Which images from chapters 9-15 of The Scarlet Letter are most vivid to you and why?

The most important images in these chapters appear to be the scarlet letter, the rose, the forest, and the scaffold. The rose, as it appears in Chapter 9, is still associated with freedom of thought as it was in Chapter 1. However, this time the association is more threatening for Hester. When asked where she came from, Pearl says her mother plucked her from the rose bush in front of the prison. The symbolism is lost on Governor Bellingham, who accuses Hester of not properly teaching her daughter. It is only Dimmesdale's interjections that save the day for Hester. In these chapters, the importance of the scaffold as a symbol of judgment is also reinforced. Dimmesdale is drawn to it at night and, in agony, confesses his sin to---no one. Hester appears with Pearl and together they witness a scarlet letter in the sky. The letter, as it has throughout the novel, appears to have two meanings. For Dimmesdale, it means adultery. For the townspeople, it means "angel" in reverence of Gov. Winthrop, who has just died. Ironically, the term angel will also be applied to Hester later in the novel. Finally, the image of the forest also seems to have two meanings. At first, it was the home of the "black man" of the forest, the devil, and therefore, was considered evil. However, when Hester and Dimmesdale meet there, the forest is also a place of freedom where Hester can remove the scarlet letter and they can plan an escape from Boston.

Which images from chapters 9-15 of The Scarlet Letter are especially vivid?

From chapter 9, the image of Chillingworth's face getting darker and darker, becoming more "ugly and evil" the longer he lives with Dimmesdale, as though it were "getting sooty with the smoke" of hell is pretty vivid.  To imagine an older face becoming grizzled and darkening as though with hell's soot is quite a visual image indeed.

From chapter 10, the narrator presents the image of little Pearl collecting burrs and "arrang[ing] them along the lines of the scarlet letter that decorated the maternal bosom, to which the burrs, as their nature was, tenaciously adhered."  Such an image is both visual and tactile, as we can see the red A outlined in green, and imagine the prickliness of the burrs.

From chapter 12, the sight of Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl all together on the scaffold makes for a pretty memorable image.  The narrator says that "The three formed an electric chain."  It is easy to imagine the tension running through the characters in this moment.  Further, the "great red letter in the sky -- the letter A" that a meteor paints in the night sky is quite vivid as well.  The townsfolk interpret it to stand for "Angel" for John Winthrop, the first governor of the colony, but readers likely interpret it as a signal from God and/or nature that Dimmesdale's guilt is known.