How my perfect society ended up

Out of the five people I chose, I only kept Joe the Plumber and Oscar Wilde.

I kept Wilde because he is my favorite author. He is also a person I believe belongs in society. His personality was amazingly original and he cannot be topped in his eccentricity. I felt that the person he was contributed to society more than any other person I could have put in.

I kept Joe the Plumber for no reason other than I did not trade him. I also thought it was amusing to keep him because I traded for Sarah Palin and I thought they made an ironic pair.

I traded Gandhi for Angelina Jolie because I needed a woman for a parent. I had mostly men in my society and I realized it would not last if there was no procreation.

I traded Oprah for Sarah Palin. I thought that the two were both very alike and very different. Palin is a well-known woman. She has charisma like Oprah, but her political views are very different. I thought that it would be interesting to make a dramatic shift.

I traded Jesus for Kanye West. I thought it would be good to have a younger male for procreation and he's good for entertainment.

Ideal Society

In my ideal society, the five people I chose were: Oprah Winfrey, "Joe the Plumber", Oscar Wilde, Gandhi, and Jesus.

Oprah would be the mother figure, the leader, and the government. She is wise and charismatic. People tend to gravitate toward her. She has a large heart and would do well in a society built for the good of others. Other people tend to listen to her. They pour their hearts out to her, laugh with her, and trust her.

"Joe the Plumber", born Samuel Wurzelbacher, is the labor, the follower, and a businessman. He is the man that spoke against Barack Obama. He would be a follower of the government and would basically do the work that was needed. He is also very controversial, giving the people in society something to gossip about.

Oscar Wilde is the dreamer, comedian, teacher, and sexual being. He was an amazing play write and author. He would be a teacher and entertainer by making plays for society to enjoy. Through his life he was a sexual person, and so he has also been given the title of sexual being.

Gandhi would be a leader, poor, the father figure, and a teacher. He would work for those who needed justice. He was a patient, courageous man and would set an example for posterity as the father figure. He was influential and would be a leader.

Jesus would be the healer, clergy, teacher, leader, and enlightener. He would be able to preform miracles needed within this society. He would take care of the people's religious needs and their ailments. He would be a moral teacher and help the society stay on track.

I chose these people because I believe that society would be perfect with them as a part of it. I value fun, although I believe that there must be seriousness in something such as the set-up of society. Oscar Wilde allows my society to be silly and sunny, while Gandhi helps to remind people that life is not all fun and games and that things must be done for the good of the people.

Chivalric Code

1. Fight for what you believe in
2. Never disobey a superior
3. Never let an injustice go on
4. Give your life if you must
5. Treat civilians with respect
6. Do not torture your enemies
7. Salute fellow service men and women
8. Keep in touch with your family
9. Stay true to your significant other while away from home
10. Do your job to the best of your ability

Hrothgar starts off thanking God. This appeals to Beowulf, who is deeply religious, despite having been affected by Heorot's influence. Hrothgar sounds as if he has experienced the rapture: "It is a miracle how the mighty Lord in his generosity gives wisdom and land and high estate to people on earth" (lines 1708-1711). Then Hrothgar touches on his own faults. He says, "he suffers no setbacks until the seed of arrogance is sown and grows within him" (1722-1724). Hrothgar places himself at blame, saying, "he does not know how to resist the devil's insidious, secret temptations" (1730-1731). Hrothgar makes in clear that he is to blame because of his naiveté as a ruler. He goes on to warn Beowulf from becoming selfish and prideful. Hrothgar says that death will eventually come for Beowulf, saying in essence that he should be good as long as he is on earth, because it is only a short time. Hrothgar continues to say that he thought he had no enemies, and that he had overlooked Grendel. He thanks God once more to show his conversion. His last sentence is directed to Beowulf, in which he says, "we shall share many treasures" (1767), which seems as though he will slip back into his life of materialism.

Question 3

Wealtheow is portrayed as a woman who was wearing gold and served the men. She walks around as if her only job is to simply be pretty and serve the men at the feast. She reminds me a little of Mary Magdalene by the way that she is one of the few women mentioned and held a place among the men, unlike the other women who stayed in the background. We can expect that Anglo-saxon women are meant to not be a part of the fighting but still have a part in the world, even if it is simply to bring a cup around.

A hero

A hero is a person who displays high amounts of something. A hero has qualities that go above and beyond the average person. They may not be perfect in all areas of life, but they have something that sets them apart from the masses; something that attracts attention in a positive way. A hero is a person who can do something to make others watch with awe. They may be nicer than the rest, which, although is not the first thing one thinks of when they think "hero", really could be heroic to the object of their niceness. They could be very athletic, which would make them a hero to a young aspiring athlete. Or maybe they are courageous, which would make them a hero to the mother who stands outside the burning house as a crying baby is brought out safely in the arms of a stranger. A hero is a person who can, even if it is only to a single person, change the way someone thinks or views the world for the better.

Prompt 1

Within in society, people are divided by religion. When people have a
certain religion, they often associate themselves mostly with others
of that religion, causing differences with culture, like Christmas and
Chaunikka and Kwanza. Other ways people are divided is through social
class. There are the upper class, middle class, and lower class.
People within one class usually associate with people of that class.
The adults usually work with people of their class, and children go to
school with others of their class. People also tend to live around
others of their class, because of the price of housing around them
accommodates their class. Race divides people; there are things such
as scholarships that can be won only by a student of a particular
race. Back in the time of immigration to the US, immigrants tended to
cluster with people from their homeland. In Boston we have the
Italians in the North End, Irish people in the South End, and Chinese
people in Chinatown. Within these divisions exist even smaller
divisions. However, the smaller divisions seem to be caused by
people's one decisions, not something caused by society. Good-looking
people tend to hang around with other good-looking people. Smart
people tend to stay around other smart people. Those who are less
religious tend to avoid zealots. People enjoy being with people they
relate to and alienate those they do not, making our societies very
divided.

Essay

The Act of Confessing
To sin is to be human. People across the world share one abstract concept in common: we all sin. Everyone falls to their knees in the face of some temptations that seem to be bigger than life itself. As sin manipulates and warps us, making us vile and ugly creatures, the real differences between people begin to show. Some are noble; they acknowledge their sins and learn from them, as Hester and Proctor did. Some hide from their sins, holding the regret, fear, and loathing inside, like Dimmesdale. Some never call their deeds by the ugly name of sin and run away for fear of punishment, like Abigail. Some see their sins, acknowledge their dirty lifestyle, push the thoughts away, and give in, like Dorian Gray. Still others take different courses of action. These very different people all committed crimes against God, and they all dealt with the deeds in different ways. Some dealt with them eternally, some externally. Some very rarely, if even at all, noticed their sins. This leaves the question to be asked: Which is the correct way to bear a sin? To keep a sin inside is the best way to bear a sin, because those who tell their sins only fall farther into the darkness.
Pearl was Hester’s punishment, and that was all that Hester needed. Pearl showed her every day what she had done wrong: “’She is my happiness!- she is my torture, none the less’” (Hawthorne 103). Even if Hester had somehow not been found out throughout pregnancy and throughout Pearl’s life, Pearl would have continued to be her eternal punishment, and she would have been redeemed through raising the child to the best of her ability. Without the public knowing her sin, she still would have undergone the
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punishment she felt she deserved. Pearl would have sufficed as punishment without adding public shame. The scarlet letter never really meant anything to Hester; it was just another sign of what she had done. Had the scarlet letter never existed and she had only had Pearl, she would have felt the guilt just as strongly. Hester never had to tell her secret because her punishment lived in her house with her, being a constant reminder of her weakness.
Dimmesdale held his sin inside of him for seven years. It tortured him, driving him to masochism: "In Mr. Dimmesdale's secret closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody scourge" (131-132). However, his soul was already cleared from all sin. His mind just could not keep up or feel the relief that his soul had been granted. To be so guilty as to repent by whipping oneself goes above and beyond the level of repentance God requires of us. Dimmesdale just does not feel that he has been forgiven. He feels apart of a vicious cycle: he tells the people he is vile, the people believe he is modest and love him, and he hates himself more.
When Dimmesdale finally comes forward, he dies. The readers never have a chance to observe what his life would be like after confessing. However, because of the reaction of the crowd, it is evident it would have been the same. The people never realize that Dimmesdale was a sinner, even after the confession he gives: “’But there stood one in the midst of you, at whose brand of sin and infamy ye have not shuddered!’” (227). The people continue to call him holy, and if he had lived, the people would have still called him holy. This would have been not consolation for Dimmesdale. It would have made him feel worse, because he would have confessed, and still have been revered as an
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angel on earth. The people would have continued to believe that he made his confession, “in order to impress on his admirers the mighty and mournful lesson, that, in the view of Infinite Purity, we are all sinners alike” (231). Had Dimmesdale not died, he would have continued on his long life of torture.
Proctor went through inner turmoil until he came to the conclusion to confess. The situations that led to his confession were out of his control, and he felt a moral need to come forward. He believed that he was saving hundreds of girls from being persecuted on the charges he knew were false. He knew that there were no witches on the loose, and he knew the reason behind the incredible accusations. He reluctantly confessed his lechery to the court: “I have known her, sir. I have known her” (Miller 110). Proctor believed this would end the witch trials.
Proctor may have saved innocent people, but he was not redeemed for his confession. His wife says of Proctor, “he have his goodness now” (145). However, Proctor was not forgiven because he had come out publicly. He was forgiven when he was sorry. When he said to Abby, “’but I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again’” (23), God saw that he was truly sorry for his lechery. He was forgiven here because that was the point that he overcame his cowardice. To tell a person outright that one is going to stay away from them is a very hard thing to do. It leaves one vulnerable to criticism and hate. Proctor put everything on the line and said that he wanted to not be a part of Abigail’s life anymore. Like Dimmesdale, Proctor’s guilt redeemed him.
Abigail was never redeemed. Everyone in Salem knew what she had done with Proctor because everyone knew of Proctor’s sin. This meant that she was living her sin
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publicly. It had come out against her will as Hester’s sin had. But Hester was forgiven, and Abigail was not. This has to do with being sorry. Hester was given the choice of returning to her guilt or living with her daughter in Europe. Abigail was forced to live as a whore in Boston, because she was no longer welcome in Salem. One must be sorry to receive forgiveness from God. She never sought forgiveness. She never even believed she did anything wrong. One must offer their hearts to God to be freed from sins. She did not do that, and so she could not be forgiven.
Dorian Gray died trying to save himself from himself. He knew what kind of a person he was, because he questioned himself: “Was it really true that one could never change?” (Wilde 225). He had loved Hetty, but, ”he had told her once that he was wicked” (225). He knew that he was terrible. How could one not know with a painting of themselves becoming more and more horrific every day? To Dorian, life was very conflicted. He knew he was a monster, and he wanted to become good, if only to save his beautiful picture from the evil man it had become. His life was the same as someone who eats sweets and hopes to remain thin. He did terrible things, and the accusing portrait stared back at him. Dorian was never redeemed for his sins.
Dorian confessed his sins twice. The first person he told was Basil Hallward, the man who had a deep love for him, both romantically and in friendship. He reveals to Basil the portrait Basil had painted so many years ago. Basil saw it all; he saw the evil thing that his masterpiece had become. Shortly afterwards, Dorian murders him in cold blood, lashing out like a murderous child. The second time he confessed was to AlanCampbell. Dorian confessed to murder of Basil to Alan and blackmailed him
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with a mysterious note, forcing Alan to get rid of the body: “’In doing what I am going to do, what you force me to do, it is not of your life that I am thinking’” (176). Eventually, Alan killed himself.
Dorian confessing his sins only led to death. That is the opposite of redemption; it drew him further into hell. He had sold his soul for the portrait to bear the brunt of time:
“’If it were I who was to be always young, and the picture that was to grow old!... I would give my soul for that!’” (28). He lost his soul with that mad, passionate request. There would be no way to redeem his soul because he no longer had one. Each time he tells a person, they end up dead. His truths were poison. Any connections to him were like devastating natural disasters. To come forward and speak of his evil would predict the end for all those who heard it.
Lord Henry was never redeemed for his sin, because, like Abigail, he never acknowledges it. He did not blame himself for what he had done to Dorian, but his influence is widely understood. Everyone is aware that Dorian changed as he became more acquainted with Henry. When Dorian tells Henry that the book Henry had lent him had poisoned him, Henry replied, “’there is no such thing as that’” (224). Henry knew quite well that there was such a thing as the book poisoning Dorian, but he spoke of it in a literal sense. He took Dorian’s words and refuted them, saying that the book could not literally poison him, like a snake could through his bite. Henry knew, however, that the book would influence Dorian, and if Dorian had used the word influence instead of poison, Henry may have been forced to agree with him.
Henry knew what he was doing to Dorian, who was as easy to mold as clay. Basil
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had even forewarned him: “’Don’t try to influence him. Your influence would be bad’”
(16). Henry used the boy as his experiment despite the warnings. In Henry’s interactions
with Dorian it is clear that Henry knows of his influence on the boy: “Yes, Dorian, you
will always be fond of me’” (84). Henry says that he has no effect on Dorian, but he knows that he does. By the end of the book, Dorian is killed because of the overwhelming influence that Henry has laid on him. Henry’s love of Dorian is evident, especially when Dorian faints: “And with fear in his eyes Lord Henry rushed through the flapping palms to find Dorian Gray” (203). Henry’s earthly punishment was the death of someone he loved. Henry’s soul was doomed to be tortured because he never acknowledged his involvement in Dorian’s life. He would have had no way to confess it, or no one to confess it to. Everyone who liked Dorian was either dead or had turned from him.
Basil was forgiven for feeding Dorian’s ego. As Henry first began to change Dorian, Basil’s heart cried out in agony: “As the door closed behind them, the painter flung himself down on a sofa, and a look of pain came into his face” (33). He should have worked harder to keep the two from meeting, because he was well aware what Henry would do to him. When Henry prodded him to be introduced to Dorian, Basil says honestly “’I don’t want you to meet him’” (15). Basil, however, let the two talk and allowed Henry to change Dorian into a whole different person. Basil never tried to get in between the two, and sat back sadly: “He drove off by himself, as had been arranged, and watched the flashing lights of the little brougham in front of him. A strange sense of loss came over him… When the cab drew up to the theater it seemed to him that he had grown
years older” (84). However, when he saw what he had done to Dorian, he changed.
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When Basil was allowed to view his portrait, he tried to save Dorian. He had originally visited Dorian because wanted to be sure Dorian was not the type of person he had been told of through rumors, and he was crushed when he realized Dorian was an even worse a person: “’You must be worse, even, then those who talk against you fancy you to be!’” (161). He tried to change Dorian and save his soul: “’It is never too late, Dorian. Let us kneel down and try if we can not remember a prayer’” (162). He just wanted to save his friend, and a person he loved. However, Dorian could not stand that, and killed him. Basil was saved because he died as a martyr, trying to save the soul of the person most precious to him. Like the bible says, “blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:10). Basil had made a mistake, and realized that mistake: “I worshipped you too much. I am punished for it” (Wilde 162). He realized it and tried to save Dorian from what he had become. He did not disconnect himself from the situation like Henry did. Instead he did his best to take control and save Dorian.
Keeping one’s secrets to oneself is the best idea. Opening up the soul to another is the worst way to deal with it. The only way to make up for what one has done is by making amends and being sorry, not allowing the entire town to know how vile one is. That only makes things worse. It is impossible to live a full life if everyone around one knows the worst thing one has done. Keeping one’s sins to oneself allows one to grow from one’s mistakes instead of forcing one to feel inhibited by them.

TPoDG ch. 19-20

"He could see no change, save that in the eyes there was a look of cunning, and in the mouth the curved wrinkle of the hypocrite... and the scarlet dew that spotted the hands seemed vrighter, and more like blood newly spilled" (227).

Dorian does not think very much about his actions. Letting go of Hetty was vain of him. Keeping her to love him would have been good, because, as Sibyl said, "'to be in love is to surpass one's self'" (71). Dorian probably wanted to do a good deed, not save someone. Like what we talked about in theology when you pat yourself on the back for a good deed, it fuels pride. For Dorian, that is a hard thing not to to, because he is so accustomed to feeling that pride for everything he does. For the fresh blood, it is because of, "'Alan Campbell's suicide'" (217). Whatever caused Alan to shoot himself over was because of the blackmail Dorian held over him and the disposing of Basil's body. He probably felt terrible, and that was all, indirectly or not, because of Dorian, which means he is responsible now for at least three deaths. It is possible Hetty killed herself, because "'she was quite beautiful, and wonderfully like Sibyl Vane'" (215). If she did happen to kill herself, then that would bring the death count to four. I think this might have happened, because Henry goes on a long tangent about her future, which would distract Dorian from wondering about any alternative end. If he thought Hetty had killed herself, Dorian would be so depressed. He is trying to change, but it is all happening very slowly and very erroneously: "Through vanity he had spared her. In hypocrisy he had worn the mask of goodness. For curiosity's sake he had tried the denial of self. He recognized that now" (228). If it had taken Dorian that long to see all of that, it means he was truly trying to change into a better person.

"Did it mean that he was to confess? To give himself up, and be put to death?... He felt that idea was monstrous. Besides, even if he did confess, who would believe him?... Yet it was his duty to confess. There was a God who called upon men to tell their sins to earth as well as heaven. Nothing that he could do would cleanse him till he had told his own sin... Was he always to be burdened by his past? Was he really to confess? Never" (228).

Like when he was harshly rejecting Sibyl, Dorian seems to be putting everything together and slowly coming to an answer. He toys with the idea of a confession, but comes to the logical conclusion that no one would believe him. And no one would. Only Basil and Henry can believe him, because only those two saw the picture before it changed. Anyone else would think Dorian as being insane: "The world would simply say that he was mad. They would shut him up if her persisted in his story" (228). The only problem is that if Henry were to confirm his story, he would be put in jail. He consoles himself with ignoring that and thinking that he would be put into an asylum and no good would come out of it. He is left to figure out what both The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter were trying to figure out: is it better to publicly or privately bear sins? He leans towards publicly then snaps back like an elastic to privately, which would save himself. He decides to free himself and start over, which is a nice theory but would be impossible to practice, because the painting, "had been like a conscience to him. Yes, it had been a conscience. He would destroy it" (228). To get rid of the conscience gets rid of the shame, and that would end any hopes of changing for Dorian. He was so Hellenistic that he thought that destroying the painting that upheld his beauty would save him: "As it had killed the painter, so it would kill the painter's work, and all that that meant. It would kill the past, and when that was dead he would be free. It would kill the monstrous soul-life, and without its hideous warnings he would be at peace" (228-229). Dorian only comforted himself with the thoughts of being good, without any real intention of becoming so.

Character description 2- Sibyl Vane

Sibyl Vane is a beautiful actress who naively fell in love and killed herself because of the results of that love.
Sibyl is a very sweet girl who just wants to be freed from her prison of acting. She is signed with a contract to act, and she must stay there until her time is up. She is engaged to Dorian and says cheerfully, “’I love him because he is what Love himself should be’” (Wilde 65). Sibyl thinks that Dorian is a great man who will come and sweep her off of her feet, and so she is so excited to be with him, calling him the personification of Love. However, when Dorian leaves her, “her little hands stretched blindly out, and appeared to be seeking for him” (92). Instead of growing angry, “she wept silently, and made no answer, but crept nearer” (92). Dorian had hurt her so badly, she was like, “a trampled flower” (92). Before this had happened, she had been a cheerful girl. She had been so in love with Dorian that, “her love was trembling in laughter on her lips” (69). She loved Dorian and needed him so much that she killed herself rid be rid of the pain he had inflicted upon her.
Sibyl is a flower. With her gentle beauty and sweet personality, she seems to open, like the first day of spring, each day. She takes in the world like flowers take in the sunlight, and glows. With the anger of Dorian, her defenses fall like petals in the snow, and she died like the brown stems flowers become when the cold comes.
Sibyl Vane is like the original Little Mermaid, who kills herself to save the one she loves because, in strange way, she saved Dorian from being tied down in marriage.

Character description 1- Lord Henry

Lord Henry is a man who talks in confident and influential paradox but always understands both sides of the argument.
Lord Henry is fond of thinking on all sorts of subjects and sharing his thoughts with any audience he can find. He is always very proud of his witticisms: “And Lord Henry… began to smoke a cigarette with a self-conscious and satisfied air, as if he had summed u the world in a phrase” (Wilde 14), When Basil is telling Henry that Dorian treats what Basil had given Dorian of himself as, “an ornament for a summer’s day” (14), Henry retorts with a literal, “days in summer, Basil, are apt to linger” (14). His speeches are often influential because of the confident way in which he speaks. Harry’s influences over people, especially Dorian, grow as time goes on: “For years Dorian Gray could not free himself from the influence of this [Henry’s] book; or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he never sought to free himself from it” (130). Everything Henry says changes people a little. He spouts things whether he believes in them or not just to see the results they have on people, without any regard of the person.
Lord Henry is like a vampire. With his witticisms armed like sharp fangs, he can seduce anyone into following his every ideal just by biting them and allowing his ideas to run through their veins like venom. This changes them from the innocent they once were to a vampire themselves, biting others and spiraling their lives into ruins.
Lord Henry is like Renge from Ouran High School Host Club because of the way they meddle with people without any care or connections to the ends.

Prince Paradox Witticisms

1. I never in my life would hate a person for their offenses against me. Pure hate destroys all the character there is in stubborn dislike.

2. There is not a soul on this earth that hates art, for art is the only thing on this earth with a soul.

3. Common sense is far too rare to be common and far too much of a habit to be sensible.

4. Love and marriage have never made any sense. The eternal love that creates a marriage rots and destroys it.

5. What pleases the senses pleases the soul; just as what is pleasing to the gods does not please us humans.

6. To say dogs are the best companions of man is a lie. I have had plenty of fine human friends, and not one has ever begged for my food.

7. Eternity is quite short when placed with the word love. Humans very rarely live on eternally.

8. The bright beauty of the sun pales in comparison to the quiet light of the moon and stars.

9. I have been praised as a wonderful chef to those who seem to be full each time I cook another meal.

10. There is no pleasure in being bored. The senses lay dormant, and the soul sleeps with them. Being bored is the same as being dead.

TPoDG ch. 16-18

"His meeting with Adrian Singleton had strangely moved him, and he wondered in the ruin of the young life was really to be laid at his door, as Basil Hallward had said to him with such infamy of insult.He bit his lip, and for a few seconds his eyes grew sad. Yet, after all, what did it matter to him? One's days were too brief to take the burden of another's errors on one's shoulders. Each man lived his own life, and paid his own price for living it" (194).

Dorian is really conflicted with the idea that maybe he was the one at fault for ruining people. It is really strange that he accepts it to some degree, but then gets rid of the notion immediately. The picture "held the secret of his life, and told his story" (95). This should be enough proof of Dorian's influence over others. Each time he hurts someone, the picture changes. Should that not show that he has superb powers of manipulation? But he does not realize it, and that is both because he can not see it and because he does not want to see it. He tries to hide it from himself, but he is also blind to it. He had "that indefinable attraction that Dorian seemed to be able to exercise whenever he wished, and indeed exercised often without being conscious of it" (170). He could lure people in and change them, and he does not want to admit that to neither himself nor anyone else, and so he lets out his frustration when people call him out on it by doing terrible things, like when he killed Basil.

"He was dominated by the carelessness of happiness, by the high indifference of joy" (207).

At first it seems as if Dorian has turned over a new leaf; as though he has decided to be a better person. I believe he has only suddenly become so attentive to such happy things because he was afraid of death. He was terrified of being killed by Jim, who had realized that Dorian really was the one who led to Sibyl's death: "'They say he has sold himself to the devil for a pretty face. It's nigh on eighteen years since I met him'" (197). Jim, filled with hatred for his sister's killer, has come back to get Dorian. He thinks his death is coming, and, like all people who feel their death is coming, changes. Dorian was feeling, "sick with a wild terror of dying, and yet indifferent to life itself" (205). He did not care much for life, which is Harry's influence, and yet he did not want to die, which seems to be a lingering influence of Basil. Basil's death, in its own way, was good for Dorian, and has made him more in tune with life, and the want to continue living.

TPoDG ch. 15

"As Dorian Gray drove back to his own house, he was conscious the the sense of terror he thought he had strangled had come back to him. Lord Henry's casual questioning had made him lose his nerve for the moment, and he wanted his nerves still" (187).

One day after killing one of Henry's closest friends, Dorian believes that it is ok to hang out with him, deceiving him. Dorian tries to act normal at first: "he felt wildly excited, but his manner as he bent over his hostess's hand was as easy and graceful as ever. Perhaps one never seems so much at one's ease as when one has a part to play" (179). However, as the night goes on, he seems to be losing his ability to pretend to be calm: "But at dinner he could not eat anything. Plate after plate went away untasted" (181). Dorian is not able to uphold his part as well as he should to avoid suspicion. Harry innocently asks, "'Are you better, my dear fellow?... You seemed rather out of sorts at dinner'" (185). Dorian has already shown himself to be terribly paranoid, and so it is not a safe thing for his nerves here to arouse even the most indifferent form of suspicion. Trying to defend himself against a small question by Harry he says, "I had left my latch-key at home, and my servant had to let me in. If you want any corroborative evidence on the subject you can ask him" (186). It is surprising that Harry did not pick up on the terror Dorian was letting out in his court-like speech. Harry shrugs it off instead. It was strange, because Harry seems to notice everything, and Dorian is rarely as jumpy as he was there. He is usually more personable and casual.

"Between two of the windows stood a large Florentine cabinet... and, having unlocked it, touched some hidden spring. A triangular door passed slowly out. His fingers... closed on something. It was a Chinese box... Inside was a green paste, waxy in luster, the odor curiously heavy and persistent" (187-188).

I am curious as to what this is. The footnote claims it is a poison, and what worried me for a moment was that it would be used on Lord Henry. But Dorian would not kill Lord Henry. Harry's death would ultimately lead to his own death, because Harry and Dorian have become so much the same person. Without one, the other cannot exist, or cannot exist fully as what they were when both were alive. Whatever is in that box is not for Harry, but it is probably going to cause the end of some poor person who may just know too much of Dorian. Possible Campbell? He knows Dorian's biggest secret, and with a temper such as Dorian Gray's, that might just be a reason for someone to die. Although Campbell is a chemist, so he would know what that is, or have a general idea, and would never take it. Dorian seemed a little crazy when he first had the idea to use this strange chemical: "Suddenly he started. His eyes grew strangely bright, and he gnawed nervously at his under-lip... A mad craving came over him. He lit a cigarette, and then threw it away" (187). Obviously something about this has him very excited. He probably thinks it will solve all of his problems, but I am sure it will just cause more.

TPoDG ch. 14

"'Your life? Good heavens! what a life that is! You have gone from corruption to corruption, and now you have culminated in crime. In doing what I am going to do, what you force me to do, it is not of your life that I am thinking'" (176).

This is a good example of how former friends of Dorian have turned against him. Campbell is so angry towards him, though that is understandable since he has been threatened with some unknown terrible thing. This makes sense as to Campbell's anger, as shown when Dorian yelled at Basil, "'it is because I know everything about his life, not because he knows everything about mine'" (155). This is how dramatically people who once loved Dorian now hate him. It is not totally clear why, other than that he gets to know too much about people and they feel threatened. However, friends often know each other's secrets. Unless they know nothing of Dorian, then their sudden hatred of him does not make sense. Friend do not suddenly hate friends because of some scandal they are involved in. They live with it and accept them. There is no way to real explanation yet as to why Dorian's friends turn so much away from him as to snap at him and say, "I had intended never to enter your house again, Gray" (171). The use of his last name shows how Campbell is trying to distance himself. But the real question is why? What did Dorian do to him?

"What was that loathsome red dew that gleamed, wet and glistening, on one of the hands, as though the canvas had sweated blood? How horrible it was!- more horrible, it seemed to him for the moment, than the silent thing that he knew was stretched across the table, the thing whose grotesque, misshappen shadow on the spotted carpet showed him that it had not stirred, but was still there, as he had left it" (178).

That is very typical of Dorian to think that the blood on his hands was more terrible than the body of his murdered friend and admirer. He even describes his friend as grotesque, which is not usually the way a person would describe even such a bloody corpse that had once been their friend. He does not see Basil as a friend. Dorian probably will hate Basil more now because he caused the blood on the picture's hands, and that picture is very precious to him. The soiled picture will probably be blamed on Basil, as everything is blamed on Basil, because Henry is too influential to be blamed.

TPoDG ch. 11-12

"'I told him that it was absurd- that I knew you thoroughly, and that you were incapable of anything of the kind. Know you? I wonder do I know you? Before I could answer that I should have to see your soul.' 'To see my soul!' muttered Dorian Gray, starting up from the sofa and turning almost white with fear" (156).

Basil knows know that he has totally lost Dorian. When he had walked by Dorian in the fog, he had still had a naive hope that Dorian was still who he used to be. This is shown in the eagerness he portrays while he speaks to Dorian: "'Dorian! What an extraordinary piece of luck!'" (151). He sounds so happy to see Dorian, and later he is so disappointed in what he sees. It is no longer his friend Dorian, or even the Dorian he knew after the seeds of Henry's influence had begun taking root in his mind. The Dorian that Basil met on that fateful night of his death was the Dorian who not only housed the great garden of Henry's influence, but had also become his own person, separate from Henry, but just as evil as all of the Lord's wildest fantasies. That begs the question, does Dorian know that Henry is toying with him, feeding him with unrealistic passion? Especially with the murder- something Henry would never, ever do- especially to Basil: "He rushed at him, and dug the knife into the great vein that is behind the ear, crushing the man;s head down on the table, and stabbing again and again" (163). Henry would never go that far. Dorian has become a monster.

"The friend who had painted the fatal portrait to which all his misery had been due had gone out of his life. That was enough" (164).

Dorian has grown into the type of person who can not put the blame on himself. He must blame another, and that person, sadly, became Basil. He stabbed him to death in hopes that his misery would go away. Basil was his only hope of redemption. He cried as Basil tried to redeem him: "Dorian Gray turned slowly around, and looked at him with tear-dimmed eyes. 'It is too late, Basil,' he faltered" (162). What Dorian wants is just to live out his sins. He has gotten too used to them to stop, and he is too ashamed of them to want to face them. He is afraid of what he has become, as shown in his tears. He keeps hearing Basil speak of forgiveness, "'it is never too late, Dorian. Let us kneel down and try if we can not remember a prayer" (162). Basil's words fill him with a small feeling of hope, but his love of sin and fear of facing himself turn him violently against seeking redemption. Seeking it would be to accept the monster he has become, and also promise him a life of moderate self-denial most people live in. Because of that, he had to get away from the source of both of his pains, Basil.

TPoDG ch. 10

"Perhaps some day the cruel look would have passed away from the scarlet sensitive mouth, and he might show to the world Basil Hallward's masterpiece. No; that was impossible. Hour by hour week by week the thing upon the canvas was growing old. It might escape the hideousness of sin, but the hideousness of age was in store for it" (126).

This realization really makes Dorian paranoid. He starts to think everyone wants to see the picture: "He felt ready to leap upon [Mr. Hubbard] and fling him to the ground if he dared lift the gorgeous hanging that concealed the secret of his life" (126). Dorian believes everyone is out to get him now. There is nothing good in holding back this kind of a secret! He even begins to suspect Victor, his servant, of wanting to deceive him: "Perhaps some night he might find [Victor] creeping up-stairs and trying to force the door of the room" (127). Dorian is losing trust in people quickly and becoming very defensive. He is going to lose is mind while the painting ages.

"'Yes? I thought you would like it,' replied the host, rising from his chair.
'I didn't say I liked it, Harry. I said it fascinated me. There is a great difference.'
'Ah, so you have discovered that?' murmured Lord Henry"(129).

I feel bad for Lord Henry! Dorian says that you do not necessarily need to like something that fascinates you. Something can fascinate you, and when it ceases to fascinate you, you may stop liking it. That is what Lord Henry is to Dorian. Henry is simply something that fascinates Dorian; he is not something Dorian necessarily likes. Henry is boring without his outrageous theories. Without his theories, he is nothing more than a loner who has no interest in the world. Without his theories, Dorian would have no reason to spend time with him.

TPoDG ch. 9

"'I know you are surprised at me talking to you like this. You have not realized how I have developed. I was a schoolboy when you knew me. I am a man now. I have new passions, new thoughts, new ideas. I am different, but you must not like me less... Don't leave me, Basil, and don't quarrel with me. I am what I am. There is nothing more to be said'" (114).

Poor Basil. He's such a sweet guy, and here Dorian goes, being an ass who took Harry too seriously. Dorian tries to make it seem like he's so mature, but he is still a schoolboy! One moment he is against Harry and his influence: "He would not see Lord Henry any more- would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle, poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward's garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things" (96). Within twenty pages, his mind changes drastically: "'I owe a great deal to Harry, Basil... more than I owe to you. You only taught me to be vain'" (112). That is not true. Dorian would never have been vain without Henry poking the thoughts into him: "Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!" (25). Dorian is still a schoolboy in his mind.

"Was the world going to be shown his secret? Were people to gape at the mystery of his life? That was impossible. Something- he did not know what- had to be done at once" (116).

This is just like what we have been talking about in theology (I think it was theology and not English). If everyone in the world knew the worst thing you had done, how would you feel? Here, Dorian is literally face-to-face with this problem. He knows that the expression of the portrait is very different than the one that was originally painted; that it looks cruel and unwelcoming, very different than what he used to be. He does not want the world to know his true nature, and even gets mad at Basil: "A cry of horror broke from Dorian Gray's lips, and he rushed between the painter and the screen. 'Basil,' he said, looking very pale, 'you must not look at it. I don't wish you to'" (115). Why would you want to hide who you are from the world, when they'll probably just piece it together anyway? I guess Dorian doesn't want the world to see because he has not become as detached from the world as Harry is yet. He still has a piece of him left in the real world that he wants to mask, like all people want to mask their faults, personality wise or aesthetic wise, and since he has no problems with his looks, he may try twice as hard to cover up his personality until Henry's influence takes him over completely.

TPoDG ch. 8

"Besides, nothing makes one so vain as being told that one is a sinner. Conscience makes egoists of us all" (106).

If conscience makes one an egoist, then Dorian Gray has no chance left for himself. Now that he has realized the picture will reflect his own sins, he will have a visual conscience staring him back in the eyes every day. He even believes that "the picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the emblem of conscience"(96). He has this reminder of all of his sins, which will also remind him of his vices. Each day the picture does not change, he will realize he was good that day, which will add to his pride. Dorian's ego will balloon because of this.

"'Mourn for Ophelia, if you like. Put ashes on your head because Cordelia was strangled. Cry out against Heaven because the daughter of Brabantio died. But don't waste your tears over Sibyl Vane. She was less real then they are" (107).

Harsh, Harry, and also wrong. Maybe Sibyl was less real then the characters him, but not to Sibyl's mother or Jim, who both loved her very much. (Speaking of Jim, if he finds out, Dorian is in trouble). Sibyl had a personality and a character, and Henry, in an attempt to calm Dorian, and following his disconnected nature, tells the younger man that Sibyl wasn't real. That's wrong, and it disconnects Dorian from the world like Harry is. The apathy he feels is not healthy, and he is bringing Dorian down with him.

TPoDG ch. 7

"'Yes,' he cried, 'you have killed my love! You used to stir my imagination. Now you do not even stir my curiosity. You simply produce no effect. I loved you because you were marvelous, because you had genius and intellect, because you realized the dreams of great poets and gave shape and substance to the shadows of art. You have thrown it all away. You are shallow and stupid. My God! how mad I was to love you! What a fool I have been. You are nothing to me now'" (91).

So, Dorian is an ass. He was so mean! Poor Sibyl is such a sweet girl, and he goes and tells her he only loved her for her acting, and that without acting she is nothing. Because Dorian is so beautiful himself, he doesn't even care about the beauty she has. He only wants someone that interests him, and beauty does not hold that interest. Personality and talent does, and without that, all perfection he saw in Sibyl tarnished into something ugly.


"The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscious. He would resist temptation. He would not see Lord Henry any more- would not, at any rate, listen to those subtle, poisonous theories that in Basil Hallward's garden had first stirred within him the passion for impossible things. He would go back to Sibyl Vane, make her amends, marry her, try to love her again... She must have suffered more than he had. Poor child! He had been selfish and cruel to her... His life with her would be beautiful and pure" (96).

This is a dramatic shift! He suddenly wants to be forgiven and save Sibyl from her torture. That's so narcissistic. The only reason he even realized he was an ass was because he noticed the imperfections in his portrait. If it had been an image of another person, he would not have even cared. He only wants to see himself perfect in all respects, even an artificial self such as one made of paint, so it makes him want to change.

TPoDG 6

"'Her trust makes me faithful, her belief makes me good. When I am with her, I regret all that you have taught me... the mere touch of Sibyl Vane's hand makes me forget you and all your wrong, fascinating, poisonous, delightful theories" (82).

Ouch. That was harsh, Dorian. He sees through Henry; I was wrong. I really believed he was too naive to truly notice the influence Henry had over him, but it seems that he has ether just realized it because of his love for Sibyl, or he has truly always known it and simply never cared. I think that Dorian will never be able to break away from Henry, though, because of his platonic affections for him. Dorian seems attached to Henry's wonderful theories, and he will never be able to break away, no matter what kind of influence Sibyl has over him, and I believe that influence will fade with time.

"The real drawback to marriage is that it makes one unselfish. And unselfish people are colorless... Still, there are certain temperments thatmarriage makes more complex... I hope that Dorian Gray will make this girl his wife, passionately adore her for six months, and then suddenly become fascinated mby someone else. He would be a wonderful study.' 'You don't mean a single word of all that, Harry, you know you don't. If Dorian Gray's life were spoiled, no one would be sorrier than yourself'" (78-79).

These are two views of Henry's, and I do not know which one to believe more firmly in, because I trust they are both correct. He is undoubtable interested in what Dorian will do with his life. Henry is so curious about human life, and Dorian specifically since Dorian can life out his wildest desires because of his beauty. However, Henry cares for him very much. Henry wants him to be happy, or else he would not have influenced him so much to do whatever he wanted that would make him so. Henry would probably be very sad if Dorian felt ruined because of Henry's prodding. However, whether that is because his experiment would fail- If Dorian felt ruined because of Henry, he would never listen to him again- or because Dorian would be sad because of his choices, I am not yet sure.

TPoDG ch. 5

"There was jealousy in the lad's heart, and a fierce, murderous hatred of the stranger who, as it seemed to him, had come between them... There were tears in his eyes as he went down stairs" (74).

Jim is capable of such strong emotion when it comes to Sibyl. He's a very soft person, although he has a really tough exterior which would come with having to be the man of the house since his father had died. He doesn't trust easily, "if he ever does you any wrong, I shall kill him" (73), and he doesn't really like people, "Jim frowned from time to time when he caught the inquisitive glance of some stranger" (69). He is the kind of character who needs to understand people to trust them, not the type to put blind trust in a person, like his sister does, loving a man whose name she does not know: "He is called Prince Charming. Don't you like the name?" (71).

"She felt that they would all laugh at it some day" (76).

The way this ended the chapter and the amount of seriousness that Dorian puts into his love for Sibyl makes it seem like there is really going to be a problem between Jim and Dorian. The two won't get along, not with Harry quickly becoming attached to Dorian at the hip, and I do not see Harry and Jim getting along at all. Jim's suspicious view of the world will reject Harry's manipulation, see through it, and despise it. That is my prediction. Also, I predict that there will be serious problems between Sibyl and Dorian. Dorian's quirk of wanting all pleasure all the time will probably end all possibilities for fidelity, especially since manipulative Henry already dropped his views on that matter: "Faithfulness is to the emotional life what consistency is to the life of the intellect- simply a confession of failure"(53).

TPoDG ch. 4

"'I wish now that I had not told you about Sibyl Vane.' 'You could not have helped telling me, Dorian. All through your life you will tell me everything you do.' 'Yes, Harry, I believe that is true. I cannot help telling you things. You have a curious influence over me'" (56).

Dorian has noticed this influence, but it is like he has not fully grasped it. The way he speaks of it is just like it's an arbitrary idea in his head that comes up and then goes away with the change of topic. Later Dorian says, "'I wonder if that is so, Harry?'...'it must be, if you say it' (60-61). He doesn't bring up being influenced again, so it is more evident that he really doesn't fully grasp the fact that he is being so dramatically influenced. It is shown that he still does not fully realize he is being influenced when Harry is alone thinking, "our weakest motives were those of whose nature we were conscious" (63). Dorian is not conscious of where his new ideas were coming from. He has no idea they are from Harry, or else he would not be so passionate about them.

"I want to make Romeo jealous. I want the dead lovers of the world to hear our laughter, and grow sad. I want a breath of our passion to stir their dust into consciousness, to wake their ashes into pain" (59).

Here, Dorian is even starting to talk like Harry. He is using this figurative and flowy language unlike what he used before, but mostly like Harry's way of speaking. It's like he's taking on the whole new persona and soaking Harry in like a sponge. Before, Dorian never seemed like such a deep speaker, but he is changing as his time with Harry increases.

Ch. 3

"Yes, he would try to be to Dorian Gray what, without knowing it, the lad was to the painter who had fashioned the wonderful portrait. He would seek to dominate him- had already, indeed, half done so. He would make that wonderful spirit his own. There was something fascinating in this son of Love and Death" (40).


Henry here is trying to make Dorian something like himself. Henry also believed that "there was something terribly enthralling in the excercise of influence... To project one's soul into some gracious form... to hear one's own intellectual views echoed back... to convey one's temperament to another... there was real joy in that" (39). Henry likes that Dorian is so easily molded because Dorian's views are yet to be matured. Henry wants to make an impression on him, something that he cannot do with Basil because Basil is not so impressionable, and often sees through his arguments. Also, more than just his impressionability, Dorian is a paradox, something Lord Henry is so fond of. Love and death are two very different things, but they become mixed together in Dorian's past, intriguing Henry to the point where he wants to be able to make Dorian into the type of person he views him as. This I do not view as homosexual, but more as Lord Henry's curiosity and meddlesome nature finding a playground in Dorian, who is too naive to notice he is being made as a plaything for Henry.

"'I can sympathize with everything, except suffering... I cannot sympathize with that. It is too ugly, too horrible, too distressing. There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathize with the color, the beauty, the joy of life'" (43).

People always try to sympathize with pain. Pain is something people want other people to sympathize with, so that they do not feel alone in their suffering. However, here Henry says that no one should sympathize with pain, but instead with the beauty of life. While this is interesting, it seems so disconnected with the world. It would be easy to not sympathize with pain if there is no pain around you, but when there is, as there has always been, it is hard not to do so. Henry seems to be talking from a world apart from the one people live in. He seems to be living in a world without pain and full of beauty. This goes with his character, but it is a very extreme view.

Why Dorian and HENRY make sense. GET AT ME, SCOTT. >D (TPoDG ch. 1&2)

"And Beauty is a form of Genius- is higher, indeed. than Genius, as it needs no explanation... It cannot be questioned... To me, Beauty is the wonder of wonders... But what the gods give, they quickly take away... When your youth goes, your beauty will go with it, and then you will suddenly discover that there are no triumphs left for you, or have to content yourself with those mean triumphs that the memory of your past will make more bitter then defeats... Youth! Youth! There is absolutely nothing in the world but youth!" (24-25).

Indifferent Lord Henry has an interesting obsession with youth. That obsession is what makes his instant attraction to Dorian make sense. Dorian's eternal beauty is something that Henry, a person in love with youth and a deep thinker, would be infatuated with. Dorian immediately took a liking to Henry also, and so their relationship will only continue to grow into something beautiful. Henry even said, "I choose my friends for their good looks" (10). Dorian is very good looking, and so he and Henry are destined to become very good friends.

I wish I could say something intelligent about this but all I got is "wtf?" so here's some bs

The artist is a person who can create something out of nothing. Art, in the case of books, are stories made through the mind of the author, and are whatever the author wants it to be. Books have so much purpose in the world. They entertain people and teach people, but people can be entertained and taught without books. This gives books no purpose. Essentially, everything has no purpose because humans would make due with whatever they have to fill in the spots of what they lack. Music can be replaced with poetry which can be replaced with fiction which can be replaced with plays, and so on. To some people, music is everything, but if music never existed, then maybe poetry would be everything to that person. One thing with a seemingly obvious meaning can be interpreted in many different ways. That is what I think Oscar Wilde is trying to say. That art can be made and destroyed by people, loved and hated by people, and so its meaning is very deep and unforgettable, but it is so meaningless because it can be replaced.

TSL end

"While Hester stood in that magic circle of ignominy, where the cunning cruelty of her sentence seemed to have fixed her forever, the admirable preacher was looking down from the sacred pulpit upon an audience whose very inmost spirits had yielded to his control. The sainted minister in the church! The woman of the scarlet letter in the market-place! What imagination would have been irreverent enough to surmise that the same scorching stigma was on them both!" (221).

This shows a good margin of difference between the two. Hester, as this sentence says, is just a girl in the market place. Dimmesdale, it says, is the saintly minister. One is loved by the village and the other is just a member of it. It also seems as if it shows Hester's guilt, and leaves out Dimmesdale's. She is lost in this cycle, while Dimmesdale stands on a pulpit every Sunday without speaking frankly of his sin. This sentence is just reminding us of how life is for the two of them, and how their punishments- Hester's A and Dimmesdale's silece- affect them.

"But there was a more real life for Hester Prynne here, in New England, than in that unknown region where Pearl had found a home. Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence. She had returned, therefore, and resumed,- of her own free will, for not the sternest magistrate of that iron period would have imposed it,- resumed the symbol of which we have related so dark a tale" (234).

This was a little sad. They never explain Pearl's character as a grown woman. I feel sad also that Hester would have left her behind. It's also strange that she would come back once she was free of her sin. Why did she feel the need to live out the rest of her life in shame? It is not as if the people of the town still care that she had sinned. It was years ago that this happened, and by now, everyone had quite forgotten and stopped caring. She came back for no real reason other than to satisfy her own guilt. She feels she is doing what is right, although it is not. There is no penitence to be found there any more for that sin.

TSL

"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true" (194).

This is true in Dimmesdale's case. As he is leaving the forest where he had spoken to Hester, the thoughts in his head change so dramatically that he gets excited like a schoolboy running home from the last day of school before summer. His temptations grow and change as he passes by different people. He believes he has signed the book of the devil in the woods. He even thinks to himself, "'I have then sold myself... to the fiend whom, if men say true, this yellow-starched and velveted old hag has chosen for her prince and master!'" (199).

"'Why, know you not... that this physician here- Chillingworth, he calls himself- is minded to try my cabin-fair with you? Ay, ay, you must have known it; for he tells me he is of your party, and a close friend to the gentleman you spoke of,- he that is in peril from these sour old Puritan rulers!" (210).

Chillingworth is so smart! He knew, just by Dimmesdale's face, that Dimmesdale was aware they were enemies. And, he then deducted that Hester, Pearl, and the minister would be leaving on the Spanish boat! His intuitive and deductive abilities are astounding. I did not suspect Chillingworth would let Dimmesdale off easily, but I also did not believe he would be so smart!

TSL

"'Truly do I!... It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart! ... Ask yonder old man... It may be he can tell"(161-162).

This is Pearl's insightfulness at its finest. She sees things that she does not even speak about until someone brings it up. She asks about the meaning behind the scarlet letter, and why Dimmesdale hides his heart. It's interesting that she says, "but why does he not wear it outside his bosom, as though dost, mother?" (169). This is another mention of Dimmesdale's hidden sin. When prodded, she answers she doesn't know, and to ask Roger. This is very strange, and it is interesting that this child sees things that the adults do not. She is strangely more like Roger Chillingworth than her mother or father. She, like Chillingworth's new attitude, is what was born out of Hester and Dimmesdale's sin. It is obvious they should be alike in some way.

"'I forgive you, Hester... I freely forgive you now. May God forgive us both! We are not, Hester, the worst sinners in the world... That old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin" (176).

I find it strange that Dimmesdale seems to be pointing the finger all of a sudden. He always seems so trapped in self-loathing, and now it has switched. It's like Dimmesdale's hatred has been thrust off of himself and on to Chillingworth. That seems almost unfair, because he did wrong Chillingworth very deeply. Does he not want to notice it, or does it not matter to him?

TSL

"It was reported, and believed by many, that an Indian had drawn his arrow against the badge, and that the missile struck it, but fell harmless to the ground" (148).

So, now this scarlet letter is a lifesaver? Well, it was the punishment picked over death, so it is a life saver. However, these fickle Puritans do not know what the hell they want, and it is irksome. They want her dead, and now they praise her to strangers? Hester's transformation is evident. It has been a good one, and her life has improved drastically. The opposite is true for poor Dimmesdale, who is supposedly getting sicker and sicker.

"'What evil have I done this man?'" (154).

That's a pretty badass quote to come from a man who has been psychologically torturing another man for seven years. Roger has not done any outward evil towards Dimmesdale. If a judge were to be trying to convict Roger of torture, he would not be able to find concrete evidence that Roger had been willingly trying to hurt Dimmesdale. However, with his subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) words and conversation choice, Roger has tortured Dimmesdale more than a third party, outside of Hester, could ever realize.

TSL

"We impute it, therefore, solely to the disease in his own eyes and heart, that the minister, lookinh upward to the zenith, beheld there the appearance of an immense letter,- the letter A,- marked out in lines of dull red light" (141).

This A is the size that Dimmesdale's sin has grown into. It's large and right before his eyes. This is what Roger is doing to him as he pulls the sin more and more out into the open so that Dimmesdale has not choice but to look tight at it. The meteor is the sin, I believe. It was described as, "so powerful... that it thoroughly illuminated the dense medium of cloud betwixt the sky and earth" (140). I am probably wring in this assumption, but I connect it to when Roger said, "a strange sympathy betwixt soul and body!" (125). Soul and the sky are the same: mystical and strange. Body and earth are the same: understood and scientific. The meteor and the illness Dimmesdale has are the same, something that is in between the two, or connects the two. They are both As, which represent the sin.

TSL 5

"This idea was countenanced by the strong interest which the physician ever manifested in the young clergyman; he attached himself to him as a parishioner, and sought to win a friendly regard and confidence from his naturally reserved sensibility"(110).

Uh-oh. Roger has already found Dimmesdale out. However, as it was mentioned in class, Roger reads the heart, the scarlet letter is printed on Hester's heart, and Dimmesdale, "put[s] his hand over his heart" (109-110). Dimmesdale does that action as if his heart was in pain. Possibly the pain of being read? Roger "now dug into the clergyman's heart" (117), which may be what is causing him the pain.Roger knows because it was terribly obvious in Dimmesdale's little slips of guilt that pass by unnoticed to his loving worshipers. However, I doubt that Roger would be making him sick, unless he's trying to hint that he was wronged. Hawthorne even says it right out: "A man burdened with a secret should especially avoid the intimacy of his physician" (113).

"'They grew out of his heart, and typify, it may be, some hideous secret that was buried with him, and which he had done better to confess during his lifetime.'
'Perchance... he reanestly desired it, but could not.'
'And wherefore? ... Wherefore not; since all the powers of nature call so earnestly for the confession of a sin, that these black weeds have sprung up out of a buried heart, to make manifest an unspoken crime?'
... 'There can be, if I forbade aright, no power, short of the Divine mercy, to disclose, whether by uttered words, or by type or emblem, the secrets that may be buried with a human heart.'
... 'Then why not reveal them here?'
...'They mostly do,' said the clergyman, gripping hard at his breast as if afflicted with an importune throb of pain" (119).

Roger knows what the two are talking about, and Dimmesdale knows what he himself is speaking of. Dimmesdale does not know that Roger is aware of his sin. It is as if the two are conversing on a topic that can not speak of, because it is both a secret that they know of the incident. Speaking of it caused Dimmesdale's heart pain, as if Roger's eyes were searing into his heart, reading every last detail of his secret through his own words. Dimmesdale will be his own demise.

Sorry for the weird format. The computer messed up.

She resembled, in her fierce pursuit of them, an infant pestilence,-
the scarlet fever, or some half-fledged angel of judgment,- whose
mission was to punish the sins of the rising generation" (93).

Pearl is such an odd child! She threw a fit unlike what most children
would do. She seems here like a guard dog to her mother to protect and
take care of her from those that persecute her for the scarlet letter
she bears. This will definitely call attention to her, which will not
be good in the future, because such spuratic antics can not be good in
such a solemn society.

"'God gave me the child!' cried she. 'He gave me her in requital of
all things else, which he had taken from me! She is my happiness!- she
is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl
punishes me too!... Ye shall not take her! I will die first!'" (103).

I like this show of motherly love, although it is also Hester's need
to be punished for her sin. She has such conflicting feelings for
Pearl, one that wants her to hold on to her daughter, and one that
makes her want to undergo her sin. Hester loves Pearl beause Pearl is
her daughter and her punishment, and Hester sees Pearl as her
redemption. A gift like a child from adultary can not be anything else
other than a gift and a sin, but also the redemption to overcome the
guilt of the sin by taking care of the gift that resulted from it.

The Scarlet Letter 2

"'She will not speak!... Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's hear! She will not speak!'" (64).

Mr. Dimmesdale says this, thinking that Hester just wants to keep the man out of trouble. But I wonder if that is true? It is obviously possible that Hester loves the man she slept with, but she does not seem to be that sort of person, at least at the moment. She seems cold, twice squeezing her baby so hard it cried, and even saying to her husband, "though knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any" (69). She seems hard to get through, which is also shown in her confidence in her walk to the scaffold that caused the gossips to whisper bitterly. If she is in love with the man, she seems to be taking the rejection very well, although three months have passed, and there may have been enough time to get over it.


"'Believe me, Hester, there are few things... hidden from the man who devotes himself earnestly and unreservedly to the solution of a mystery. Thou mayest cover up thy secret from the prying magnitude. Thou mayest conceal it, too, from the ministers and magistrates, even as thou didst this day, when they sought to wrench the name out of thy heart, and give thee a partner on thy pedestal. But, as for me, I come to the inquest with other senses than they possess'" (70).

Roger is saying that he will find the man because he is more adequate for finding out a person's secrets. This is important because he later says, "'let him hide himself'" (71) because Roger does not want other people to know who the man is. It will suffice for Roger just to know who the man who impregnated his wife is. Roger is not a social man; he is more quiet and reserved, and so he does not want to spread the word to people, because he does not seem to really like people. If he just knows who it is, he will be happy. This will end his questions and calm him.

John Proctor's Redemption

Christina DeSario DeSario,1
Mr. George- AP English 11
1•2•10
The Crucible
John Proctor’s Redemption
Mistakes are a part of being human. Each and every human makes mistakes, from the baby learning to walk to the professional athlete in the middle of a game to the teenager holding the smoking gun. Mistakes come in many forms, from a slip of the fingers to the weakening of human will under the heavy burden of temptation or fear. John Proctor made a mistake as the temptation he carried on his back bore down on him. He fell to his knees under the weight of lust for Abigail Williams when he should have continued on walking. The act of lechery disgraced him and he knew that he had been wrong. The temptation disappeared, and the new weight of shame bore into him, a pain that was even worse than he could have imagined. Along with the new pain brought social consequences he would never have thought would have resulted from his seemingly personal sin of lust. John Proctor sought forgiveness from his wife, then the court, and then he finally turned to God, where he found both forgiveness and strength.
John Proctor can be seen as a symbol of Christianity because he sins, like all people sin, and he overcomes it to become pure again in the eyes of God. Christianity centers around repentance and forgiveness. John does something he is ashamed of and does not know how to deal with the shame. Each person has felt this, and so anyone reading The Crucible can sympathize with him. The center of Christianity is the story of John Proctor, a man who is plagued throughout the entire text by his sin of adultery until he finds God, the only way to expel that guilt. It is shown he is seeking forgiveness when he says to Abigail, “but I will cut off my hand before I’ll ever reach for you again” (23). He is guilty and sorry for his terrible sin against the Ten Commandments. He is redeemed when he, “tears up the paper and crumples it” (144) to destroy his confession. He is saved after seeking in vain for forgiveness twice. Both of those
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times were to humans who could not play the part of God.
In the beginning of the play, Elizabeth’s coldness towards John is evident. She confronts him, arguing gently: “John, if it were not Abigail that you go to hurt, would you falter now? I think not” (54). She is distrusting of him because she is aware of the affair he had with Abigail. John, ashamed, takes it out on her and says, “some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day. But you’re not, you’re not, and let you remember it!” (55). Elizabeth was hurt by John’s betrayal, and she can not find it in her heart to forgive him yet. This leaves John with no outlet for his shame, and he is forced to continue on carrying his burden.
His next choice for redemption is the court. Abigail calls out Elizabeth and claims she is a witch. This makes John lose himself, and he confesses, “I have known her, sir. I have known her” (110). He is then put into jail. He is punished for his confession and not forgiven, still forcing his burden on him while he loses hope of ever being saved. The court was so unforgiving that Abigail was further pushed into the spotlight from this. John Proctor is then left with one last spark of hope, one last chance of ever feeling freed, which was God.
Lastly, after prison time and feeling deceived by everyone around him, John turns to God. He becomes reconciled when he goes to confess to being a witch, something he knows he is not. The process is quick; from the moment he realizes he should not give away his name to the moment he decided he can not give away his name. He signs the confession and, after he is made aware of what the court plans to do with his signature, yells, “I have three children- how may I teach them to walk like men in the world, and I sold my friends?” (143). This is a side of him that shows his human side. Before this, he mentions his children very seldom, and now they are a prime cause of his doubt. He knows that the confession he signed is a lie; a false statement that he would use to get out of a death he is afraid of. He continues to show his shame in signing it for two reasons. He is ashamed because he has blackened his friends’ names who have not confessed,
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and he is ashamed because he is blackening his own name.
He speaks next of blackening his friends’ names, which is significant. People usually list things in the order that they think of them. He first speaks of his sons, and then he speaks of his friends. He argues, “I blacken all of them when this is nailed to the church the very day they hang for silence!” (143). After his children, he thinks of others still before himself. John is tormented over hurting his family and friends, and he is also terrified of death because the weight of shame is still heavy on his shoulders.
After the court presses for more answers, he thinks of himself. He cries out, “because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies... I have given you my soul; leave me my name!” (143). His last outburst is for himself. Then, he rips up the false confession. As the paper rips and he decides to die for his cause, God forgives him and his soul is cleansed of the evil he had committed. It is shown within the text that John is forgiven by God when Elizabeth says, “he have his goodness now. God forbid I take it from him!” (145). Elizabeth, who had refused to forgive him once, now believes he is fully good. God had given him a clean slate, and it is with that slate that John accepted the life of a martyr.
Arthur Miller wants the reader to like John Proctor by showing us his gentle side, especially toward Elizabeth. John adds salt the stew Elizabeth made while she was upstairs, and then says, “it’s well seasoned” (50). He tries to regain her trust in innocent and loving ways. The reader can sympathize with this, because it is a well known and tiring trial to regain the trust of a person you care for once it has been broken because of a mistake one made.
Readers feel bad for John. He tries to throw Abigail’s hopes of being with him away, and she refuses to give up. The persistence she has thwarts his efforts to win over his wife further. Abigail’s love in not something he had expected, and he makes it clear it is not welcome:”No, no, Abby. That’s done with” (22). He begins softly, trying to tell her he feels nothing for her. Then,
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after Elizabeth is charged by vengeful Abigail, he turns angry: “Whore! Whore!” (109). Readers understand John Proctor because they can understand his feelings of being trapped.
John is one of the few who do not believe in witches. When he goes to the court with logical reasons for Abigail’s game, the believers turn him away. The frustration that builds up within John is easy to understand. He tells Danforth of his sin, and Elizabeth lies to save him. Danforth, as if unable to understand her position, says, “she spoke nothing of lechery, and this man has lied!” (114). Thinking back to when one was a child, it is easy to remember a time when your honest words were looked down upon at by adults. He is not being accepted, even though he is right. Like the child who is trying to tell adults something they refuse to believe, John is trying to explain the ridiculous situation and the judges refuse to believe him.
John Proctor wanted nothing more than forgiveness from his wife, which she would not give. He then went to the court, who imprisoned him. He finally turned to God, who forgave him. He got his redemption, and died to save the lives of so many others who would have been persecuted with his name. He was a good man, despite his sins, and did an amazingly admirable thing to save many strangers. He was freed from his sins and made good. He was able to take his white name with him to heaven, which is what he wanted most in the world. As God forgave him, Elizabeth’s forgiveness was soon to follow. John Proctor then stood up, free from any burden, and walked to fate with courage and determination.