You'll remember that in The Scarlet
Letter, when Hester commits adultery, she refuses to name the father of her
unborn child. It is Dimmesdale that argues, after Pearl's (the baby's) birth, that
Hester should be allowed to remain in the community as her
mother.
When Hester's long-lost husband, Chillingworth,
appears in disguise, he befriends Dimmesdale, though they are very different, and with
his knowledge and background, passes himself off as a physician. (His intent is revenge
on the man that Hester was unfaithful with.) Dimmesdale is unwell, often putting his
hand to his heart; his guilt eats away at him over the years, for his is the father of
Hester's child.
At one point (while Dimmesdale is in a
deep--perhaps drugged--sleep), Chillingworth examines the minister; seeing something
beneath the sick man's shirt, Chillingworth's need for revenge and his hatred
intensify.
By this time, Pearl is seven. Hester talks to
Chillingworth and asks him to stop tormenting Dimmesdale, realizing why her "husband" is
staying so close to the minister. Chillingworth refuses, so Hester tells
Chillingworth's secret to Dimmesdale, and the couple agree to leave, taking Pearl with
them, to start a new life. Chillingworth discovers their
plan.
The pair now know they will never be free of
Chillingworth. As he leaves the church after services, suddenly, Dimmesdale's vitality
leaves him, and clutching at Hester and Pearl, he confesses his part in Hester's fall
from grace, shows the mark hidden beneath his shirt, which looks like an "A," and
Dimmesdale dies.
The "A" he "wears" ties him to the
adulterous affair with Hester, though she had never disclosed his identity in all the
years in which she lived as an outcast in this Puritan
environment.
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