arm, promising to make his patient well again Hester and Pearl are left alone on the scaffold as the sun rises over the City Upon a Hill. END ACT ONE ACT TWO Not long after Winthrop’s death, Mistress Hibbins is still holding secret meetings in the forest with other cloaked women of the colony. They curse and dance around a campfire, and revel in the independence they only have at night deep in the mire. Mistress Hibbins urges her “sisterhood” to see through the pious façade which blinds the rest of the town, to celebrate their predestiny and tobe true to their hearts. The price of an eternity of damnation should not be a life of hellfire. As the witches disperse at daybreak, Roger is drawn into the mire where the remains of Hibbins’ campfire smolder. As he rummages around for bits of herbs to use in his potions, he is confronted by Hester who has sought him out to discuss the health of Dimmesdale. Hester tells Roger that she must reveal his secret identity to Dimmesdale, and that she cannot watch him torture her child’s father any longer. Roger accepts Hester’s decision to expose his identity to Dimmesdale, but vows to exact his revenge nonetheless. They part ways agreeing to let the “black flower blossom as it may”. Knowing that the endgame is upon them, Roger begins to stir his final potion. As he swirls the deep scarlet concoction, he is drawn hypnotically to its lethal exhale. He brings the vile to his lips, but is startled by the disfigured reflection in the glass. He descends into madness as he wonders what he has become. Eventually, he cuts himself and lets his own scarlet blood fall to the floor. Before his blood empties out, he stops the wound, and resolves to see the game to its end. Later that day, Dimmesdale is alone in his study, fitfully asleep at his desk. Roger enters and places his cold hand on Dimmesdale’s chest, ostensibly to check for a pulse. Dimmesdale is still alive—and Roger smiles. Dimmesdale awakens with a start, and the final phase has begun. Roger mixes the potion as he tries to get Dimmesdale to confess. Roger is confronted still with Dimmesdale’s refusal and religious insistence. He torments between killing Dimmesdale directly and allowing him to debilitate further in hopes of obtaining that confession. Frustrated, he chooses the former, but Dimmesdale is startled by Pearl’s laughter and runs for the door, dropping the potion to the floor. Dimmesdale runs deep into the woods, drawn inexplicably to the Brook. It is there he finds Hester and Pearl. As Pearl plays in the water, Hester and Dimmesdale reflect upon the seven years of silence between them, and realize that they are still in love. Hester reveals that Roger is her husband and Dimmesdale is shaken deep inside. Hester lets her hair down, tears the Scarlet Letter from her dress, and convinces Dimmesdale that they could escape their suffering and sail back to England to start over as a family. They pledge to sail away from Boston on the next boat (THE BROOK). Dimmesdale exits, dropping his cloak in breathless haste. Hester takes Pearl in the opposite direction, but Pearl stops suddenly at the sight of her mother’s empty chest. She spots the scarlet letter and, grabbing it, sticks it back on her mother’s chest. The clouds gather and the storm begins. Hester and Pearl run off. Roger comes into the open and picks up Dimmesdale’s cloak. He is devastated. The townspeople prepare for the annual Election Day holiday which will honor Bellingham who has succeeded the late Governor Winthrop. Hester purchases three tickets back to England from a Ship Captain. As soon as she leaves, Roger purchases one for himself. Hibbins confronts Roger noisily, and when Reverend Wilson (who has no idea of the plans afoot) upbraids her, she remains defiant. Reverend Wilson has finally had enough, and orders for her to be taken away. There is great unrest in the rapidly growing city, and as they prepare to symbolically unite behind Bellingham, it is clear that they are a city divided by many issues, on the threshold of enormous change. As she prepares to leave Boston later that night, Hester reflects that life is made up of journeys and choices and turnings. Later that same night, Dimmesdale is at his desk at home, unable to write the Election Day sermon because he is paralyzed by guilt and fear (THE CONFRONTATION). Roger confronts Dimmesdale there again— this time more urgently and violently. Eventually the psychological torture yields to the physical and
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