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Dramatic Irony
Chapter 3
Explanation and Analysis—Hester, Arthur, and Roger:
Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth form the love triangle at the center of the novel's plot, but they also all serve as foils for one another. The narrator begins to establish Chillingworth and Dimmesdale as foils in Chapter 4, when Chillingworth visits Hester in the prison and swears her to secrecy about the fact that he is her husband:
“I will keep thy secret, as I have his,” said Hester.
“Swear it!” rejoined he.
And she took the oath.
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Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Hester, Arthur, and Roger:
Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth form the love triangle at the center of the novel's plot, but they also all serve as foils for one another. The narrator begins to establish Chillingworth and Dimmesdale as foils in Chapter 4, when Chillingworth visits Hester in the prison and swears her to secrecy about the fact that he is her husband:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“I will keep thy secret, as I have his,” said Hester.
“Swear it!” rejoined he.
And she took the oath.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Roger and "The Black Man":
Roger Chillingworth and "The Black Man," or Satan, are foils for one another. The most direct comparison between the two of them appears in Chapter 10, when Chillingworth rips the clothing off Dimmesdale's chest to reveal what is beneath it:
Unlock with LitCharts A+With what a ghastly rapture, as it were, too mighty to be expressed only by the eye and features, and therefore bursting forth through the whole ugliness of his figure, and making itself even riotously manifest by the extravagant gestures with which he threw up his arms towards the ceiling, and stamped his foot upon the floor! Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask how Satan comports himself, when a precious human soul is lost to heaven, and won into his kingdom.
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Chapter 14
Explanation and Analysis—Hester, Arthur, and Roger:
Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth form the love triangle at the center of the novel's plot, but they also all serve as foils for one another. The narrator begins to establish Chillingworth and Dimmesdale as foils in Chapter 4, when Chillingworth visits Hester in the prison and swears her to secrecy about the fact that he is her husband:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“I will keep thy secret, as I have his,” said Hester.
“Swear it!” rejoined he.
And she took the oath.
Related Themes:
Chapter 16
Explanation and Analysis—Hester and Pearl:
Hester and Pearl are foils for one another, representing different degrees of resistance to Puritan social norms. For example, in Chapter 16, Pearl demonstrates that she thinks of herself not only as Hester's daughter but also as a little copy of her:
Unlock with LitCharts A+"I am but a child. It will not flee from me; for I wear nothing on my bosom yet!”
“Nor ever will, my child, I hope,” said Hester.
“And why not, mother?” asked Pearl, stopping short, just at the beginning of her race. “Will not it come of its own accord, when I am a woman grown?”
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