The Scarlet Letter Chapter Twenty-Four: Conclusion Summary

A few days pass, and as people recollect what happened on the scaffold, they tell different stories.
Some people say they saw a scarlet letter, similar to the one worn by Hester Prynne, engraved in Dimmesdale’s flesh. Others believe that the minister etched the letter himself as a form of penance. Still others think that Roger Chillingworth made it appear. A fourth school of thought suggests that it appeared due to the "ever active tooth of remorse" (24.1).
Then there are those who claim they saw nothing on his flesh, no mark at all; his flesh was as untouched as a newborn baby’s. Nor, these people argued, had his dying words suggested that he was Pearl’s father or that he was connected to Hester Prynne and her adulterous sin. Rather, Dimmesdale chose to die in the arms of a fallen woman in order to demonstrate, symbolically, that man’s righteousness has no value. His death was a parable to teach people that we are all sinners in the eyes of God.
Thus, the narrator encourages people to be true, and not to hide your worst traits and sins from the world.
After Dimmesdale’s death, the energy seems to go right out of old Roger Chillingworth: because his one goal in life had been to wreak revenge on Dimmesdale, he no longer has a purpose in life.
When Chillingworth dies, a year after Dimmesdale’s dramatic confession, he bequeaths all his property, in both England and in the U.S., to Pearl. This makes Pearl the richest heiress in the New World.
Upon Chillingworth’s death, Hester and Pearl disappear from their cottage on the outskirts of town.
The story of Hester Prynne and the scarlet letter goes on to become a legend in the town and its surrounding areas.
One day many years later, a tall woman in a gray robe approaches the abandoned cottage where Hester and Pearl had lived.
She opens as the door. As she goes in, she turns around long enough to display the scarlet letter on the bodice of her dress.
Hester has returned, without Pearl.
For the rest of her life, somebody sends Hester rich gifts, tokens, and ornaments, indicating that there is someone far away who loves her.
The gossips also believe that Pearl is alive, married, and has children, because Hester is observed embroidering a baby garment.
But wherever Pearl lives, Hester has decided that New England is her real home. As the narrator says, "Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence" (24.11).
She freely assumes the scarlet letter again, even though no magistrate would require it of her. But the letter is no longer a stigma. It (and she) is regarded with reverence and awe.
Women seek her out for comfort and wise counsel, and she gives freely from the wisdom she has gained through her many years of isolation and suffering.
When she is buried, she is placed near Dimmesdale, but with a space between, as if they are not meant to be together, even in death.
The gravestone contains an image, described as the following: "On a field, sable, the letter A, gules." This is a symbol: a scarlet letter A drawn over a black background.

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