Chap.10 DJ

17.)“This man,” said he, at one such moment, to himself, “pure as they deem him,—all spiritual as he seems,—hath inherited a strong animal nature from his father or his mother. Let us dig a little farther in the direction of this vein!”

In this book they have repeatedly mention that children are the way they are because of there parents. Pearl is a demon because of the wrong her parents committed and now Chillingworth is saying that Dimmesdale has inherited an animal like nature from one of his parents. It actually relates to present times. People are the way they are because of there parents. The only difference is that now people are the way they are because of the way there parents raised them rather then back then where children are supposedly the way they are just from the way there parents were or because of the bad things there parents did. I think that back then everything was linked to religion so if you sinned your children are going to pay.

18.)"which bore no tombstone, nor other memorial of the dead man, save these ugly weeds that have taken upon themselves to keep him in remembrance. They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime.”

This story seems to me like it is all about how the wrongs people did will somehow show.
For example pearl is the symbol of Hesters sin and the dark leaved plant growing from the heart of the dead man is the symbol of the wrong he committed. Everyone has sins, some people bury them with there bodies others confess them for a relieving feeling. There are those who don't even care about the sins they committed and then there are those like Dimmesdale who grieve in self pain and constantly feel guilt and never let themselves free by just confessing the truth.