A Nighttime Vigil?

As I enter into another week of writing blog posts, it seems to be getting easier to pick topics to write about that are suitable for an honors level class. At the beginning of all of this, I found it very hard, not only to find a topic, but to also develop my own ideas on how that topic may be relatable to the outside world, as well as students and teachers who may be reading this novel right now. When I first started off in this class, I did not believe that I was able to handle the work load and the skill level. But after reconciling, I realized that I had the skill and ability to do it. This “reconciling” is also seen through Dimmesdale’s vigil in the late hours of night. After not standing on the scaffold with Hester Prynne, he is now coming to realization of the horrible act that he has committed.

Throughout these last couple of chapters, Dimmesdale and Chillingworth have been talking heavily about sin, and it seems as though Chillingworth is becoming more and more suspicious of Dimmesdale’s past. At the same time, Dimmesdale is feeling the guilt inside building up, because he knows that what he has done to himself, as well as Hester, is something that cannot be ignored forever. It is ironic though that he decides to reconcile with God on the same place where Hester was announced her punishment seven years earlier. Is this because he feels as though in order to free his own sin, he must confront the very same pain that Hester felt years ago? Or is it because it is the only place where he can find privacy, even though it is in the middle of the town?

To me, Dimmesdale goes to the scaffold at night to avoid all of the commotion of the town during the day, but he also wants to avoid being caught by the townspeople and having them realize that he is the “secret man” who committed adultery with Hester. It is funny how even though he did this at night, still (ironically) Hester and Pearl walk up to him on their way home from the Governor’s funeral. Once in his presence, Pearl asks him a very simple question two times, “Will you stand with us at noon tomorrow?” Dimmesdale replies very simply with, “I will on the great judgement day” (Hawthorne 139). This comment is very simple and straight forward, but very complex at the same time. The “great judgement day” is referring to the puritan belief that once you die, God will judge you and decide if you are worthy to enter into heaven or hell. At the same time, he is also telling them that when that day comes, he will be there with both of them. This is because all three of them are the entities of adultery. You have Hester and Dimmesdale who are the ones who committed the act, and then you have Pearl, who is the byproduct of the actual sin. Therefore, when that final judgement day comes, all three of them will be judged together for the sin of which all of them are a part of. This vigil also had moments that were signs of God being present. The “A” comet that flashed across the sky made Dimmesdale realize that this sin will always be with him forever no matter how many times he reconciles. As we look back on this entire scene, I want you as the reader to take two things away from it. Even though Dimmesdale has held this vigil to look back and reconcile his sin, it will always be with him, and also, the scaffold is most likely going to have another large part in the upcoming scenes.

We all make mistakes in our lives that we are not happy with, but at the end of the day we as human beings react either negatively or positively to these situations. Even though Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale have committed this horrible sin, I applaud them for looking back on the situation, taking their punishments, and trying to move on. This is a hard lesson to learn in life. When you make these mistakes, do you just accept the outcome and live with it the rest of your life, or do you meet it face to face and conquer it right then and there? To me it shows much more of who you are if you accept it and stay strong.

Why a Scarlet Dress?

As we all look back at the previous chapters that we have read, there are many things to think about and bring together. Why does Hawthorne choose to explain what Hester Prynne has done since prison? And the biggest question of all is why did Hester dress Pearl in a scarlet dress with gold lacing? Many of the questions sprung up after these chapters were over, but Hawthorne uses Pearl as a living symbol of the scarlet letter. As you read this blog keep one thing in mind; Pearl is an example of love between two people, but unfortunately that love was through the act of adultery.

As the chapters begin, we start to learn how Pearl acts and what kind of person she is. She is smart, so she knows a lot of things that a girl of three should not know. She is rambunctious, because she likes to get under the skin of people. But what is not obvious is what Pearl is actually put in the novel to be. She is put in the novel as a reminder of Hester’s passion, but to Hester this reminder is very difficult to live with, while also wearing the letter “A” on her gown.

Hester hears that the governor may take Pearl away from her because she is “devilish” and “demon-like,” so Hester decides to go and plea her case as to why she should keep Pearl. But before they leave, she dresses Pearl in a scarlet dress with gold embroidered lace. Isn’t this exactly what her letter “A” looks like on her gown? It is, and it is not the first time that Hester has dressed her like that. Hester is going against what society believes about dress code, and she constantly dresses pearl in beautiful reds, golds, or both. With Pearl’s attire, Hester can give “the gorgeous tendencies of her imagination their full play,” designing her clothes “with fantasies and flourishes of gold-thread.” Physical descriptions of Pearl and the scarlet letter are pretty much interchangeable. She purposely does this to show the governor that no matter what threats he gives towards her, she will still live her life and accept the consequence of being reminded of that every day. From a very young age, Pearl has personified Hester committing adultery. As a baby she would reach for the scarlet letter, and as she has grown, she has always been interested in the letter upon her mother’s chest. When we are all babies, we pick up on things that interest us and then later in our lives, that interest in this case is the letter “A” on Hester’s gown.

Hester feels that having Pearl there every day of her life is also very difficult as wel1, because she is a constant reminder of the horrible act she has committed. Although at times Hester feels this way, that doesn’t take away from the fact that she loves her daughter and wants her to be with her for the rest of her life. It is like a mother conceiving a child and struggling to decide whether to keep the baby or put it up for adoption. It is very difficult. Although Hester is reminded of adultery through the letter “A” on her chest as well as through Pearl, she knows that it is now her entire life, and she will have to live with both of them with her until she dies.

So as I wrap up this blog, I think that it is important to recognize just how symbolic Pearl is in The Scarlet Letter. Not only does her embodiment capture the scarlet letter, but it also signifies the act that Hester had committed. Through the beautiful gowns she wears and the lacing of gold on each, Pearl emphasizes to the reader not only how important the scarlet letter is, but just how strong Hester Prynne is to take criticism and ridicule from her peers.

The Guilt… Then the Thoughts

As this past week has ended and a new one has begun, there have been a few moments that have made me connect my experiences to that of Hester Prynne. My mom told me to take the dog out. A few hours later I realized that I had forgotten to do the task that she had asked me to do earlier. A feeling of guilt spread all throughout my body, and I started to remember moments where I didn’t do a task correctly. This feeling of guilt is different for everybody. You may have not felt guilty if you had not taken your dog out. Just like Hester Prynne, her guilt was much deeper than just the guilt of not doing an everyday chore. Her guilt was shown to a town that knew everything that she had did, which is what leads me into this post.

“The scaffold of the pillory was a point of view that revealed to Hester Prynne the entire track along which she had been treading since her happy infancy” (Hawthorne). At this point, Hester Prynne is realizing that her life has a “track along which she had been treading,” which makes you believe that her whole entire life has been filled with angst and problems “since her happy infancy.” Those moments when you feel guilty, you think the world is over, and everything is out of your hands. This is exactly what Hester Prynne is coming in to fruition as she is standing on the scaffold. She is feeling out of control and lost because she knows that the act that she has committed is beyond anything that she has ever done before. She starts to look back on her entire life and see moments where she could have done something differently, and this is where her guilt comes from. Guilt is one thing that we as humans come in contact with every day of our lives. But now Hester will have to live with that guilt until the day she dies, through the letter “A” embroidered on her gown.

On top of remembering her childhood, she also recalls her parents’’ faces: her father’s “with his bald brow, and reverend white beard” and her mother’s, “with the look of heedful and anxious love” (Hawthorne). So when she thinks of the crime she has committed the images of her parent surface. Hester sees her mother’s face which is filled with “heedful” and “anxious love,” because her mother loves her, of course, but the word “anxious” could indicate her mother disapproving what her daughter has done, and the affect that it has had on Hester in society. Hester Prynne has probably always wanted to live up to both of her parents expectations, but after seeing the image of them in her head, she feels as though she has not. And she has every right to, because at this point in her life everything is going wrong, and her guilt is taking over. As she stands on the scaffold of the pillory, she is reminded of what she has done wrong, not only by the disapproving crowd, but also by the images of her past in her head. We all have tried to live up to our parent’s expectations but sometimes we fail.

Everyone fails in life, and everyone makes mistakes that they wish they could take back. But once someone has made that mistake, guilt always rears its ugly head and takes over their body. Hester Prynne realizes the horrible mistake that she has made, but she is excepting her punishment whole-heartedly. Many people feel guilty for different things and certain scenarios. For me I felt guilty for not taking my dog out and doing any chores that my mom asked me to do, but for someone else, those things may not bring guilt to them. Guilt kicks in over anything and everything, but it helps us to grow as a person. Hester Prynne is taking her punishment and her guilt, and is learning from it all just like we all should learn from our mistakes in life.

Before There Was a Scarlet Letter

As I have transitioned from a regular English class to an Honors English class, I have realized that the work load is both strenuous and tiresome. We, referring to my classmates last year, never had to analyze books and novels as in-depth as we have to this year. It seems as though every piece of work we are learning about revolves around Puritan themes and ideals, so when our teacher gave us The Scarlet Letter to dissect and read, there was no surprise that it revolved around Puritanism. But, the project that came with it, is not only interesting, but takes a different approach to writing that I have not experienced before. This time we are writing blog posts in an informal style that allows for my thoughts and opinions to be expressed in a metacognitive form. So, because I have been given the opportunity to research the book, I would like to look into other works of literature during this time period that may have affected or influenced the writing of The Scarlet Letter.

The Scarlet Letter stands out as a classic among the other works of time which include Melville’s Moby Dick, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. But many believe that The Scarlet Letter was written during the time period of American Literature known as Realism, but in truth it was written during the Romantic Period. To me when I hear the word “romantic” I think of a couple skipping through a meadow as dramatic music plays in the background, but after researching the literary time period I find that it is far from that. Romanticism emphasizes on three main points: inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. After taking a further look into a “true” romantic writer, I start to see many similarities between the works of Hawthorne a Melville, especially between The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick. Both Hawthorne and Melville were intrigued not only by each other’s pasts, but also through their writing styles. After hearing years ago that Melville actually dedicated Moby Dick to Hawthorne, I only thought that Hawthorne would do the same for Melville, which he did, in the novel The Scarlet Letter through the style of it. The Scarlet Letter was heavily influenced by Melville’s ideas, for instance, “the outside world through the eyes of the common man” (Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics). It is interesting that the main character in Moby Dick, Ishmael, “carries with him the Puritan tendency to focus on objects in the material world that are physically marked. In so doing, he manifests the Puritan epistemology in which social behavior is analogous to the inner scrutiny of meditation but at the same time here moves himself from the community within which the Puritans of Hawthorne’s novel create and contain their identity”  (Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics). The works of Melville were later said to be “one of the many reasons why I [Hawthorne] became a writer” (Moby Dick and the Letter A).

After examining the different works of literature during this time period, I have come across another writer who had seemed to have had a very strong link with Hawthorne’s works: Edgar Allen Poe. You must be thinking to yourself, “Chris, are you sure that one of the most intense authors of all time can be linked with Nathaniel Hawthorne?” Well, let me put it simply, yes. Both Hawthorne and Poe wrote about the human condition and human nature in a way that few other writers of the time period did. At first glance, one would think that Hawthorne was not a writer who was heavily influenced by the sin, guilt and morbidity (Valella, Rob), but it is said that he was considered to be a “Dark Romantic.” This was first seen in his early works as an author.

So, hopefully you have gotten to this part of my blog and have understood the effects of  the literary time period on the book The Scarlet Letter, but if you had decided to stop halfway because you believed this to be “too boring,” then I am sorry that I had wasted a minute of your time. But in all, Hawthorne was a man who believed that in order for a one to be successful, you must look to the past. He did exactly that, and by doing so, he wrote one of the most influential books in American literary history.

Works Cited

“Romanticism”. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

“Moby Dick and the Letter A.” Canonical Thoughts. N.p., 02 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

“Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics.” Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics

(n.d.): 49-91. Ohio State Press. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Valella, Rob. “Hawthorne and Melville.” HAWTHORNE AND MELVILLE. N.p., n.d. Web. 25

Feb. 2015.