Home > The Scarlet Letter Summary & Study Guide > Summary and Analysis > Chapter 18 Summary and Analysis
The Scarlet Letter | Chapter 18 Summary and Analysis
Summary
The narrator explains the source of Hester’s boldness. Ostracized by the community, she has learned to think for herself, free of the strict boundaries proscribed by the Puritans. In contrast, Arthur Dimmesdale is a representative of that system, a priest, and therefore bound all the more by it. When Dimmesdale agrees to leave with Hester, they both feel a resurgence of hope. Hester symbolically tears off the scarlet letter and tosses it into the bushes. Rather than landing in the brook which could carry it away, the scrap of cloth lands among the...
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The Scarlet Letter: Summary and Analysis
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