the scarlet letter, symbol 20

Chapter 8


".... the young minister at once came forward, pale, and holding his hand over his heart, ...." Here Mr. Dimmesdale talks up for Hester, so she can keep her child. Mr. Dimmesdale holds his hand over his heart because he is afraid the people around (Mr. Wilson, Governor Bellingham and Roger Chillingworth) him are going to read his heart. 


"....This child of its father’s guilt and its mother’s shame hath come from the hand of God, to work in many ways upon her heart, who pleads so earnestly, and with such bitterness of spirit, the right to keep her....."  I think that what he says to support Hester is a way to communicate to Hester too.