He now dug into the poor clergyman's heart, like a miner searching for gold; or, rather, like a sexton delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that had been buried on the dead man's bosom, but likely to find nothing save mortality and corruption.
The figured used to link a jewel, a dead mean, and the bosom is probabily just a metaphor, composed by symbols and figures.
it seems that R.C. is looking for something VALUABLE (jewel) that was on a DEAD MAN (dead as: become hypocritical- lost his values, also because of his physical conditions)'s BOSOM (the place where the scarlet letter is).
so, R.C. seems to be looking for the valuable secret hidden beyond the scarlet letter on her wife's bosom.
Mapi - you're on to something here. I think your analysis is dead on but further graves, things buried, and jewels are reoccurring images. They speak of things hidden/ things revealed/ physical and spiritual death.
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