#29
Whom would they discern there, with the red eastern light upon his brow? Whom, but the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, half frozen to death, overwhelmed with shame, and standing where Hester Pryne stood!
The red eastern light is another way of saying that the sun is rising. The use of red in this situation and the fact that he is standing on the scaffold implies that he is now in the place of Hester with an equivalent amount of guilt. When Hawthorn writes half frozen to death I believe he is relating this to Chillingsworth. Chillingsworth= Chilling= frozen/cold. The idea that Chillingsworth is only half frozen implies that he is still alive and being tortured by Roger. This is a low point for Dimmesdale, but I believe that as a whole his connection with Pearl and Hester is for the better. Chillingsworth has accomplished one of the two things he seeked to wreak upon Arthur. The first being death and the second being shame.
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