In Chapter 14 of the Scarlet Letter, how is the doctrine of predestination reflected in the conversation betweeen Hester and Chillingworth?I'm...

In this chapter, Hester is asking Roger Chillingworth to
forgive Dimmesdale and to stop torturing him. Dimmesdale refuses to do this. He tells
Hester that he remembers the teachings of “his old faith” (because he now does not seem
to have any faith). He says that it would make no difference for him to forgive
Dimmesdale because everything has already been decided, long ago, as to who is going to
be forgiven and who is not going to be forgiven. He tells Hester that the outcome that
will result from her “first step awry” has already been determined and that she should
“let the black flower blossom as it may!” which means, God has already determined the
outcome for all three of them – Hester, Dimmesdale and
Chillingworth.

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My old faith, long forgotten, comes back to me,
and explains all that we do, and all we suffer. By thy first step awry, thou didst plant
the germ of evil; but since that moment, it has all been a dark necessity. Ye that have
wronged me are not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion; neither am I fiend-like,
who have snatched a fiend's office from his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower
blossom as it may! Now go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with yonder
man.

The concept of
predestination means that God has determined before the foundation of time who will be
saved and who will not be saved. The people that he has chosen to be saved are called
the "elect" and there is no way a human can know who is "elect" - that is the realm of
God.