Technically Hester and her husband who later goes under the name Roger Chillingworth were married, but we're they truly in love? Maybe they did truly love each other before they got married or maybe they didn't but they thought they did we didn't find anything behind that in the book. Of course he went off to pursue one of his desires while leaving Hester at home and that couldn't build up any relationship. I think the one she truly loved was Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. He has been there for Hester and with Hester when she went through her trials. I also think you see it in the way they reconciled in the woods. I think Hester would have been better off with Dimmesdale than her husband in my opinion.
I agree that I also think Dimesdale is the man who Hester was truly in love with. My theory about the marriage of Hester and Rodger is that Hester was too young and looking for an adventure, and the fantasy life of having someone who could provide for her as well as being her companion. She saw that opportunity at first with her husband, who was older than her and who was a doctor while they were in England. Maybe, if he had not left Hester alone for so long, he could have worked at building the relationship with Hester, and been the husband that she needed. Since he was not, since she was more or less abandoned by her husband, she formed a companionship with the reverend, Mr. Dimesdale. We also know, since Hester had Pearl, that the emotional companionship with Mr. Dimesdale turned romantic at some point. I think what I like about this book, is that the relationship between Hester and Dimesdale was not portrayed as some trashy love affair, you can see (as the reader) that there was actually substance to the relationship Hester had with Dimesdale, and it was not all about the sex. You can see the conflict in Hester as she struggles between the loyalties to the man who IS her husband, and to the man who she LOVES as a husband.
ReplyDelete