know is that it is Dimmesdale who is Hester’s Lover and Pearl’s father. The fact that Dimmesdale keeps his sin a secret is tearing him up, both physically and emotionally. To complicate matters even more, Hester’s old and slightly deformed husband is back. He had stayed in England for quite a while allowing Hester to settle into their new home. Her husband, Roger Chillingsworth, comes to the town at precisely the moment that Hester is! being presented to the world as an adulteress. Chillingsworth sees Hester with the scarlet letter upon her breast and in the moment of Hester’s greatest humiliation. He is outraged and vows that "he (the lover) will be known." (p. 69) He pretends to be a physician and eventually suspects Dimmesdale of the breaking the seventh commandment. Chillingsworth’s mission becomes that of revenge.Themes and Character DevelopmentHesterIn The Scarlet Letter, the themes are played out by the characters. Hester’s development, for example, illustrates the theme that recognition of our weaknesses may make people stronger and more sympathetic to the weaknesses of others.The punishment that is chosen for Hester is a long and drawn-out one. It is a mental punishment, one that will last her her entire lifetime. Like Chillingsworth stated on page 69, "A wise sentence! Thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone."Because of her great punishment, Hester grows and matures throughout the years. The letter causes her to be an outsider in her own home and for her to have no friends. As a result, she matures much. Whenever a person matures, he or she can look at the world through a different pair of eyes and therefore be more perceptive to other people’s pain. Hester, in part of a punishment imposed on herself, helps the poor. She uses her surplus to give to the less fortunate, although they feel superior to he...
