Hester Prynne Timeline and Summary

Hester appears at the prison door with her 3-month-old baby in hand, the token of her shame already inscribed on the bodice of her dress with a scarlet letter A. She is a young woman.
She refuses to name her lover.
In prison, Hester has a conversation with her estranged husband, who has taken an assumed name. Again, she refuses to name her lover but she agrees not to reveal Roger Chillingworth’s true identity.
Hester makes a living sewing, and she is generous to those who are poor.
Hester goes to the governor’s house to find out if the community really does plan to take her daughter Pearl away from her. She pleads for mercy.
Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale meet up accidentally at night outside the scaffolding where Hester stood in shame before the town. They see Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale doesn’t recognize him as his dear friend – he only sees the evil that is there.
Hester is shocked to see what has become of Dimmesdale during the long years he has hid his sin, which has gnawed away at him.
Hester and Pearl run into Chillingworth and Hester beseeches him to leave the minister alone. She is shocked at how evil has transformed the man, twisting him into a fiend.
Hester resolves to let the minister know who Roger Chillingworth really is.
Hester and Pearl enter the dark forest in search of Dimmesdale. At last, they meet up with him, and Hester sends Pearl off to play.
While Pearl is off playing, the minister and Hester talk. They resolve to run away together and make a life for themselves in the Old World, far away from Chillingworth’s accusations.
Hester throws away the scarlet letter A and undoes her hair. But when Pearl returns, she refuses to come to her mother until she has picked up the scarlet letter and put it back on her bosom. Hester realizes the child is right, after all – until they are gone from this place, she is not free from the letter.
During Election Day, s New England holiday Hester and Pearl stand apart from the crowd, as always.
The commander of the ship that Hester and Dimmesdale plan to take to England approaches her and lets her know they have taken another passenger – Chillingworth.
Hester is stunned and undone. She does not know what to do.
After the sermon, Hester stands apart as the minister make a procession through the town to hall, where they will feast.
But Dimmesdale, at death’s door, reaches out to Hester and asks her to help him to the scaffolding. There, he confesses his sin to the crowd of people gathered there.
As the reverend dies, Hester asks him if they won’t meet in the afterlife as husband and wife. Haven’t they suffered enough in this world? But the minister tells her no.
Hester and Pearl leave for the Old World.
After many years, Hester returns and takes up the scarlet letter A again—of her own volition, because nobody would require it of her any further.
When she dies, Hester is buried near Dimmesdale. A scarlet letter A is carved on their shared gravestone.

Next Page: Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale Timeline