene. The three meet late one night and Dimmesdale invites Hester and Pearl to stand up on the scaffold with him. Here he recognizes them: "Come up hither, Hester, thou and little Pearl," said Dimmesdale on page 148. "Ye have both been here ...
