The Scarlet Letter Chapters 20-End

    When we first began reading the Scarlet Letter, I was pessimistic about how the novel would end things for Hester and Pearl; in the past few novels we have read, characters such as Daisy Miller and Edna Pontellier, who challenge social norms, end up dead. So, I thought the same would happen for Hester and Pearl. However, in the Scarlet Letter, I was pleasantly surprised by the karma that Hawthorne so masterfully issued to each character in the novel’s conclusion. 

    Unlike Daisy and Edna, Hester proves to be both extremely moral and willful. Despite the constant isolation and shame that Hester is burdened with, she remains confident and moral.  Consequently, the meaning of the adulterous “A” transitions from a shameful symbol to a badge of infamous martyrdom. Not only does the town exhibit a bit of admiration for Hester’s “A” but it is also noted that during the town’s procession, “there were many people present, from the country round about, who had often heard of the scarlet letter, and to whom it had been made terrific by a hundred false or exaggerated rumors, but who had never beheld it with their own bodily eyes… Even the Indians… fastened their snake-like black eyes on Hester’s bosom; conceiving, perhaps, that the wearer of this brilliantly embroidered badge must needs be a personage of high dignity among her people” (Hawthorne 300).  As a well-known symbol, even outside of the Puritan settlement, there is a sense of mystery and awe surrounding Hester and her “A.” I am glad that the townspeople somewhat appreciate Hester’s repentance and morality. 

    I also love that Hester and Pearl got a little “happily ever after” moment at the end of the book when Pearl moves to a foreign land where she is “married, and happy, and mindful of her mother,” and when Hester moves back to the town where she helps young Puritan women navigate the strict limitations of society. Conversely, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth both shrivel up and die. Although I liked Dimmesdale, he was not very honorable. Dimmesdale had power and over 7 years to fess up about his role in the adultery. Even though Dimmesdale felt really guilty and eventually confessed, that does not make up for his lack of fortitude. In fact, I still think his confession was pretty cowardly because he knew he was about to die and would not have to face the consequences. He even says “‘Hester, I am a dying man. So let me make haste to take my shame upon me!’” (310). It is also fitting that Chillingworth perishes because he is basically the devil incarnate. Karma.  

    Through the fates of Hester and Pearl, Hawthorne argues that we should be forgiving and non-judgmental of others’ sins. Hawthorne intentionally uses karma to punish those who sin without remorse and reward those who repent. It is not the duty of humans to punish other humans for sin. Instead, we should honor the acceptance and repentance of sin because it requires fortitude and honor. 

Do you agree with Hawthorne’s final message? When is it okay to be judgmental towards others? Why doesn’t the escape plan work out? Are you a fan of Dimmesdale?

"The Scarlet Letter" Chapters 12-14

 These chapters are PACKED- I touched on every chapter in an attempt to give some sort of overview, but it still felt like a lot. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, along with his “physician” Roger Chillingworth take center stage and reveal a ton about their identity to both each other and the audience.

    Chapter 12 opens with Dimmesdale approaching and standing on the scaffold that Hester had once stood for her public event seven years prior. He seems to be so overwhelmed with guilt and self-hatred that “he shrieked aloud” (Hawthorne 134). Dimmesdale appears distressed with the weight of his secret (which we have guessed is adultery with Hester), and this scene comes off to me as almost manic. As a minister, he should be the last person to commit such a shameful act because he preaches to the community against these sins; in fact, I think that he should receive the greatest punishment if he is ever discovered. Dimmesdale later sees Hester and Pearl coming from Winthrop’s deathbed, and he invites the two to join him on the scaffold. Not once but TWICE Dimmesdale rejects Pearl’s request to join her there the next day, which completely opposes his feelings on the previous page of guilt. I was disappointed in Dimmesdale here, didn’t he just say that he was ashamed? I guess he went in the night to not be discovered, but still. AND THEN, the letter A appears in the sky - what???? AND THEN ROGER APPEARS?!! This is too much; at this point, Dimmesdale’s identity is clear to both the audience and to Roger. But then, he just goes back home with Roger? Like nothing happened? And then he PREACHES the next day? And he gets his glove back, but I feel like there are bigger issues than that.

    In the following chapter, a few years have passed. Hester notices changes in Dimmesdale, and I also notice changes in her. Given the way that Hester has worn her scarlet letter with dignity, many renamed the significance of the letter to mean “Able” (146). However, she still has no friends or connections. I love the line “The world’s law was no law for her mind” (148). Despite her having changed and grown, her thoughts remain constant and they remain her own.

    Our final chapter of the reading is a conversation between Hester and Chillingworth. Chillingworth has aged and become revenge-hungry. Long story short, Chillingworth admits to doing evil towards the minister. He says he has changed from a “kind, true, just” man to “A fiend” (156).

Something I noticed: the word “iron” was repeated several times throughout these past few chapters(I think 4 times): what does that mean?

"The Scarlet Letter" Ch 15-19

Y'all. There is so much to discuss here. 

    I'd like to think of this as sort of a Hester appreciation post, because these chapters finally center around her once again, and she shows us several times what an absolute queen she is. First of all, in chapter 15, we finally see her angry about something - she is downright seething about how much she hates Chillingworth, which...same. We've discussed a lot how, despite all the torture this town has put her through, she's kept a saint-like calmness and compassion, but personally I thought hearing that she hates a decidedly evil man very much humanized her and made me sympathize with her even more. Then, we see even more of her relationship with Pearl, and y'all, it's just so cute. Pearl is asking all these Pearl-ish questions about why the minister keeps his hand over his chest (I suspect Chillingworth knows, but we don't quite know yet) and why Hester wears the scarlet letter, and Hester has this whole internal discussion with herself about whether Pearl is old enough to know or not. It was just such a motherly moment for her; deciding Pearl is still too young, so making up the story about the Black Man in the forest to please her daughter. It made me love both of them all the more.

    And let's talk about Pearl for a second. We get a really good look into her in these chapters, and she's still just as much of an enigma. She is so perceptive and inquisitive, but also so..."odd" sounds harsh, but I just mean she's not a typical human child. For one thing, her connection with nature is so strong. We already know she's compared to birds a lot, but when she's playing with some birds on the beach and accidentally injures one, she sits down dejectedly because it "grieved her to have done harm to a little being that was as wild as the sea-breeze, or as wild as Pearl herself" (Hawthorne 161), it becomes especially obvious. Then, when Hester and Dimmesdale are having their DMC in the woods (more on that later), Hawthorne does this beautiful personification of the forest thing, describing how it "became the playmate of the lonely infant" (187), and how the flowers "whispered, as she passed, 'Adorn thyself with me, thou beautiful child, adorn thyself with me'" (188). My guess is that, because man has never really been able to truly understand or predict nature, we are supposed to intuit that we may never really understand Pearl.

    But back to the conversation between Hester and Dimmesdale. Y'all know I've had little patience for Dimmesdale. I think he should have fessed up a long time ago. But hearing how much he's being affected by this secret, and (with my newly rejuvenated respect for Hester and her compassion), I almost felt sorry for him and understood why Hester wasn't angry with him. Almost. But then he had to go and yell at her for admitting that Chillingworth was her husband and my sympathy disappeared. And then he has the temerity to make her solve his problem for him?? But anyway, we've all been asking why they didn't just run away, so I, for one, am quite pleased that they've decided to do just that.

To wrap up with a couple questions: how do y'all feel about their plan? What do you think is the symbolism behind Pearl's image being doubled in the brook during her little tantrum in the woods? Do you think Pearl will ever accept Dimmesdale as her father?

"The Scarlet Letter" Chapters 9-11

 I think my absolute favorite part of these chapters was how much dramatic irony there was. The town all thinks of Dimmesdale as a "godly youth" (Hawthorne 130) and a "saint on earth" (130), which is pretty darkly hilarious considering how they treat and think of Hester, who committed the same crime as Dimmesdale. Even when Dimmesdale tries to confess and explains what a terrible guy he is they just think of him as even more worthy of their reverence (pg 130)! These scenes are pretty funny to read because we're let in to Dimmesdale's secret through the clues that Hawthorne has given us throughout the book, and because the community is essentially painted as really stupid. They are literally praising a person who has committed a crime that (if they knew about it) would result in his social and religious expulsion from the community! It will be interesting to see what happens when/if the community finds out what Dimmesdale has done. 

I also think these chapters made me have a lot more sympathy for Dimmesdale than I had previously. A few chapters earlier, it was easy to be frustrated with him for not standing with Hester and bearing the weight of their actions together. However, after hearing that he does not confess his sins to the community because he thinks "no good can be achieved by them; no evil of the past redeemed by better service" (119) and this is leading to his "unutterable torment" (119), I now think of Dimmesdale as more selfless than selfish. My frustration is now more directed towards Chillingworth, whose evil is "[growing] still the more obvious to sight" (115) and who is trying to get vengeance on a man who so clearly in pain and already recognizes the mistake he has made. I can't be all that frustrated with Chillingworth for being mad (his wife did cheat on him), but he has let his need for vengeance consume him and is literally smiling (pg. 123) as he leaves Dimmesdale in incredible amounts of emotional pain. In my opinion, he could probably be a bit better of a person. Anyways, I'm open to hearing differing opinions of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth, but that was just my hot take after reading these chapters. 

"The Scarlett Letter" Chapters 5-8

 After reading these chapters, I first thought about how badly I felt for Pearl (she deserves better!!) and how much symbolism this book has because...wow.

Starting off strong in chapter 5, I thought it was extremely ironic that the townspeople loved Hester's work even though they initially scorned her for it because of how fancy she made her "A" on her clothes, and I thought it was interesting that they also thought her unworthy to be working on anything to do with weddings. It's almost as if they think they'll "catch" her sin or something, and for people that call themselves Christians, that seems pretty superstitious to me. All the work she does is very official and sterile, which is obviously boring and gives her no real joy. Also, she literally did a whole bunch of charity for people experiencing poverty and they basically turned their noses up at her...like what?? She is being so nice and trying to better herself and the least you can do is be grateful.

Next in chapter 6, I was honestly amazed at how long the author could talk about one person. Don't get me wrong, there was some great info, but it was kind of a lot. I felt bad for Pearl when I read this because the poor girl was being called an outcast and then she gets called "an imp of evil, emblem and product of sin, she had no right among christened infants" (84)" which seems a bit harsh to me. I also think that this is probably the narrator poking fun at the society in which Hester and Pearl live in because this child is maybe 3 years old (and so innocent) that people thinking those things about Pearl just seems ridiculous. 

In chapter 7, I saw a lot of interesting details about Bellingham and the way he lives, and I'm not entirely sure about what all of it means. His house is very much in the English style, even though he lives in the New World. Why does he choose to do this? His house is also extremely lavish, something I found very interesting considering his religion. I usually think of Christians as being much more low-key and not very attached to earthly possessions, instead living on the more humble side (maybe that's just me). I also feel like there has got to be some symbolism around the armor and Hester's reflection but I'm not totally sure what it could be. I think the dying garden maybe represents Bellingham's leadership of his town and how it's failing/not working the way he wants it to...let me know your thoughts. 

Finally, in chapter 8 I found it really ironic how even though Pearl is a physical manifestation of Hester's sin, Pearl literally saves her mother from sinning with Bellingham's sister (Mistress Hibbins) by doing witchy things: "Even thus early had the child saved her from Satan's snare" (105). It was also maddening to me to hear of Hibbins and her activities, especially how they were pretty well-known by the townspeople, yet they didn't make her an outcast. 

I know this is really long and I couldn't really cover everything, so here are some discussion questions: What do you think Bellingham's dying garden symbolizes as well as Hester's distorted reflection in the armor? Why do you think Chillingworth became so interested in who the father is after Pearl became so affectionate towards Dimmesdale? Do you think Chillingworth suspects Dimmesdale of fathering Pearl? Why do you think the townspeople were so interested in taking Pearl away from her mother?