Entry 37:
"She marveled how she could ever have been wrought upon to marry him! She deemed it her crime most to be repented of, that she had ever endured, and reciprocated, the lukewarm grasp of his hand, and had suffered the smile of her lips and eyes to mingle and melt into his own."
This arrises the question of what the real sin is throughout the book; the sin of being an adulterer or the sin of marrying someone you don't love?
Hester married quite an older man than herself because 'he had persuaded her to fancy herself by his side'. Loving him was all an allusion. He let her leave for two years, and then she had a child with Dimmesdale. Even though she's not married to Dimmesdale, it doesn't mean she doesn't love him or Pearl (who she loves without a doubt). The only way to really understand which is more of a sin is to compare which she loved more, and who she would be willing to sacrifice more for. Hester gave up everything for Pearl, and helped keep Dimmesdale, being the father, a secret. I think Hawthorne's tone is insisting that marrying without love is Hester's biggest sin. Maybe because of it, Chillingworth isn't avenging her with Pearl, but instead is making Dimmesdale's life a lot more miserable. He's sacrificing her family that could be.
I agree with you. Further, Chillingworth's denying Hester the one thing that Hester denied him: A family. Note also that Chillingworth leaves all him money to Pearl at the end. Why? Is this a type of adoption? Perhaps he sees her as the daughter he could have had?
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