Chap.13 DJ

24.)"The links that united her to the rest of human kind—links of flowers, or silk, or gold, or whatever the material—had all been broken. Here was the iron link of mutual crime, which neither he nor she could break. Like all other ties, it brought with it its obligations"

Everything Hester mentioned that seperates her from the rest of the society has to do with the scarlet letter. The flowers are the same color as the letter the material is the material and the gold is the threading. The flowers and there color are symbols of wildness and nature, two things that are nothing like the puritan society the puritan society is boring and gray. Silk is a material that is fine, soft, strong, and lustrous all things that Hester herself may portray. And the gold thread is what holds the A on her chest, the A has turned into something of shame to something of value and importance and the meaning has changed from adulterer to something much greater. Who is Hester without the A? This qoute also mentions that Hester and Dimmesdal are bonded together with an iron link a link that will never break. That link to me is Pearl, together they have made a child thats a bond that they can never break.

25.)"She saw that he stood on the verge of lunacy, if he had not already stepped across it. It was impossible to doubt, that, whatever painful efficacy there might be in the secret sting of remorse, a deadlier venom had been infused into it by the hand that proffered relief."(The Symbol of the snake)

Dimmesdale is going crazy and whats making him so crazy is Chillingworth. Chillingworth is like a snake which could also be reffered to evil. He has bit Dimmesdale and his poisin is causing Dimmesdale to go insane. Hester is the only one who knows about the true identity of Chillingworth so she knows that he is doing this to dimmesdale fo revenge. Snakes bite because they are territorial and if they feel threatened. Dimmesdale took something that belonged to Chillingworth and that something(hester) loved Dimmesdale more then she ever loved Chillingworth which is what made him feel threatened. Dimmesdale knows there is something evil about Chillingworth he just doesn't know why he is torturing him always following him around constantly questioning him, he has no idea that Chillingworth knows everything.