He takes Chillingworth and symbolizes him as the Devil because of his ruthless torture on Dimmesdale as well as his deformed looks. He helps symbolize Chillingworth as the devil with his attention to detail when he describes the look on his face when he opens Dimmesdale’s shirt, which only leads to the foreshadowing. Chillingworth has found something that is not yet revealed to the reader. This automatically foreshadows that something will happen that will eventually reveal Dimmesdale’s hidden secret and the cause of Chillingworth’s immense …show more content…
The past will follow you no matter how far you try to bury it or forget it, it will come to light in the future subtly or like a full on train. Dimmesdale and Hester prove this exact theme. Chillingworth and the scarlet letter come back to haunt Hester years after she is released from prison. And in Arthur Dimmesdale’s case, every waking moment of his existence is a reminder of his guilt and his secret. The opening scene goes to show that the scarlet A will forever be a reminder for Hester’s sin whether it be in the A embroidered on her clothes or in the form of her daughter Pearl. The same is said for Arthur; up until Dimmesdale’s demise Hester, Chillingworth, Pearl, the scarlet letter and his own religious conviction caused him an internal suffering that no man or woman should endure, all of these things fueling his guilt and his pain, there was no escape. Finally in the end scene the theme is confirmed, it is confirmed by the letter A carved into the headstone of both Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne. They tried so hard to escape a past that was already carved into their