Scarlet Letter Vokis

Hester Prynne

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"No man is so near to him as you. You tread behind his every footstep. You are beside him, sleeping and waking. You search his thoughts. You burrow and rankle in his heart! Your clutch is on his life, and you cause him to die daily a living death; and still he knows you not." (Hawthorne 167)

Arthur Dimmesdale

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"I, whose footsteps, as you suppose, leave a gleam along my earthly track, whereby the pilgrims that shall come after me may be guided to the regions of the blest--I who have laid the hand of baptism upon your children--I, who have breathed the parting prayer over your dying friends, to whom the Amen sounded faintly from a world which they had quitted-- I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am utterly a pollution and a lie!" (Hawthorne 140)

Pearl

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"Ask yonder old man whom thou hast been talking with! It may be he can tell. But in good earnest now, Mother dear, what does this scarlet letter mean?-- and why dost thou wear it on thy bosom?-- and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?"( Hawthorne 175)


Roger Chillingworth

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"I had spent the better part of the night at the bedside of the worshipful Governor Winthrop, doing what my poor skill might to go him ease. He going home to a better world, I, likewise, was on my way homeward, when this strange light shone out. Come with me, I beseech you Reverend Sir; else you will be poorly able to do Sabbath duty tomorrow. Aha! see now, how they trouble the brain-- these books!-- these books! You should study less, good Sir, and take a little pastime; or these night-whimseys will grow upon you." (Hawthorne 154)


Governor Bellingham

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"Hester Prynne there hath been much question concerning thee, of late. The point hath weightily discussed, whether we, that are of authority and influence, do well discharge our consciences by trusting an immortal soul, such as there is in yonder child, to guidance of one who hath stumbled and fallen amid the pitfalls of this world. Speak thou, the child's own mother!" (Hawthorne 106)

Scarlet Letter (Chapt 8-10)

    Chapter 8: In chapter 8 before the debate begins on whether or not Hester should be allowed to keep Pearl Governor Bellingham, Mr. Wilson, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, and Roger Chillingworth had entered the room. I think it is rude of them to start off by making fun of Pearl when Mr. Wilson says "What little bird of scarlet plumage may this be?... Or art thou one of those naughty elfs or fairies whom we thought to have left behind us, with other relics of Papistry, in merry old England?"( Hawthorne 105-106) After she says her name is Pearl he continues to suggest that her name should be Ruby, Coral, or Red Rose, and makes references to her mothers scarlet letter. I think it is kind of ironic that they want to take Pearl away from Hester because they think she is not going to be raised well enough when the people that want to take her away are already making fun of her and are not being good to her. I like that Hester later on starts to stick up for Pearl because before it was easy for her to keep quiet and mind her own business when people were making fun of Hester but when they threaten to take away Pearl she starts to yell and say that it is her right to keep her because God gave her Pearl. I also like that the minister agrees to let her keep Pearl and starts to side with Hester a little bit and says that if Pearl stays with her mother it will allow Pearl to learn from Hester's mistakes. I think Dimmesdale pitied Hester, but I think it is kind of weird that he sided and was somewhat nice to her all of a sudden, me thinks he is the baby daddy.
     Chapter 9: Throughout the whole chapter it explains Roger Chillingworth's past and since the only one that knows of his past it is easy for him to just go to a new town and say that he is a physician especially since there are not a lot of locals in the medical field. Since Dimmesdale started to get sick and is in very bad shape Chillingworth volunteers to live with him and take care of him. After a while they start to grow closer together and become closer friends. I feel like in a way Chillingworth could be taking advantage of the situation because if he becomes closer to Dimmesdale then it is possible and easy for Chillingworth to influence Dimmesdale's opinion especially when it comes to Hester's situation. Also if Dimmesdale dies Chillingworth its possible that he could take over Dimmesdale's position as a minister and if that happens he would have more control over Hester. Chillingworth has already shown that he is determined to find out who Pearl's father is so it would make sense for something like that to happen. At the end of the chapter it says "his expression had been calm, meditative, scholar-like. Now, there was something ugly and evil in his face which they had not previously noticed, and which grew still the more obvious to sight, the oftener they looked upon him."(Hawthorne 124) More people are questioning Chillingworth especially since they think that he is possessed by Satan or working for Satan. I'm not sure if that quote actually means he is becoming evil or going crazy or if he is just stressed out from trying to cure Dimmesdale and that the people are misinterpreting his expressions.
        Chapter 10: Chillingworth is now working harder on curing Dimmesdale of his sickness. The house they're staying in is right next to the graveyard and so Chillingworth takes some weeds and herbs that have grown on top of graves and turns them into medicine to give to Dimmesdale, I think its grody to the max that he does that. Then one day they hear Pearl outside playing in the graveyard and Hester is there too. I noticed that Pearl was dancing on some graves and to most people that would be disrespectful but I think because of her innocence she does not realize that. I noticed Hester was pretty quiet especially when she realized that Chillingworth and Dimmesdale were in the house next to them. Pearl says that there is a "Black man", which is Chillingworth, standing from the window and that he is about to capture the minister. People were questioning Chillingworth in chapter 9 saying that he was either possessed by Satan or is working for Satan and when Pearl describes him at the "Black man"it supports the fact that he may be becoming evil. At the end of the chapter Chillingworth goes up to Dimmesdale when he is in a deep sleep and took off his vestment. Dimmesdale's chest is exposed and Chillingworth is surprised, and shocked at what he sees. The chapter doesn't reveal what Chillingworth saw so now I'm wondering what it is that he saw. Earlier I said in Chapter 8 that I think Dimmesdale is the father because of how he sided with Hester earlier. So to me it would make sense for there to be a scarlet letter on his chest.

The Scarlet Letter (Chapter 4-7)

       Chapter 4: In the beginning of chapter 4 when Hester goes back into the prison Master Brackett had sent a physician to talk to Hester. At first when Hester came back to the prison I thought she would finally get some sort of relief since she's finally alone and there's no people staring at her and making bad comments at her. But to make matters worse the physician is actually her husband, which immediately puts Hester in an awkward position. It's especially awkward because the baby that she is holding is not her husbands child. It even says, after the book introduces the physician as Roger Chillingworth that "for Hester Prynne had immediately become as still as death, although the child continued to moan."(Hawthorne 68) So the quote even explains some of the fear that Hester has at the moment because she is unaware of what he is trying to do at the moment. Chillingworth offers Hester medicine and at first she refuses I think that shows that she lacks some trust in her husband since she thinks that he would try to hurt her. But when Chillingworth explains that the medicine is a potent for good I think it shows that a part of him wants to help her even though she has committed adultery. If this was any other husband they would not even think of trying to help out their wife who is accused of adultery and cheating on them, so this makes me wonder why would Chillingworth help Hester when most husbands would not. As the chapter goes on Chillingworth starts questioning Hester about who she committed adultery with and who the father of the baby is. Hester refuses to mention any names so he continues to say "There are none in this land that know me. Breathe not, to any human soul, that thou didst ever call me husband!" (Hawthorne 73) I think that later on in the story Hester's husband will play a much bigger role in the story and come back at some point as he tries to get some kind of justice and find out who the father of the baby is.

         Chapter 5: In chapter 5 I think it is good for Hester to live in that small cottage because it is pretty isolated and away from the townspeople who would continue to harass her if she had stayed in a more populated area. "Without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she, however, incurred even no risk of want." (Hawthorne 78)  When the author says "incurred even no risk of want." its not very straight forward so its kind of hard for me to understand what he is trying to say in that one part of the quote. But anyway I think what the author is trying to say is that no one wanted to see Hester not even her friends but at the same time that did not matter to her because she did not feel like seeing anyone. Basically a lot of the chapter talks about her needlework and about how that's pretty much all she does. After a while she starts to feel lonely and more and more ashamed of the adultery she committed. A lot of the feelings she has she keeps bottled up inside of her so I think eventually at some point she might feel frustrated enough that she reveals the father of the baby.
         Chapter 6: During chapter 6 I like how the author describes Pearl's innocence. So far Pearl is the only character that isn't judgmental of Hester mostly because she is young and does not know what kind of crime Hester committed. I think even as Pearl gets older and becomes wiser she still won't look at her mother any differently since thats the woman who raised her. Once Pearl starts to understand more of her mothers crime she may feel a little disappointed at first but it would be easy for her to look past that. A lot of times Pearl is described as a demon child and is expected to be just as corrupt as her mother but even Hester starts to realize that she is far from that. Pearl is and still can be a good person she just has always had a bad reputation ever since she was born. I started to realize that theres a lot of misconceptions against Pearl and many of them are wrong. I think chapter 6 also describes Pearls personality and that as she gets older and in the later chapters her traits will be much more expressed.
         Chapter 7: In chapter 7 Hester is headed to Governor Bellingham's mansion to give him a pair of gloves that she embroidered but she is also going to find out if the rumors of having Pearl taken away from her are true. If the rumor is true then I feel bad for Hester because she loves Pearl and Pearl is also the only one that doesn't judge her. I think its brave of Hester to be able to go back into town where she knows thats she will be harassed. But I also found interesting and also brave of Pearl was that when the local Puritan children saw the both of them they started to make fun of them and fling mud at them. Pearl immediately ran towards them and shooed/scared them away. When they ran away she quietly went back to her mother and smiled at her I think that part shows a lot of the love she has for her mother and it also shows that she's fearless and not afraid to stand up for herself and for the ones she loves. In the first chapter it mentioned a rosebush and I said that may have some symbolism or foreshadowing of something good in the later chapters. In this chapter the rosebush is mentioned again when Pearl sees rosebushes and started to cry for a red rose. I don't know if there is some kind of symbolism in that part or not but I just thought it was a coincidence.

Scarlet Letter (chapt 1-3)

     Scarlet Letter (chapt 1-3)

              The first chapter is mostly about describing the setting in the story which is the outside of a prison. Outside of the prison there is a crowd of people standing in front of the door waiting for someone to come out. I think the way the scene was described was depressing because even in the first sentence of the chapter it says "A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats,intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice , the door of which was heavily timbered with oak and studded with iron spikes." ( Hawthorne 45). The author describes that people were wearing sad-colored garments which obviously shows that not only is the scene depressing but so are the people. By the end of the chapter the author talks about a rosebush which is outside of the prison. I think the rosebush may be important because it could be a foreshadowing of something that will happen later in the story. The author says "It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow." (Hawthorne 46) The quote supports the fact that the rosebush may have some kind of foreshadow or symbolism.

            In the second chapter Hester Prynne comes out of the prison holding a baby. As she walks down the market place I kind of felt bad for her because people are staring at her and making bad comments about her. The way people reacted to her committing adultery is very different from the way people would react today. So I felt sorry for her that the locals did not mind their own business and made her the center of attention because of her wrongdoing. "Reminiscences, the most trifling and immaterial, passages of infancy and schooldays, sports, childish quarrels, and the little domestic traits of her maiden years, came swarming back upon her..." (Hawthorne 56) As Hester starts to think about her past she seems more relatable and I started to realize she was really just a regular person who happened to make mistake. At the end of the chapter Hester starts to realize her own reality and does not want to believe what is actually happening to her. She is in disbelief of the shame she has after reminiscing about how good her life used to be.

            In the beginning of chapter three while Hester is on the scaffold she sees a man dressed as a Native American and then the author says "When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air and laid it on his lips." (Hawthorne 58) Clearly these two characters know each other, but what I'm curious about is why the man is not revealing who he is and why he is wearing a disguise. From what I read it looks like he is trying to hide any kind of evidence that shows he knows Hester and has a past with her but eventually I think this character will play a big part in the story as it goes on.

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