Entry 18
"The glow, which they had just before beheld burning on his cheek, was extinguished, like a flame that sinks down hopelessly among the late decaying embers" (Hawthorne, Chapter 23).
Hawthorne uses a simile here. He compares the fainting of the blush and life on Dimmesdale's cheeks to a fading fire among dead ashes. It gives the reader great imagery and also explains just how the fire within him dies so quickly after his sermon. Dimmesdale put his entire being into delivering such a brilliant sermon.
Entry 17
"...they gazed wonderingly and admiringly at Pearl, as if a flake of the sea-foam had taken the shape of a little maid, and were gifted with a soul of the sea-fire, that flashes beneath the prow in the night-time" (Hawthorne, Chapter 22).
This is an excellent metaphor for Pearl's personality and character. Sea foam is typically seen as something pure and innocent. It can also be viewed as an item of beauty, due to Aphrodite being born from the sea foam in Greek mythology. By saying that Pearl is made of sea foam, we can infer that her character contains those traits. The metaphor also speaks of Pearl's stubborn and strong-willed side when speaking of sea fire.
Entry 16
"Yet, if the clergyman were rightly viewed, his strength seemed not of the body. It might be spiritual and imparted to him by angelical ministrations. It might be the exhilaration of that potent cordial which is distilled only in the furnace-glow of earnest and long-continued thought" (Hawthorne, Chapter 22).
From these words, you can catch the real impact Hester's suggestion of leaving and beginning anew had on Dimmesdale. His body language and composition has changed completely. Hawthorne is saying that it isn't a matter of medicine that has given him his new strength--it was the saving grace of Hester Prynne's words.
Entry 15
"The decision once made, a glow of strange enjoyment threw its flickering brightness over the trouble of his breast. It was the exhilarating effect--upon a prisoner just escaped from the dungeon of his own heart--of breathing the wild, free atmosphere of an unredeemed, unchristianised, lawless region" (Hawthorne, Chapter 18).
I find this quote to be very significant, especially to Dimmesdale's character development. He's been having this terrible pain and guilt in his heart for the past seven years, but it has finally lifted once the light of hope has been shone on him. He can finally be happy with Hester and Pearl and receive the closure he needs.
Entry 14
"Woman, woman, thou art accountable for this! --I cannot forgive thee" (Hawthorne, Chapter 17).
Dimmesdale's character is partially revealed through these words he spats at Hester. He blames Hester ultimately for the sin they committed. He speaks like she forced him into the affair, and it makes the reader resent him for such a statement. It's equally both their faults that Dimmesdale is forced to contain such guilt inside of himself, and that Hester has to wear the scarlet letter.
Entry 13
"So strangely did they meet in the dim wood that it was like the first encounter in the world beyond the grave of two spirits who had been intimately connected in their former life, but now stood coldly shuddering in mutual dread, as not yet familiar with their state, nor wanted to the companionship of disembodied beings" (Hawthorne, Chapter 17).
This quote offers a simile to explain Hester and Dimmesdale's relationship after seven years of secrecy. They haven't been able to speak to one another privately in such a long time. And they've both been suffering on their own. They aren't used to each other's presence, so they feel a bit cold and awkward towards each other.
Entry 12
"Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of the heart" (Hawthorne, Chapter 15).
This practically breathes the motive of the Romantic Era, which was when the novel was written. It speaks of rebelling against the norm of society. In colonial times, when the book was set, love was rarely the reason behind marriage. Many marriages were for money. But here Hester exclaims that men should never ask for marriage unless the passion between both partners is present.
