The Scarlet Letter as Booker’s Seven Basic Plots Analysis: Rebirth Plot

Plot Type :

Falling Stage

Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge. He will reveal the source of his wife’s shame.

Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are both guilty of the sin of adultery. Hester alone knows that her husband has assumed a false name, Roger Chillingworth, and that he is seeking the name of Hester’s lover. Chillingworth declares that he will not let this man’s secret remain secret.

Recession Stage

Hester lives life. Chillingworth befriends Dimmesdale, who seems to weaken with some undefined, unnamed illness.

For seven years, little happens. Hester makes her livelihood by sewing while her daughter grows up. The town appears to accept her presence and to respect her, as well. Although Roger Chillingworth is there, and has become a good friend of Arthur Dimmesdale, there does not seem to be much room for concern. Hester’s greatest fear is that the town leaders will decide to take Pearl away from her.

Imprisonment Stage

Chillingworth is a demon driving Dimmesdale to illness with his constant, evil-minded scrutiny. Yet, despite his private torments, Dimmesdale is still not willing to announce his guilt publicly.

One night, Hester and Pearl happen upon Dimmesdale. Pearl asks the minister if he will meet them on the pillory during the daytime, and the minister says he cannot. It is clear that, although he realizes they will all be judged together in the afterlife, he is still unwilling to have his sin revealed publicly on earth. But while they talk, they observe Chillingworth watching them, and it is clear that he has been transformed into a malevolent spirit. He appears so evil that Dimmesdale does not even recognize him as his dear friend and doctor.

Nightmare Stage

It seems like Dimmesdale will die, consumed by his own guilt and shame. But Hester reveals Chillingworth’s plan and she and the minister decide to run away together.

Unfortunately, Hester soon learns that Chillingworth has discovered their plan and has booked a berth for himself on the same boat to England. Horrified, she has to admit that she and Dimmesdale will never be able to escape from him. Chillingworth is intent on destroying the minister.

Rebirth Stage

The minister at long last redeems himself by confessing his sin publicly. Chillingworth redeems himself by leaving all his money to little Pearl. Hester redeems herself by returning to Boston many years later and taking up the scarlet letter A voluntarily.

Dimmesdale is able to release himself, and Hester, from the evil power represented in Chillingworth by publicly confessing his sin. He escapes his shame, receives God’s forgiveness and mercy, and dies.

Hester, too, is released from the prison that has trapped her, when Chillingworth dies and leaves his money to little Pearl. The two are able to escape to the Old World.

After many years, Hester returns and resumes wearing the scarlet letter on her breast. This indicates that she has come to peace with her sin and no longer suffers from the shame that engulfed her when the letter A represented her shame as an adulteress.