Where Did All the Money Go?

Hello again! It is interesting to see how far I have come as a writer as this blogging project has progressed. Not only have I grown and matured as a writer, but so have my fellow bloggers in The Scarlet Reader. Unfortunately the Scarlet Letter has ended, so this is going to be my final blog on any more chapters. I would like to examine the reasoning behind Chillingworth’s decision to leave all of his money to Pearl, a girl that he did not bear with Hester. There are many reasons behind the reasoning for this but luckily for us, Hawthorne saved the best for last.

Chillingworth throughout the entire story has been seen as the devil, or an evil that is beyond human belief. Although most of this is true, Chillingworth still has a side of him that has been hidden until the very end of the novel, and this is regret. I believe that Chillingworth realizes that he is close to death so he begins to contemplate on decisions that he has made in the past, which ties in to my second blog post, The Thoughts Before Death. I think that Chillingworth is finally feeling true guilt for what he has done not only to Dimmesdale, but also to Hester and Pearl. This guilt is centered around his years of torturing Dimmesdale, and the years that he spent torturing Hester as well for the acts of brutality towards Dimmesdale. The only way in his mind to get rid of this guilt and cast away all of the horrible things he has done, is to leave all of his money to the one thing that is the reason for all of this, Pearl.

Chillingworth is a wise man, and it is stated and well known by the reader that he is a smart man in the community, so it is no surprise that after all of these years, he is finally realizing the wrong that he has done. He says that he wants to find the man for committing the horrible sin of adultery with his wife, but once he steps back and looks at the larger picture, he sees that he has committed sin as well. Therefore, it is perhaps a combination of guilt, the fear for perishing in Hell, and the final realization that his deeds were, indeed, quite evil that motivates Chillingworth to leave all of his money and properties to Pearl. Chillingworth wants Pearl to prosper and to forget about what has happened in the past and what she and the letter “A” stood for, so by giving her the money, this allows her to try to pursue a better life. This act of kindness and giving is something that Chillingworth hasn’t done in a very long time, but he feels as though this is the only way to cleanse himself of his wrong doings and his sins.

Chillingworth throughout the novel played a very interesting role. At first he was just a man in the crowd, a leach in society, and then in the end he was again a man in the crowd, but was a man that had changed into something evil. At times in our lives, we sometimes forget about the feelings of others and how our words and actions can affect the overall happiness of their character. Sometimes we all need to step back and think about things before they come out of our mouths, because what we say and do in life ultimately defines us as a person. So would you rather be a man like Chillingworth who treated others horribly and then came to the realization that what he was doing was wrong, only because he was dying? Or would you rather live a guilt free, happy life because you are satisfied every day with the way you treat others and the way others treat you?

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam, 1986. Print. Reissue 2003.

Now Why Would She Go Back?

Name: Paulina Smolinski

WordPress user name: paulinasmolinski

Blog Title: Scarlet Reader

This post focuses on Chapters 21-24

With the end of the novel approaching, I was reading the quite blunt conclusion that Hawthorne provides me. I was quite content with all of the results as they seemed to be coming all along. Dimmesdale’s death was almost inevitable considering the stress and anxiety the poor man had been enduring. One heart can only handle so much. Consequently, Chillingworth’s death was also foreseen considering the leech now has nothing to live off of. Chillingworth’s malice now does not have a direct object on which it can be placed, and he no longer has a reason to live.  I was terribly happy to hear that Pearl was going to scamper off with some aristocratic European and live in a little fairy tale (at least in my mind) after enduring a complex childhood. The little imp basically becomes a princess, so what happens to her queen? Oh, she goes back to the cursed area where she was first condemned because that makes sense. I was a tad annoyed with Hawthorne for trying to make Hester’s ending a poetic one instead of what I believe to be a realistic one. I personally thought that Hester would want to spend the rest of her life with the object of her love, Pearl. Then I took a step back and tried to view Hester the way Hawthorne presents her with this decision.

At this point in time, Hester identifies herself with the scarlet letter. It becomes part of her and the identity of herself that she has been brainwashed to believe. Somewhere inside her, Hester felt the need to “take up her long-forsaken shame” (Hawthorne 233). She wants to fulfill her life through charity in order to constantly work for the debt she believes her soul must pay for her sin. Therefore, she goes back to New England since “here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be here penitence” (Hawthorne 234). Hester was also spreading her charity work by counseling others who are dealing with sorrow. It is here that her soul is content and where she finds “a more real life . . . than in that unknown region where Pearl had found a home” (Hawthorne 234).

I found it interesting that Hawthorne mentions that Hester originally imagined herself as a “destined prophetess” who would reveal a new truth that would “establish the whole relation man and women on surer ground of mutual happiness” (Hawthorne 235). This ideology may have also pulled Hester back to the shores of the scarlet letter before she realized that she was mostly likely not pure or wise enough to be such a prophetess. Lastly, Dimmesdale may have something to do with Hester’s return. I like to imagine that she loved him enough that she wanted her final resting place to be right alongside his where they could share the burden of the sin for ages to come.  As “one tombstone served for both”,  I assume that this was her last wish (Hawthorne 235). Overall, after analyzing Hester’s reasoning for traveling back to the land of ignominy I begin to understand the at first incomprehensible actions.

Work Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Dell, 1850. Print.

The “Black Man” Finally Appears

Hello again my fellow bloggers, readers, and visitors to The Scarlet Reader. I have decided to examine today the symbolism and the story behind the Black Man in the Scarlet Letter. As the week has progressed, I have tried to draw connections between The Crucible and the Scarlet Letter and I have found many similarities that could connect the two books together. They are connected through objects such as the black book, and the idea of the devil and evil.

The Black Man is a symbol for Satan in this book, and Hester considers the scarlet letter “A” to be the Black Man’s mark on herself. At the same time, Pearl wonders if the Black Man left his mark on Dimmesdale’s heart as well, because she notices that he grasps it quite often. Hawthorne loves to compare Chillingworth to Satan as well. Chillingworth has been seen in the town both as a leach and as something more than evil, so it is no surprise that when this Black Man appears, Chillingworth is the first to be compared to him. But don’t you find it coincidental that Pearl says that the Black Man comes to make people sign his black book, while in The Crucible, we see young girls accuse innocent people in the town of signing the black book? The Puritans believed during this time period that witches and the devil were prominent in their society, so whenever something horrible went wrong, they would automatically accuse that person of being a witch, or being influenced by the devil. The Puritans like to use the Black Man as a symbol of all evil, making evil something separate from common human life. But, it seems as though Hawthorne does not agree with that statement.

Hawthorne, I believe, looks at the Black Man as someone who has set its mark on society in a positive way, and these marks are symbols of something good in society. These symbols I am referring to are the letter “A” on Hester’s dress and the unknown symbol on Dimmesdale’s chest. Both Hester and Dimmesdale committed a sin that for that time period was punishable, but I think Hawthorne looks at them as examples of how to accept sin and move on. The Black Man is nothing more than a representation of that sin and the mark that it has had on people’s lives. Society, on the other hand, looks at the Black Man as being the symbol of all evil and the devil, as seen through the comparison to Chillingworth. But in reality, he is nothing more than a mark on society.

So, I leave you all with this; to you, does the Black Man represent something more than just evil, or do you believe that it is up to you as the reader to distinguish whether the Black Man represents something good in society? To me, I think that he is a representation of people who dare to be something greater in life, people who go their own path and do what their heart desires. These are the people in life who will be most respected and most loved just like Hester Prynne is with the scarlet letter.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter.

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.

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.