"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.
Monday, February 8, 2010
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!
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!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
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?
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?
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
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.
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.
Monday, February 1, 2010
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.
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 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.
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