The Scarlet Letter, Chapter 20 summary

What happens

1. Dimmesdale recalls their plan to sail to Bristol and welcomes the chance to preach his Election Sermon before departure.
2. Returning through the forest and town, he feels physically stronger but strangely separated from his familiar surroundings and former identity.
3. He struggles against urges to blaspheme, undermine faith, corrupt innocence, and exchange obscenities with a sailor.
4. Mistress Hibbins hints at a secret connection through the forest, while Dimmesdale claims he visits only to meet Apostle Eliot.
5. At home, he refuses Chillingworth’s medicine while suspecting that the physician knows about his meeting with Hester.
6. Alone, he eats hungrily, burns his unfinished sermon, and writes a new one until sunrise.

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