Literary Analysis of The Scarlet Letter

In chapter 20 of Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, Hester and Dimmesdale plan to leave the colony on the fourth day en route for the Old World. Dimmesdale's decision to leave with Hester fills him with a sense of freedom from his place of torture, Boston. By creating false hopes for the future, he relinquishes his suffering from his guilt conscience. When Dimmesdale returns from the forest, he is not sure that the recent event …

…he no longer "trusted friend" but how his "bitterest enemy." After Chillingsworth leaves, Dimmesdale composes an inspired sermon for the Election Sermon. Dimmesdale's wick and unusual actions comes from the sense of freedom he believes he has. His views of his surroundings are different because he believes he is different. He feels that since he is has broken some many laws, that it is his obligation to continue to be evil. And evil he became.