The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 1
Reading Notes
•
Basic plot
 Understand what’s going on. (No more than 8 bullet points.)
•
Romantic/Transcendentalist Tenets
 Could be aligned with those or complete opposite.
•
Gothic Tenets
 Think about the aesthetic images we talked about.
•
The letter “A”
 How it’s described, how it changes, where it shows up, etc.
•
Symbols
 Weird image? Overly descriptive? Look for deeper meaning.
The Prison Door
“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” (42)
The Thesis!
Puritan Punishments
•
Public shaming
•
Whipping post
•
Wearing a sign
•
Branding
•
Dunking stool
•
Pillory or Stocks
“as befitted a people amongst whom
religion and law were almost
identical, and in whose character
both were so thoroughly interfused,
that the mildest and severest acts of
public discipline were alike made
venerable and awful” (43)
Remember The Crucible? This is a theocracy.
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 2
The Market Place
•
Form groups of 3-4
•
Identify at least 3 important ideas or details from the
chapter. Include direct quotes and page numbers.
 They can be about anything, but go beyond basic plot.
 Character descriptions, Symbolism, the letter “A”, Puritan
environment, Transcendental ideas, Gothic connections, etc.
•
Use your books and any Reading Notes you took.
•
Each group will be asked to share.
Puritan Women
The Town Gossips
The women who condemn:
•
“hard-featured dame of fifty” (44)
•
“autumnal matron” (45)
•
•
Their suggested punishments:
•
“brand of hot iron” (45)
“the ugliest as well as the most
pitiless of these self-constituted
judges” (45)
•
“The woman has brought shame
upon us all, and ought to die” (45)
“the most iron-visage of the old
dames” (47)
•
“It were well…if we stripped
Madam Hester’s rich gown off her
dainty shoulders” (47)
A Point of Pity
The one who pities Hester:
Her suggestion:
•
“’Ah, but,’ interposed, more softly,
a young wife, holding a child by
the hand” (45)
•
“let her cover the mark as she
will, the pang of it will be always
in her heart” (45)
•
“their youngest companion” (47)
•
“Not a stitch in that embroidered
letter, but she has felt it in her
heart” (47)
Hester Prynne - Appearance
•
“a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale” (46)
•
“She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the
sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful
from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the
impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes” (46)
•
“She was ladylike, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of
those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than
by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace, which is now
recognized as its indication” (47)
•
“her beauty shone out and made a halo of the misfortune and
ignominy in which she was enveloped. It may be true that, to a
sensitive observer, there was something exquisitely painful in it” (47)
Hester Prynne - Reactions
•
“The unhappy culprit sustained herself as best a woman might,
under the heavy weight of a thousand unrelenting eyes, all fastened
upon her and concentred at her bosom” (50)
•
“she felt, at moments, as if she must needs shriek out with the full
power of her lungs and cast herself from the scaffold down upon the
ground, or else go mad at once” (50)
•
“she turned her eyes downward at the scarlet letter, and even
touched it with her finger, to assure herself that the infant and the
shame were real. Yes! – these were her realities – all else had
vanished!” (52)
The Scarlet Letter
•
“in fine red cloth surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and
fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter ‘A’” (46)
•
“so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy” (46)
•
“that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated
upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the
ordinary relations with humanity and enclosing her in a sphere by
herself” (47)
•
“the letter ‘A’ in scarlet, fantastically embroidered with gold thread,
upon her bosom!” (52)
The Baby
•
“one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another” (46)
•
“a baby of some three months old”
•
“who winked and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of
day; because its existence, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only
with the gray twilight of a dungeon” (46)
“should remind him, indeed, but only by contrast,
of that sacred image of sinless motherhood” (49)
Hester Prynne
Madonna & Child
Public Shaming
•
“Mistress Prynne shall be set where man, woman and child may
have a fair sight of her brave apparel” (48)
•
“A blessing on the righteous Colony of the Massachusetts, where
iniquity is dragged out into the sunshine!” (48)
•
“as if her heart had been flung into the street for them all to spurn
and trample upon” (48)
•
“[scaffold] stood nearly beneath the eaves of Boston’s earliest church,
and appeared to be a fixture there” (48)
•
Dignitaries, “all of whom sat or stood in a balcony of the meeting
house, looking down upon the platform” (50)
The Old Scholar
•
“another countenance, of a man well stricken in years, a pale, thin,
scholarlike visage, with eyes dim and bleared by the lamplight that
had served them to pore over many ponderous books. Yet those same
bleared optics had a strange, penetrating power, when it was their
owner’s purpose to read the human soul” (51)
•
“This figure of the study and the cloister, as Hester Prynne’s
womanly fancy failed not to recall, was slightly deformed, with the
left shoulder a trifle higher than the right” (51)
Gothic References
•
“Possibly it was an instinctive device of her spirit to relieve itself, by
the exhibition of these phantasmagoric forms, from the cruel weight
and hardness of the reality” (51)
•
“her paternal home; a decayed house of gray stone, with a povertystricken aspect, but retaining a half-obliterated shield of arms over
the portal, in token of antique gentility” (51)
•
“a new life, but feeding itself on time-worn materials, like a tuft of
green moss on a crumbling wall” (52)
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 3
Whom does Hester recognize?
•
“a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilized and
savage costume” (53)
 What does this combination suggest about the character?
•
Physical description
 “furrowed” brow from studying. Older but not super old.
 Deformed – one shoulder rises higher than the other
 Highly intellectual. Like scary smart.
•
"A writing horror twisted itself across his features, like a
snake gliding swiftly over them" (54)
 What do snakes usually symbolize? Why is Hawthorne associating
this man with snakes as well as the "savage"?
Backstory!
•
Hester was born in England, married to "a certain
learned man" (55), and moved with him to Amsterdam.
•
Then the husband decided they should go to America.
 Sent Hester ahead, and he planned to join her later.
 But...it's been 2 years, and he never showed.
•
As the townsperson suggests, this means Hester has been
"left to her own misguidance" (55)
 What does the husband's absence suggest about Hester's
adultery? What is one reason her punishment isn't too
harsh?
What does the Stranger want to know?
•
He and Hester seem to recognize each other, but he acts
like he doesn't know her. (54)
•
The stranger approves of Hester's punishment: "Thus she
will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious
letter be engraved upon her tombstone" (56)
•
He also doesn't like that the baby's father remains hidden:
 "It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity
should not, at least, stand on the scaffold by her side. But he
will be known! - he will be known! - he will be known!" (56)
 What is he doing in the final line?
The Town Leaders
•
These men don't get Hester: "wise and virtuous persons
who should be less capable of sitting in judgment on an
erring woman's heart" (57)
 Like the old ugly women of Ch 2, they're too disconnected
from the feelings of a young passionate women
 What feelings or ideologies are being divided here? What
groups do we have represented?
•
They're placed physically above Hester, looking down on
her from a balcony.
 What does this suggest about their position in society
compared to hers?
Reverend Master Dimmesdale
•
He argues for Hester's feelings:
 "that it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her
to lay open her heart's secrets in such broad daylight" (58)
•
Also very intelligent, but in a more feeling-based way:
 "a mouth which, unless when he forcibly compressed it, was
apt to be tremulous, expressing both nervous sensibility and
a vast power of self-restraint" (59)
•
He keeps to the shadows. And his name is Dimmesdale.
 "he trod in the shadowy bypaths, and thus kept himself
simple and childlike, coming forth, when occasion was, with a
freshness, and fragrance, and dewy purity of thought" (59)
What does Dimmesdale ask of Hester?
•
Dimmesdale asks Hester to name the father
 "though he were to step down from a high place, and stand there
beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than
to hide a guilty heart through life" (59)
 "thou deniest to him- who, perchance, hath not the courage to
grasp it for himself – the bitter, but wholesome, cup that is now
presented to thy lips!" (60)
•
When she refuses:
 "Mr. Dimmesdale, who, leaning over the balcony, with his hand
upon his heart, had awaited the result of his appeal" (61)
 "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart!" (61)
How do Hester and the Baby respond?
•
The baby reaches up to Dimmsdale:
 "for it directed its hitherto vacant gaze towards Mr. Dimmesdale,
and held up its little arms, with a half pleased, half plaintive
murmur" (60)
 Um...why?
•
Hester refuses
 "And would that I might endure his agony, as well as mine!" (60)
 "And my child must seek a heavenly Father, she shall never know
an earthly one!" (60)
 Why do you think Hester is so firm in this refusal?
 What does it suggest about her character?
Details about the “A”
•
At the suggestion that the letter could be removed:
 "It is too deeply branded. Ye cannot take it off" (60)
 Is the "A" just an outward symbol for Hester?
•
Mr. Wilson uses Hester and the letter as symbols of sin:
 "it assumed new terrors in their imagination, and seemed to
derive its scarlet hue from the flames of the infernal pit" (61)
 What is Hawthorne referencing here?
 "It was whispered, by those who peered after her, that the
scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passageway
of the interior" (61)
 What would it mean for the "A" to reflect light? Why would it
shed light within the prison?
•
Why would it be disastrous for the town for Dimmesdale to be the
guilty father? Why is this inconceivable for the Puritans?
•
Does Hester recognize this danger? Why else does she refuse to name
the father? What strength does she have?
•
3 month old baby reaching up? The baby is a symbol!
•
First scaffold = Hester's
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 4
Request & Reaction in Ch 3
•
Dimmesdale asks Hester to name the father of her baby
 "though he were to step down from a high place, and stand
there beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it
so, than to hide a guilty heart through life" (59)
•
The baby reacts by looking at and reaching up toward
Dimmesdale.
•
But Hester refuses to reveal him.
•
Dimmesdale admires her refusal
 "Mr. Dimmesdale, who, leaning over the balcony, with his
hand upon his heart, had awaited the result of his
appeal" (61)
 "Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart!" (61)
References to Light in Ch 3
•
Dimmesdale keeps to the shadows:
 "he trod in the shadowy bypaths, and thus kept himself
simple and childlike, coming forth, when occasion was, with a
freshness, and fragrance, and dewy purity of thought" (59)
 What does this suggest about Dimmesdale?
•
The “A” at the end of the chapter:
 "It was whispered, by those who peered after her, that the
scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passageway
of the interior" (61)
 What would it mean for the "A" to reflect light? Why would it
shed light within the prison?
On Revenge
•
Read the essay. Annotate as you read.
•
Then discuss as a group:
 How does the writer of this essay feel about revenge?
 According to the essay, what are some consequences of
seeking revenge?
 What would it be better to do instead?
•
In your symbols packets, read the description of the
Romantic Villain.
 What are two ways you can recognize a Romantic Villain?
 What are they usually seeking?
Chapter 4 – The Interview
•
In your groups, work through the provided worksheet.
 Discuss each question as a group.
 DO NOT just have one person write down the answers with
no one participating.
 Several questions ask you to find quotes from the reading.
Roger Chillingworth
•
The stranger who appeared in the crowd.
•
Claims to be a doctor (physician)
 Comes in to help sooth Hester and the baby.
•
Referred to as “the leech” (64)
 Was a known name for doctors because they sometimes used
leeches to suck bad blood out of people.
 What might it suggest about how Chillingworth will act
toward others in the future?
Poison?
•
How does he handle the baby?
 “What should ail me, to harm this misbegotten and miserable
babe? The medicine is potent for good; and were it my child – yea,
mine own, as well as thine! – I could do no better for it” (64)
•
How does Hester react to him?
 “ a gaze that made her heart shrink and shudder, because so
familiar, and yet so strange and cold” (64)
 “I have thought of death…have wished for it…Yet, if death be in
this cup, I bid thee think again” (64)
It was wrong for them to marry
•
“It was my folly, and thy weakness. I – a man of thought,
the bookworm of great libraries – a man already in decay,
having given my best years to feed the hungry dream of
knowledge – what had I to do with youth and beauty like
thine own!” (65)
•
“Nay, from the moment when we came down the old
church steps together, a married pair, I might have
beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at the
end of our path!” (65)
•
“Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy budding
youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay”
(66)
Chillingworth hoped to possess
Hester
•
“It seemed not so wild a dream – old as I was, and somber
as I was, and misshapen as I was – that the simple bliss,
which is scattered far and wide for all mankind to gather
up, might yet be mine” (66)
•
“I find here a woman, a man, a child, amongst whom and
myself there exist the closest ligaments. No matter
whether of love or hate; no matter whether of right or
wrong! Though and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me”
(67)
If nothing else, Hester is honest
•
“thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love,
nor feigned any” (66)
•
But…she agrees to hide Chillingworth’s identity.
 “Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of
my soul?” (68)
What revenge does Chillingworth
want?
•
“Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do
better for my object than to let thee live – than to give thee
medicines against all harm and peril of life – so that this
burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom?” (64)
•
“I seek no vengeance, plot no evils against thee. Between thee
and me, the scale hangs fairly balanced” (66)
What will Chillingworth do to the
baby’s father?
•
“But, Hester, the man lives who has wronged us both!
Who is he?” (66)
•
“I shall seek this man as I have sought truth in books, as
I have sought gold in alchemy. There is a sympathy that
will make me conscious of him” (66)
•
“Think not that I shall interfere with Heaven’s own
method of retribution, or, to my own loss, betray him to
the gripe of human law. Neither do thou imagine that I
shall contrive aught against his life…Let him live!...Not
the less he shall be mine!” (67)
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 5
Hester’s Future
•
How can Hester go forward with her life?
 “Tomorrow would bring its own trial with it; so would the
next day, and so would the next; each its own trial” (69)
•
So why does she stay where she will be miserable?
 “Here, she said to herself, had been the scene of her guilt,
and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment” (71)
 “There dwelt, there trod the feet of one with whom she
deemed herself connected in a union…the passionate and
desperate joy which she seized” (71)
True Charity
•
“Men do what is called a good action, as some piece of
courage or charity, much as they would pay a fine…Their
works are done as an apology” (Emerson 22)
•
“I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself
and not for a spectacle. I much prefer that it should be of
a lower strain, so it be genuine and equal, than that it
should be glittering and unsteady” (Emerson 22)
Hester’s Penance
•
What does Hester do for the people of the town? How does
she earn a living?
 “She bore on her breast, in the curiously embroidered letter,
a specimen of her delicate and imaginative skill of which the
dames of a court might gladly have availed themselves” (72)
 “her handiwork became what would now be termed the
fashion” (72)
•
Does she only work for the fashionable?
 “Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity” (74)
 “she employed in making coarse garments for the poor” (74)
Her Repayment
•
What do the poor do in response?
 “wretches less miserable than herself, and who not
unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them” (74)
•
How do the rich treat her?
 “Dames of elevated rank…were accustomed to distil drops of
bitterness into her heart” (75)
 Through “quiet malice” or “coarser expression,” everyone
Hester works for also insults her
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 6
That little creature
•
“that little creature, whose innocent life had sprung, by
the inscrutable decree of Providence, a lovely and
immortal flower, out of the rank of luxuriance of a guilty
passion” (79)
 What does it mean that the baby “had sprung…of a guilty
passion”? What would the Puritans think this meant?
 But…Hawthorne also calls her “a lovely and immortal
flower”. What feelings do we get from this image?
 Emerson said “What pretty oracles nature yields us on this
text, in the face and behavior of children, babes, and even
brutes!” (20). What did the Transcendentalists think about
the nature of children?
Quivering sunshine
•
“How strange it seemed to the sad woman as she watched
the growth, and the beauty that became every day more
brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering
sunshine over the tiny features of this child!” (79)
 If the baby is bathed in “sunshine,” what does that suggest
about her? Remember how in Ch 2 she blinked in the sunshine
after being originally trapped in shadows?
 If the baby fits the Allegory of the Cave, who is she bringing
knowledge to? What kind of knowledge?
 Basically, the baby is more than just a baby.
Brilliant beauty
•
“How strange it seemed to the sad woman as she watched
the growth, and the beauty that became every day more
brilliant, and the intelligence that threw its quivering
sunshine over the tiny features of this child!” (79)
 Sure being smart can help us in life, but does it also come with
responsibility? What about people who misuse intelligence?
 How do gods and authority figures tend to react when humans
gain too much intelligence?
 But…the baby also has beauty and growth. We just said the
Romantics view children as being connected with nature and
are therefore hopeful.
 So…is the baby a Puritan token of sin or a Transcendental
symbol of inspiration?
Only treasure
•
Why did Hester name the baby “Pearl”?
 But, though she denies it, what does the name also evoke?
 So, Pearl is both a costly sin and a brightly beautiful jewel. Then
is she Puritan or Transcendental?
•
Remember in Ch 2: “one token of her shame would but
poorly serve to hide another” (46)
 The two results of Hester’s affair are baby Pearl and the letter
“A”, which suggests that the two are probably linked.
 How does Hester clothe both Pearl and the “A”?
 But if they’re tokens of shame, how can they also be beautiful?
Plaything of angels
•
“the infant was worthy to have been brought forth in Eden;
worthy to have been left there; to be the plaything of the
angels, after the world’s first parents were driven out” (80)
 If Hawthorne calls Pearl a baby of Eden, then her parents
would be Adam and Eve. But…Hester and her lover are sinners!
 Even Hester says so: “She knew that her deed had been evil; she
could have no faith, therefore, that its result would be for good”
(79). But what if she’s just stuck in her Puritan background?
 But…how do we define sin? Is it something that hurts others?
Something that goes against the church? Which church?
 What if our capacity to sin is natural to who we are and
therefore has its own beauty?
Understanding Pearl
•
Pearl is linked to the “A”, therefore she is also a symbol.
To understand what she symbolizes, pay attention to how
Hawthorne describes her and what he compares her to.
•
Light:
 “there was an absolute circle of radiance around her on the
darksome cottage floor” (80)
•
Nature:
 “wild-flower prettiness” (80)
 “a stick, a bunch of rags, a flower – were the puppets of
Pearl’s witchcraft” (84)
Pearl’s Passion
•
“In giving her existence, a great law had been broken,
and the result was a being whose elements were perhaps
beautiful and brilliant, but all in disorder” (80)
 Now Pearl herself resists being controlled.
 Is it bad or good to break laws through individual choice?
•
“The mother’s impassioned state had been the medium
through which were transmitted to the unborn infant the
rays of its moral life” (81)
 Where is Pearl getting her passion from?
 So if she’s a symbol, whose passion is she representing?
 Take note of when Hester is described as being passionate.
So what is Pearl?
•
Right now we’re not sure. So pay attention to the
different things Hawthorne compares her to, and
remember it will likely be a combination of ideas.
•
Hester herself isn’t sure: “O Father in Heaven – if Thou
art still my Father – what is this being which I have
brought into the world!” (85)
•
She’s associated with light and nature, but she has black
eyes and acts like an “imp” or “sprite” creature.
Pearl’s Purpose
•
“she amused herself with gathering handfuls of wildflowers and flinging them, one by one, at her mother’s
bosom, dancing up and down like a little elf whenever she
hit the scarlet letter” (86)
 What do flowers symbolize? What does it mean for Pearl to
be using that to cover up or attack the symbol of shame?
•
“’He did not send me!’ cried she, positively. ‘I have no
Heavenly Father!’…’It is thou that must tell me!’” (87)
 If she denies she comes from God, then which group does she
seem to be rejecting?
 What would it mean for Hester to choose where Pearl comes
from? How might this affect what Pearl’s purpose is?
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 7 & 8
The Governor's House
•
It's been 3 years since Pearl's birth and
Hester's punishment.
•
Puritan leaders are discussing taking Pearl
away from Hester so the child can be raised
"properly".
•
Hester has come to the House to defend her
right to motherhood, and while she's there we
get important hints about several characters.
John Winthrop with
a fabulous ruff!
Group Work
1.
You should find each quote in your book and take note of
important discussion points in your own notes.
2.
For each quote, discuss:
a. What is the context of the quote? What's going on here?
b. Any symbolism or Puritan/Transcendental/Gothic
elements? Notice what ideas are being compared. How are
ideas connecting together?
c. Why is it important to the story? What idea does it
reinforce? What development does it reveal?
3.
Take note of important ideas, and prepare to share!
Dimmesdale in Shadow
“The young minister…stood with his face partially
concealed in the heavy folds of the window curtain, while
the shadow of his figure, which the sunlight cast upon the
floor, was tremulous with the vehemence of his appeal.
Pearl, that wild and flighty little elf, stole softly towards
him, and taking his hand in the grasp of both of her own,
laid her cheek against it; a caress so tender” (103)
Wait a second…
•
This house is filled with light. Meaning what will be
shown here?
•
Dimmesdale is standing in shadows. Symbolically, this
suggests what?
•
What did Chillingworth swear he would do to get revenge?
•
Now he’s hanging out with Dimmesdale.
•
And how does Dimmesdale look under Chillingworth’s
treatment?
Wait a second…
•
What do we know about Dimmesdale’s appearance?
•
He’s young, attractive, and sensitive. So is Hester.
•
What do we know about Hester and Dimmesdale’s
relationship prior to her getting in trouble?
•
Hester had an old, creepy husband she didn’t love and
who had been gone for two years.
•
Dimmesdale keeps grabbing his heart. What on Hester is
positioned over her heart?
Wait a second…
•
How has Pearl reacted to Dimmesdale? Once on the
scaffold, and now after his defense of Hester.
•
On the scaffold, Dimmesdale said that the father could
“step down from a high place, and stand there beside
thee” WHILE he was on a balcony above her (59).
•
So what you’re saying is…
•
DIMMESDALE’S THE FATHER!
So…
•
Why has Hester kept Dimmesdale a secret?
•
How would it impact the Puritan community to learn that
one of their impressive, inspirational, seemingly-pure
leaders who was going to help them build a “city on a hill”
and survive the wilderness was actually a lying sinner?
•
But why didn’t Dimmesdale fess-up himself?
The Scarlet Letter
Chapters 9 & 10
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 11
Outward Manifest – Ch 10
•
“A bodily disease…may, after all, be but a symptom of
some ailment in the spiritual part” (121)
 Connection between inward feelings and outward look
•
“Had a man seen old Roger Chillingworth, at that
moment of his ecstasy, he would have had no need to ask
how Satan comports himself when a precious human soul
is lost to heaven and won into his kingdom” (124)
 Hawthorne never specifically tells us what is on
Dimmesdale’s chest, but Chillingworth sees it as evidence
 Chillingworth is definitely Satan, and he’s hella creepy
Chillingworth’s Revenge
•
“All that guilty sorrow, hidden from the world, whose great
heart would have pitied and forgiven, to be revealed to
him, the Pitiless, to him the Unforgiving! All that dark
treasure to be lavished on the very man to whom nothing
else could so adequately pay the depth of vengeance!” (125)
•
“Even if I imagine a scheme of vengeance, what could I do
better for my object than to let thee live…so that this
burning shame may still blaze upon thy bosom?” (64)
 Chillingworth is going to make sure Dimmesdale feels the full
effect of guilt over his sin.
 Notice that the impact of the sin is not that it happened, but
that Dimmesdale can’t get forgiveness for it.
Evil Influence
•
“He became, thenceforth, not a spectator only, but a chief
actor in the poor minister’s interior world” (126)
•
“As at the waving of a magician’s wand, uprose a grisly
phantom – uprose a thousand phantoms – in many
shapes, of death, or more awful shame, all flocking round
about the clergy-man, and pointing their fingers at his
breast!” (126)
 Chillingworth begins to torture Dimmesdale’s feelings
 Gothic images! = ghosts, phantoms, demons, shadowy
figures, the not-quite-real, decayed, undead
 These all show the increased tensions and feelings
Sympathetic Knowledge
•
“But this very burden it was that gave him sympathies so
intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind; so that
his heart vibrated in unison with theirs, and received
their pain into itself, and sent its own throb of pain
through a thousand other hearts, in gushes of sad,
persuasive eloquence” (128)
•
“it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in
other hearts. She was terror-stricken by the revelations
that were thus made” (76)
 Hester and Dimmesdale are both able to recognize they are
not the only sinners.
 But neither considers what that means for their Puritan
society or questions why they are the ones being punished.
A Promise Made
•
“The virgins of the church grew pale around him, victims
of a passion” (128)
•
“unless…he had selected some one of the many blooming
damsels, spiritually devoted to him, to become his
devoted wife” (112)
•
“And now…glided Hester Prynne, leading along Pearl in
her scarlet garb” (130)
 Why hasn’t Dimmesdale married one of the good, pure girls
from the town, as people have wanted him to?
 Does he feel unworthy of them?
 Or does he already feel bound to Hester?
From the Pulpit
•
“it must needs be better for the sufferer to be free to show
his pain, as this poor woman Hester is, than to cover it all
up in his heart” (120)
•
“then what was he? – a substance? – or the dimmest of all
shadows? He longed to speak out from his own pulpit at
the full height of his voice, and tell the people what he
was” (128)
•
“I, your pastor, whom you so reverence and trust, am
utterly a pollution and a lie!” (129)
 Dimmesdale wants to confess, to be freed of his secret sin
 As a minister, he has a tendency to give sermons
The People
•
“They deemed the young clergyman a miracle of holiness.
They fancied him the mouthpiece of Heaven’s messages of
wisdom and rebuke and love” (128)
•
“The heard it all, and did but reverence him the more” (129)
•
“The saint on earth! Alas, if he discern such sinfulness in
his own white soul, what horrid spectacle would he behold
in thine or mine!” (129)
 The more Dimmesdale wastes away and calls himself a sinner,
the more people respect him.
 Remember, the Puritans believe ministers can do no wrong,
especially ones who seem totally focused on service to God.
A Hypocrite
•
•
“He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it
into the veriest falsehood. And yet, by the constitution
of his nature, he loved the truth and loathed the lie,
as few men ever did. Therefore, above all things else,
he loathed his miserable self!” (130)
“an act of penance”: a bloody whip, fasting, sleepless
nights, and weird visions (130)
 The people can only see Dimmesdale as holy. While he
can only see himself as a sinner. What if he’s both?
 Remember Emerson’s idea of Non-Dualism. Good and
bad exists in all things. People are complex.
 Being stuck on absolutes is literally killing Dimmesdale.
Self-Flagellation
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 12
Group Work
1.
2.
3.
4.
Find specific details and at least one quote from your
section of the reading.
Use this evidence to help you write a two-sentence
response to each question.
You may write on this sheet, but each group member
should also take their own notes.
Be prepared to share with the class:
a. your response
b. two pieces of evidence to back it up
The Meteor “A”
•
This “A” shines on Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl right
after they share a moment of connection.
•
Is the “A” their punishment on the scaffold, labeling their
relationship a sin and part of human depravity?
•
Or, is the “A” there because their human connection is a
light to illuminate or challenge the dark town?
Dimmesdale’s Scaffold
•
The first scaffold scene (Ch 2-3) was Hester’s public
punishment, in full daylight.
 The “A” was imposed by the Puritans, stood for Adultery, but
was beautifully decorated by Hester.
•
This second scaffold scene (Ch 12) is Dimmesdale’s, mostly
private vigil, in the dark of night.
 The “A” comes from Heaven, is interpreted as “Angel”, but may
mean more personally to Dimmesdale and Hester.
•
Did Dimmesdale want to be publicly discovered on the
scaffold? Was he hoping someone would finally figure it out?
The Scarlet Letter
Chapters 13 & 14
Romantic/Transcendentalist
•
Society Corrupts
 (Don’t trust “The Man”)
•
Emotion is superior to reason
 (Feelings matter more than judgments)
•
Free-will is superior to law
 (We make our own choices)
•
Humans are intrinsically good
 (At our core, we have goodness)
•
Nature is Holy
 (Trust the natural world)
Identifying Tenets
•
To find these in writing, look for messages about:









Need to be honest about how you feel
Need to show who you really are, not put on a mask for society
Society puts us into boxes and wants us to follow their rules
We should decide for ourselves what is important and “good”
If we trust ourselves, we can find genius
If we doubt ourselves, we will be unhappy
Each of us has potential to do something unique
Being an honest, unique individual makes us awesome
Trying to force ourselves into something we’re not, may lead to death
Hawthorne’s Romantic Side
•
In chapters 13 & 14:
 Identify 3 quotes that show Romantic ideas
 Identify 2 quotes that show or define strength
 Underline in pencil, use sticky notes, or copy into notebooks
•
Romantic Tenets
 Society Corrupts
 Emotion is superior to reason
 Free-will is superior to law
 Humans are intrinsically good
 Nature is Holy
Strength & Limitations
•
The Puritans redefine the “A”, showing that they forgive Hester
 They respect her because she shows human goodness, BUT she’s also
conforming to social expectations
•
Though she never directly challenges the Puritans, Hester shows
free-will and strength through her thoughts and actions
 She questions her punishment. She’s kind to people.
•
Pearl also reminds us that she doesn’t fit in Puritan society
•
Hester feels she owes it to Dimmesdale to try to get
Chillingworth to back off
•
Chillingworth has been corrupted by his quest for revenge.
The Scarlet Letter
Understanding Characters
Hester’s Strength
•
Why is Hester able to be strong when Dimmesdale and
Chillingworth are tripped-up by their flaws?
•
Yesterday we said Hester was showing how humans can
be intrinsically good. But what does that mean exactly?
•
What is it about Hester that makes her a strong,
resilient, free-thinking character?
Freudian Psychoanalysis
•
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) obviously comes later, and
Hawthorne wasn’t using him to model his characters.
 However, Freud pulled together known characteristics to
form his theories.
•
Use this concept as a lens to look at literature
 It’s one possible way to interpret what is going on.
 Like symbolism, it isn’t absolute. But it can help you
consider possible meanings.
Human Psyche
•
Id = impulse
 The devil on your shoulder tempting you to go for it
 Ideal impulse of: “Do whatever you want!”
•
Superego = conscience
 The angel on your shoulder making you feel guilty
 Reality check of: “No, society says we can’t!”
•
Ego = reason
 The referee between the two
 Makes us better by negotiating between listening to ourselves
and having appropriate behavior.
 Must be working properly for you to be mentally healthy
The Scarlet Letter
•
From what we’ve read,
find 3 quotes.
(1 quote that supports
each identity)
Id = Chillingworth
 Impulse of revenge has overridden any emotion of pity or
sense of responsibility.
 Turning him into a demon/Satan
•
Superego = Dimmesdale
 Sense of guilt is so consuming that he can’t think or function.
 Physically ill because he can’t handle it
•
Ego = Hester
 Feels guilty about committing adultery but also is starting to
break away from that and to feel/think for herself
Going Forward
•
Hester is going to negotiate between Dimmesdale and
Chillingworth in the story
•
She is also going to negotiate between impulse and guilt
 In herself
 Maybe also in the town
•
Remember, Hester is still torn
 The ego can chose to side more with the id or with the superego
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 15 & 16
“It may serve, let us hope”
•
Both Pearl and the “A” initially were “tokens of her sin”
 What would make something a Puritan symbol?
 How have they been interpreted or described that would fit
Puritan ideas?
•
BUT since then both have taken on various meanings
 What would make something a Romantic symbol?
 How have they been described or what actions have they
shown that align with the Romantics/Transcendentalists?
Group Work
•
Carefully read the paragraphs, pay attention to
description and symbolism.
 Remember there can be symbolism, or deeper meaning,
behind any image or object.
•
Interpret what’s going on.
 What emotions are being attached to Pearl or the “A”?
 How are they showing action?
 Do these details connect to Puritan or Romantic tenets?
 What deeper meaning is being suggested?
So what is Pearl?
•
The spirit of Romanticism?
 Something that is one with nature in a pure, uncorrupted way
•
The link between Hester and Dimmesdale?
 Their passion in physical form
•
The prisoner from Allegory of the Cave?
 Going to bring knowledge to the Puritans
•
A message about the need to be true to ourselves?
 We remember our Id as well as our Superego
The Scarlet Letter
Chapters 17 & 18
Prepare to Discuss!
•
Write 1 or 2 questions about chapters 17 and 18 that you
would like to discuss with the class. Possible ideas:
 Interpret bigger meaning behind a quote
 Agree/Disagree with claims made by Hawthorne or characters
 Wonder about reasons behind a character’s actions or words
 Connect to Gothic, Puritan, or Transcendental tenets
 Connect to the Id, Ego, or Superego
•
Be specific enough that your classmates know what you’re
thinking about.
 But be broad enough that we can really think about ideas.
 These should NOT be yes/no questions.
Hester and Dimmesdale
•
Yes, they committed adultery. But, they also love in a
way that might go beyond social rules.
•
Whether or not Hester and Dimmesdale committed a
“sin” depends on if you follow Puritan or Romantic ideals.
 Hawthorne is torn about this. THIS is his conflict.
 The answer to “Is this OK?” isn’t going to be straightforward.
•
Collecting evidence on symbols around Hester and
Dimmesdale can help you decide which way you think
Hawthorne is going.
Chapters 19 and 20
•
Pearl is going to join Hester and Dimmesdale
 Remember that she is a symbol.
 She challenges them as well as links them together.
 Try to figure out what lesson Pearl is trying to teach them.
•
Dimmesdale is going to re-enter society
 This is going to get a little weird, but think about times
you’ve felt a little giddy or impulsive or unsettled.
 He just experienced passion and freedom, but now he has to
go back to following society (at least for now).
•
Take notes! We will use these for discussion on Monday.
The Scarlet Letter
Chapters 19 & 20
Group Work
•
In your group, develop an answer to the question.
 Use the supporting questions, details from the chapter, and
ideas we’ve previously discussed to help you.
 There are lots of possibilities of how you could interpret or
reason through this. There is no perfect answer, but be
reasonable and thoughtful.
•
Merge with another group that answered the same
question. Share your answers.
 How were your ideas different? How were they similar?
 Try to persuade the other groups that your answer is the
most reasonable.
Chapter 19
•
Why does Pearl only rejoin and show affection to Hester
after Hester has replaced the “A” and covered her hair?
 What does it suggest about the relationship between Pearl
and the “A”?
 Why must Hester be burdened with the “A”?
 If Pearl is the passion between Dimmesdale and Hester, why
does she not act happy about them being together?
Chapter 20
•
Why is Dimmesdale tempted to say scandalous things to
everyone he meets in town?
 In what ways has he become a different person since being in
the woods?
 What would happen if he said these things out loud?
 What ideas or feelings are now guiding him?
 What does this suggest for Dimmesdale’s future?
Chapter 21
•
Hester and Pearl return to society
 Look at how they feel and act in comparison to Dimmesdale
•
Puritan holiday
 Step back from main narrative to talk about social customs
 Remember that this is about humanity as well as about
specific characters
 What is Hawthorne suggesting about how different
individuals act under the influence of society? What
arguments is he making about human nature?
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 21
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 22
“the same scorching stigma”
•
What is Mistress Hibbins suggesting may happen? (220)
 “When the Black Man sees one of his own servants, signed and sealed, so
shy of owning to the bond as is the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, he hath a
way of ordering matters so that the mark shall be disclosed in open
daylight to the eyes of all the world!” (220)
•
What is so captivating about Dimmesdale’s sermon? (221)
 “A loud or low expression of anguish – the whisper, or the shriek, as it
might be conceived, of suffering humanity, that touched a sensibility in
every bosom!” (221)
•
If the letter “A” is Hester’s sign of shame, then what is
Dimmesdale’s “stigma”? What is on his chest? (225)
 “The sainted minister in the church! The woman of the scarlet letter in the
market place! What imagination would have been irreverent enough to
surmise that the same scorching stigma was on them both!” (225)
“inevitable magnetism”
•
Where is Hester standing in the Market Place?
 “There was a sense within her…that her whole orb of life, both before and
after, was connected with this spot, as with the one point that gave it
unity” (222)
•
Who is gathered around her? What are they doing?
 “thronged about Hester Prynne with rude and boorish intrusiveness” (224)
 “the selfsame faces of that group of matrons who had awaited her
forthcoming from the prison door seven years ago” (224)
•
Where is Dimmesdale positioned while this is happening?
 “the admirable preacher was looking down from the sacred pulpit upon an
audience” (225)
Cyclical Ending / Circular Narrative
•
A story that begins and ends similarly.
•
The settings may be the same, images may re-appear, or other
details feel mirrored and/or familiar.
•
Though, of course, changes have occurred through the
narrative and things aren’t exactly the same.
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 23
Climactic Ending
•
What does Dimmesdale do?
•
Dimmesdale finally does it:
 “They beheld the minister, leaning on Hester’s shoulder and
supported by her arm around him, approach the scaffold and
ascend its steps; while still the little hand of the sin-born
child was clasped in his” (231)
 “For, Hester, I am a dying man. So let me make haste to take
my shame upon me!” (231)
 “People of New England!” (232)
Pearl’s Transformation
•
How did Pearl act toward Dimmesdale before?
 Why is she now tender and forgiving towards him?
•
“Pearl’s errand as a messenger of anguish was fulfilled” (233)
 Remember how she hasn’t been a normal kid this whole time?
 What “spell was broken”?
•
This is the first time Hawthorne refers to Dimmesdale as
Pearl’s father.
 Is that because Pearl has finally become human, rather than
symbolic? Or because he is finally acting like a father?
• This
scaffold scene is about Pearl!
Chillingworth’s Disappointment
•
Why is Chillingworth upset by Dimmesdale’s confession?
•
Why is the scaffold the only place Dimmesdale can escape
Chillingworth’s revenge?
 “’there was no one place so secret – no high place nor lowly
place where thou couldst have escaped me – save on this very
scaffold!” (231)
 “Thou hast escaped me!’ he repeated more than once. ‘Thou
hast escaped me!’” (233)
Hester’s Plea
•
Where does Hester succeed where Dimmesdale struggles?
How is she able to help Dimmesdale?
 “Hester Prynne…come hither now, and twine thy strength
about me! Thy strength, Hester; but let it be guided by the
will which God hath granted me!” (230)
•
But, what is Hester’s final plea to Dimmesdale?
 “Shall we not spend our immortal life together? Surely,
surely, we have ransomed one another, with all this woe!”
(233)
Dimmesdale’s Sin
•
Ok, but what does Dimmesdale show everyone?
 “It was revealed! But it were irreverent to describe that
revelation. For an instant, the gaze of the horror-stricken
multitude was concerted on the ghastly miracle” (233)
•
And how does he explain it to Hester?
 “It may be, that, when we forgot our God – when we violated
our reverence each for the other’s soul – it was thenceforth
vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting
and pure reunion” (234)
•
So what was Dimmesdale’s sin? Adultery? Concealment?
Hypocrisy? Denial of his nature? Forsaking his love?
The Scaffold Scenes
The Scarlet Letter
Chapter 24
Quick Write
•
(Write in your notebook or a scarp piece of paper. You
don’t have to turn this in.)
• Why
did Dimmesdale die?
 Physical weakness? The consequence for sinning? He
wasn’t strong enough to run away?
So…what happened?
•
Why can’t the Puritan townspeople agree on what was on
Dimmesdale’s chest?
•
Why does Chillingworth wither away and die after
Dimmesdale dies?
•
Why does Chillingworth make Pearl his heir? How does
this benefit Pearl?
•
Why does Hester return to Puritan Boston?
•
How does the town see the “A” now? What do they seek
from Hester?
What’s the moral?
•
The one Hawthorne tells us is worth writing down: (236)
•
The one we learn from Chillingworth: (237)
•
The one Hester tells to young women: (240)
•
The final lesson of Hester and Dimmesdale’s headstone:
 “On a field, sable, the letter A, Gules.” (240)
The Prison Door
STUDY
•
You will have the class period to test on Monday
•
Grades will be determined based on thoughtfulness and
thoroughness of answers. EXPLAIN YOURSELF!
•
May use on the test: Study Guides and hand-written
notes (notebooks, note sheets, or sticky notes)
 NO BOOKS, unless you can show me you have thorough notes in
your book
•
Remember big ideas: the “A”, Pearl, light, common
symbolism, scaffold scenes, and major character traits