General notes on The Scarlet Letter
It is ironic that when they are trying to create a Utopia, the first things that the Puritans build are a prison and a cemetery.
-- The rose represents a little bit of hope; a little bit of comfort in a bleak place.
Hester is secretly aware of things going on in the community, it is as though she has a new sense that enables to see everything that is going on. While she is forced to wear the scarlet letter she is the only person who knows that her husband, Chillingsworth, is present and she is also the only person who knows that her lover is the young minister, Dimmesdale. These secrets she chooses to keep to herself instead of revealing and sharing the sin. The scarlet letter has enclosed her into her own world, where she is set apart from the rest of society, yet it also gives her a new outlook upon life. (Sphere) (p. 48)
Hawthorne is both dismayed and attracted to the Puritans because one of his ancestors had been a judge at the Salem witch trials and because of their strict code of morals. Novels of adultery usually discuss the breaking and destroying of things (families, lives, social structures), but Hawthorne discusses how hiding truths are what destroy things.
It is much easier and more pleasurable to look at and criticize other people, so Hawthorne wrote about the past in order to show the problems in his own society, without directly speaking about his society's problems. Hawthorne often refers to his (Jacksonian) viewpoint in the narration, which brings readers back into the reality that he is not just describing what is taking place in the story, but also that there are many different ways to look at the same thing. One example of this is when he describes how a Catholic would view Hestor's treatment. (p. 50)
NOTE symbols such as: The iron on the prison door -- the iron fist, dominance, etc.
Spheres -- Hester lives in her own sphere by the forest; society's sphere
Hestor is secretly aware of things going on in the community, it is as though she has a new sense that enables to see everything that is going on. While she is forced to wear the scarlet letter she is the only person who knows that her husband, Chillingsworth, is present and she is also the only person who knows that her lover is the young minister, Dimmesdale. These secrets she chooses to keep to herself instead of revealing and sharing the sin. The scarlet letter has enclosed her into her own world, where she is set apart from the rest of society, yet it also gives her a new outlook upon life. (Sphere) (p. 48)
The forest as both comforting/natural/human (personification); passion, emotion
and forboding: The town is on the edge of the forest
-- Society vs. Wild
-- Puritans get their medicines from the forest, but believe that it is the realm of the devil
-- Hester and Pearl feel at home in/near the woods, Puritans feel that it is evil. The town is on the edge of the forest, and medicinal herbs come from the forest. Hester lives at the edge of the woods and Pearl plays with items from the forest -- Pearl is the product of a sinful situation.
-- Puritans are all about denying themselves, etc. Conscience affects everyday life -- secrecy in the story will destroy the characters.
Throughout: the narrator occasionally reveals that he is not of the present time, that he has a detached perspective.
-- p. 50, paragraph 2.
Pearl:
an irony in that she is Hester's comfort (innocent and pure) and also a constant reminder of her sin.
-- Pearl acts out the things that Hester keeps hidden. Pearl is a constant reminder of Hester's adultery, but at the same time is her only friend. When Hester is unable to express her feelings, Pearl's actions reveal the inner emotions Hester holds. Pearl has a mature "knowingness" about her. Pearl is both a blessing and repudiation. "Even thus, the child saved her from Satan's snare." (p. 105)
-- Sometimes it seems as if she is a demon child; she cannot be controlled --Hester believes that God has given her Pearl so that she can redeem herself in society by raising Pearl properly, and make up for her sin.
-- People in the Puritan society question whether/believe that Pearl is the devil's child.
-- Pearl constantly reminds Hester of her sin. For example, Pearl throws flowers at he "A" displayed on Hester's chest.
-- She embodies many types of children/ many children in one. Unlike other Puritan children, Pearl is able to act as she feels. She has many different traits as a child: she can be angry, aggressive, curious, playful, shy.
Hester:
-- her pain is determined by her own views and moral consciousness of herself. (she creates her own pain.)
-- The amount of suffering she displays, or the way she displays it reflects on her as a person: (p.75) "With her native energy of character, and rare capacity, it [the world] could not entirely cast her off, although it had set a mark upon her, more intolerable to a woman's heart than that which branded the brow of Cain." The world cannot "cast" Hester off because of her strong integrity, and her ability to keep her head up.
-- (p.77 -- middle paragraph) Hester feels relieved of stress and agony because she sees Dimmsdale and she knows that he carries the same sin. It gives her some comfort having someone (even unrevealed) who can understand and sympathize.
Chillingsworth:
Completely evil; A snake in his eyes; The leech
Puritans look for the bad in a person; they do not look for the good, they exaggerate the BAD. "A writhing horror twisted itself across his features" (p. 55) A snake symbolizes the devil, this means that Hester's husband has evil intentions about him.
We create our own torment out of our own outlooks, beliefs, conscience.
-- If we do not believe that we have done anything bad, we won't feel bad about it; if we think we have done something bad when it wasn't really, we will be tormented.
Novels about adultery are usually about things being broken: (families, etc.)
-- This is about intertwined secrets, how they destroy.
Writers expose inner secrets
We don't like to look at our own, but enjoy reading about other people's
Hawthorne is both dismayed by and attracted to the Puritans because one of his ancestors had been a judge at the Salem witch trials and because he admired their strict code of morals. Novels of adultery had usually discussed the breaking and destroying of things, but Hawthorne discusses how hiding truths are what destroy things. It is much easier and pleasurable to look and criticize other people, so Hawthorne wrote about the past in order to show the problems in his society, without directly speaking about his society's problems.
Hawthorne inserts his view point, bringing the reader back into the reality that he is not just describing what is taking place in the story, but also that there are many different ways to look at the same thing. One example of this is when he describes how the Catholics would view Hestor's public display with her infant on the scaffold. (p. 50)
The Scarlet letter itself almost provides a view to other people's sins (like The Minister's Black Veil. Everyone has something to hide, especially during Puritan times so when Hester sins, "it [gives] her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts" (p. 77)
-- Hester sees people from a different perspective while going through her punishment on the scaffold: similar to The Minister's Black Veil and Young Goodman Brown -- Drama of secrets and interpretation.
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The Christian Paradox
by Bill McKibben
Harper's, August, 2003
Kelsey
Bill McKibben brings up the fact that "11 percent of U.S. churchgoers were urged by their clergy to vote in a particular way in the 2004 election. This relationship of a couple people influencing a great majority of citizens goes way back in history." In the puritanical times which Hester lives, the citizens are widely influence by the church -- they believe and follow most rules that the church creates.
"When Jesus summed up his message for his disciples, he said the way you could tell the righteous from the damned was by whether they'd fed the hungry, slaked the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and visited the prisoner." (p. 32) This whole idea is quite opposite from the Puritan views who believe that people must fend for themselves, and never be forgiven for a mistake. Just like Americans, the Puritans in The Scarlet Letter are Hypocrites. They try to reveal and punish the sins of others, while trying to hide and mask there own.
Puritans "comfort-the-comfortable" (p. 35) when someone sins it is not forgotten -- and never forgiven. The Christian Paradox reveals the problems within the Christian followers, much similar to the problems that the Puritans are forced to deal with.
Bailey
The Christian Paradox and The Scarlet Letter both discuss the, exactly that, Christian Paradox. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne examines the question of whether or not the Puritans are really noble or moral "Christians." The Puritans were willing to persecute the Quakers and kill the Indians all in the name of God. There actions, if reading the bible, went against everything God and Jesus said. Were the Puritan really true believers of Christianity if they went against Jesus' teachings as they did?
The Christian Paradox addresses how truly "Christian" America is. This question parallels that of The Scarlet Letter. It talks about some the most basic Christian ideas that Americans don't follow, even though a majority Americans claim to be Christian: "Love your neighbor as yourself," and that the wealthy should give to the poor and unfortunate -- both of which the US does not do.
The Ten Commandments and other biblical ideas are very rarely followed yet Americans often use the bible to support what they say or believe.
McKibben writes: "Are Americans hypocrites? Of course they are. But most people (me, for instance) are hypocrites." This links to The Scarlet Letter because Dimmesdale is asking for the man to come forward and he punishes Hester, and yet he is the man who committed the sin.
These "Christians," who claim to be Christian often only use certain parts of the bible in their daily lives as long as they fit into what they are trying to do. "Imagine trying to build a theory of the Constitution by obsessively reading and rereading the Twenty-fifth amendment..." This idea reveals that people often just look at parts of an idea and don't look at the grand scale impact, therefore they miss the main idea or full picture.
Both McKibben's essay and Hawthorne's novel address the hypocrisy of Christians in our society and how each say they are Christian and follow God's gospel, yet they fail to act Christian in society. It is as though people use church as a mask to say they are Christian, yet when they leave church they forget about the truly Christian ideas and fail to follow them.
Kirsten
In The Christian Paradox, Bill McKibben is talking about how Christians in the United States are somewhat hypocritical in how they practice and think about religion, and in The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorn seems to be describing how the Puritains are also hypocritical or, at least, backwards in how they relate religion to their lives.
McKibben states that: "America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior" (p. 32); this also seems to be how Hawthorn portrays the Puritains -- they are radical in their beliefs and weave their preception of Christianity throughout every aspect of their lives, yet their actions do not always seem to be just or correct.
McKibben continues by saying: "American churches, by and laarge, have done a pretty good job of loving the neighbor in the next pew" (p. 35), and this idea can be related to the Puritains. Puritains are satisfied with giving to others who are under good graces in the church, but, like in Hester's case, if a person is condemed for some reason, they respond with curelty. I think that both The Christian Paradox and The Scarlet Letter bring up the idea that this sort of biased and self-centered religion is not really that Christian.
Cameron
The Christian Paradox relates to The Scarlet Letter because of the ambiguous interpretations of the Bible.
While Puritans use strict interpretation of the Bible, Christians today simply go through the motions of attending church.
"They [Americans] undercut Jesus, muffle his hard words, deaden his call, and in the end silence him." -- opposite of Puritans, who require a strict practice of the Bible's strictures. Those who sin or do wrong in Puritan society are disregarded.
Americans are uneducated in Christianity, however, call themselves Christians regardless. It is ironic that Americans believe Benjamin Franklin appears in holy scripture while his moral standards and beliefs are unholy.
Both Puritans and Christian Americans use religion to influence political issues.
Puritans did not tolerate other religions in their society. Every citizen was required to be a firm believer in the Puritan ways, or otherwise, banished. However, Americans today openly accept other people's religions and beliefs.
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandment hang all the law and the prophets."
-- this quote is noticed/practiced in Puritan society.
-- Americans don't practice what they preach with this intensity.
Americans' (who call themselves Christians) lives are based around their jobs and social order, and practicing religion is a Sunday night occasion. Puritans, on the other hand, teach every day, and every lesson is learned with a reference to God.
"...a Colorado jury had consulted the Bible before sentencing a killer to death. Experts debated whether the (Christian) jurors should have used an outside authority of a secular society devaluing religion." [Cam -- check this quote -- it looks like a paraphrase, not exact wording -- M]
-- Americans today question whether it was right or wrong to reference the Bible with sentencing a man to death. Puritans on the other hand only and regularly referenced the Bible for all punishment of crimes.
Kathryn
The Christian Paradox addresses Americans' professed beliefs and their actions, which do not coincide.
-- Americans in general claim to be Christian, but actually create their own beliefs and use the banner of Christianity.
-- Their religion is false
-- They actually embrace self-advancement but do not admit that this is the case.
In The Scarlet Letter, the Puritan society is based on religious superiority, but their claims are based on judgement of others.
-- They are similarly hypocritical.
-- As with Americans, the Puritans do things that they want, waving the banner of Christianity so their actions have validity -- Persecuting Quakers, etc.
-- The minister is supposedly the most upright member of society, but he hides the secret of fathering Pearl.
In both societies, it seems impossible to embrace the notion of loving others as oneself.
-- Americans are undeniably selfish this way
-- The Puritans thrive on persecuting people, beating everyone else down so that they can be higher.
Garnet
Interesting that Hester is the only person in the Puritan community who acts, according to this essay, "Christian," yet she is considered the sinner. Everyone judges her. They are not tolerant. Hester gives most of what she has to those less financially fortunate.
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