The Scarlet Letter Chapters 8-­‐11 Discussion Notes *Note: page numbers in black are from the version the Tack Room sold with this cover: Page numbers in RED are from the hard-­‐back version I checked out to you. Chapter 8 – “The Elf-­‐Child and the Minister” Page 102 85 – Narrator’s description of the change in Chillingworth’s appearance Page 103 85-­‐86 – Why Hester wants to keep Pearl, and her plea for Dimmesdale to speak up for her (more dramatic irony – “thou…knowest me better than these men can”) Pages 104-­‐106 86-­‐87– Dimmesdale’s (successful) argument why Hester should keep Pearl: • “God gave her the child…” • “…to preserve her from blacker depths of sin into which Satan might else have sought to plunge her” • For her salvation (“if she bring the child to heaven, the child also will bring its parent thither!”) Pearl’s reaction to Dimmesdale shows unwonted tenderness, kindness (again, more dramatic irony) Page 106 88 – What the ministers say when Chillingworth wants to “give a shrewd guess at the father” – “It would be sinful… unless Providence reveal it of its own accord” Final four paragraphs (pages 106-­‐107 88-­‐89): Hibbins’s offer to Hester, and why she refuses Chapter 9 – “The Leech” Page 109 91-­‐92– Why people believe Dimmesdale is sick (paragraph begins “This learned stranger…”) Page 113 94-­‐95– “So Roger Chillingworth – the man of skill, the kind and friendly physician – strove to go deep into his patient’s bosom, delving among his principles, prying into his recollections… Few secrets can escape an investigator, who has opportunity and license to undertake such a quest, and skill to follow it up. A man burdened with a secret should especially avoid the intimacy of his physician.” Pages 115-­‐117 96-­‐98-­‐ Final three paragraphs of the chapter – Conflicting views of Chillingworth – while many believe his presence and proximity to Dimmesdale is a blessing and a gift from God, others are skeptical (seen him before in England; think her performs dark arts; believe him to be the devil’s messenger or the devil himself) Chapter 10 – “The Leech and His Patient” Hawthorne uses figurative language in this chapter to insinuate Chillingworth’s behavior as sinful and traitorous: Paragraph one (Page 117 99) – “He now dug into the poor clergyman’s heart, like a miner searching for gold, or rather, like a sexton delving into a grave, possibly in quest of a jewel that had been buried on the dead man’s bosom…” • “Like a miner searching for gold” – Comparing C. to a miner indicates his greed, which is one of the seven deadly sins. • “Like a sexton delving into a grave…” – A sexton is a grave-­‐digger. Comparing C. to this – especially as a gravedigger not merely doing his job, but looking for jewels – shows his avarice and irreverence, as disrupting and desecrating graves is a timeless offense. Paragraph four (Page 118 99-­‐100) – Hawthorne compares Chillingworth’s snooping around Dimmesdale’s room to that “[of] a thief” – now the insinuation is how C’s behavior is criminal, which certainly echoes the thoughts of the ministers at the end of Chapter 8. Page 122 103– Pearl’s insightfulness when she sees D and C watching her, she tells her mother, “Come away, mother… or yonder old Black Man will catch you! He hath got hold of the minister already. Come away, mother, or he will catch you! But he cannot catch little Pearl!” C spends much of this chapter trying to get D to confess his secrets. D’s indignation at this appears on page 124 105: “Who are thou, that meddles in this matter? – that dares thrust himself between the sufferer and his God?” Page 126 106– final two paragraphs of the chapter -­‐ while we do not know what C sees on D’s chest while he sleeps, his reaction to it is like “how Satan comports himself when a precious human soul is lost to heaven and won into his kingdom.” Whatever he sees, it seems to solidify his certainty that Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl. Chapter 11 – “The Interior of a Heart” -­‐ A Summary Chillingworth uses his physical proximity to the minister to continue to toy with him, playing mind games with the intention of making Dimmesdale feel guilty. Dimmesdale doesn’t like or trust Chillingworth but does not make the connection that he manipulates him. Although Dimmesdale remains frail, his physical suffering has not limited his ability to preach, and his sermons on sinfulness move his parishioners. He longs to confess his own sins, but he cannot bring himself to do so. He is wracked with guilt; he does not sleep, and he’s starting to see things. He struggles to read the Bible, and he has even taken to hurting himself – whipping himself, fasting, and keeping vigils. The chapter concludes with his decision to keep one of his midnight vigils in the same place where Hester suffered her guilt so publicly – on the scaffold.