Defend Me and My Child!;Chp: 7-8

"'God gave her into my keeping,' repeated Hester Prynne, raising her voice almost to a shriek. 'I will not give her up!'-And here, by a sudden impulse, she turned to the young clergyman, Mr. Dimmesdale, at whom, up to this moment, she had seemed hardly so much as once to direct her eyes. -'Speak thou for me!' cried she. 'Thou wast my pastor, and hadst charge of my soul, and knowest me better than these men can. I will not lose the child! Speak for me! Thou knowest,-for thou has sympathies which these men lack!-thou knowest what is in my heart, and what are a mother's rights, and how much the stronger they are, when that mother has but her child and the scarlet leter! Look thou to it! I will not lose the child! Look to it!'" (103)

     Hester looking for a person to defend her, she looks for the man that knows her, but through out the story Hester has not exchange dialogue with this man since her trial 3 years ago. She seems to know Mr. Dimmesdale and vice versa; she seeks the help in a man that is considered an influential person but also she has no relation to as the Puritan society sees it. This shows that Hester for a long time has knew this man, but when exactly? She speaks to him as if he knows her all her life, that he knows "what is in my heart", is this man the father of Pearl? The "note" that Hawthorne has placed within the dialogue that Hester has not had eye contact with this man but only once is very interesting, is it possible that Hester is avoiding eye contact with the minister?   The dialogue that Hawthorne has chosen for Hester has a style of demanding and persuading Mr. Dimmesdale that he has to defend her. The use of the exclamation marks and the dashes shows that he owes Hester alot and that she has to do this act for her and Pearl.

Questions:

1. Would Mr. Chillingworth find the odd contact and dialogue between Hester and Mr. Dimmesdale to be quite interesting and question it further?
2. Why does Pearl move away from the minister Mr. Wilson's touch, but reaches and welcomes Mr. Dimmesdale's touch? (101 &106)
3. Why does Hawthorne have the minister's still question the paternity of Hester's daughter? (106)