Chapter 1 Analysis:
As I began to read on in chapter one The Prison Door, the
setting begins to bring up the mood of the novel.
“The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more
antique than anything else in the world.” A short chapter describing how the
founders of this Puritan colony first built a jail and cemetery knowing there
will be sin and deaths. The mood is sort of cruel in the way everything in the
jail is described. The narrator often talks about the huge rusty prison door,
and how it sets up a sign of decay through its rusty and oldness. It makes me
feel as if terrifying inmates are to be held within those grounds. Also in
chapter one, the narrator starts many metaphors and themes of the story such as
the rose bush. Right outside the prison door is a rose bush, which is the last
thing inmates see going in, and the first they see coming out. It symbolizes
that it is the last beautiful thing an inmate will see going into prison. It
also leads into the next chapter, and giving the rose bush other meanings to it.
Chapter 2 Analysis:
In the second chapter The Market Place, a new character
Hester Prynne is introduced walking out of the prison onto a platform in front
of the whole town to be ridiculed by them for her sin. She stands holding an
infant to her breast where a beautifully sewn scarlet letter “A” is. We can
infer from this that the “A” symbolizes adultery in which she has committed,
bearing the child in her arms. The crowd has a reaction to her standing on the
platform that shows how much sin is unfavorable in their society. The narrator
tells us of Hester’s past and how she moved to Boston from England two years
earlier. She left her deformed husband Roger Chillingworth to America to await
his arrival. The narrator also talks of Hester’s beauty, “The young woman was
tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale.” This brings up
another theme to the rose bush symbolizing that beauty on the outside can still
hurt you. A rose is beautiful, but holds many thorns that will prickle you if
held wrong. Hester looks into the crowd and lets reality sink in that she is
going to have to live the rest of her life scorned by others, but I like the way
she takes about it. She shares a mindset I have, that it doesn’t matter what
others think as long as you have self-acceptance which we both do.
Chapter 3 Analysis:
As Hester is standing in front of the crowd she recognizes a man
standing next to an Indian. It is her husband Mr. Chillingworth, and he begins
to ask someone standing near him what’s going on. The bystander informs him that
Hester’s husband sent her to America and stayed in Amsterdam for a little before
coming to America to her. Chillingworth also asks who the father of the child
is, and if he will suffer any consequences. The reverend Mr. Dimmesdale
approaches Hester to tell the crowd who the father of the child is, bribing her
that her prison sentence will be shorter if she does. Hester replies with, “’And
my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!’”
After this goes on she is sent back to her prison cell, and reverend Mr. Wilson
begins to preach a sermon against sin. This is just like another one of
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories The Minister’s Black Veil, where a minister
gives sermons on sin using real life examples of people in their community.
Chapter 4 Analysis:
Roger Chillingworth is sent to check on Hester and her child as
a physician in chapter four, The Interview. Hester is subconscious of
what he is doing, and wonders if he seeks revenge. His actions show that
something is to come from him in the future of the book because he forgives
Hester, yet lingers on in the town. He tells Hester to not reveal to anyone that
he is her husband because he doesn’t want his name cursed by her sins. This
leads me to believe Chillingworth is planning to do something in revenge, and
needs not any attention on him. Also he gives the crying baby a medicine that
puts her to sleep and offers some to Hester in which she is hesitant to take due
that he may be trying to kill them in revenge. She also apologizes to
Chillingworth for not being faithful, and he replies with, “’We have wronged
each other,’” saying it’s just as much his fault as hers. Roger tries to get who
the father is out of her almost implying revenge is to come, but she refuses to
tell him. Hester becomes afraid of what Chillingworth’s purpose of coming is,
and he lets her know it’s not her soul he is seeking.
Chapter 5 Analysis:
Chapter five starts with the release of Hester Prynne from
prison, and informs us that she moves to the outskirts of town away from
everyone in a small cottage. A decision I find very wise of Hester to make
because I wouldn’t want my everyday routine to be bothered by people around me
ridiculing me. Yet I wondered why she stayed in Boston where her reputation is
known than to leave elsewhere. The narrator argues that she wants to feel the
pains of her sin until she is purged of her actions. A gift Hester has is
sewing, and makes garments for the average town’s people to sell and make money
for her and her child. Although she has great talent, she cannot make wedding
veils because of the sin she committed. Hester has no social life due to her
history, and is condemned in the streets by ministers who see her and begin
sermons on sin right in front of her. I would be outraged at something like
that, and I do not know how Hester deals with it personally. Some people in town
begin to give Hester this look of sympathy in that they have a secret sin. “it
gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts.” These are
people from within the town that others may look up to, yet still have sins in
which are kept private. It seems everyone has their own issues, yet turns to
others for relief of theirs.
Chapter 6 Analysis:
Pearl is the name Hester gives her child symbolizing that she
has given all she has for a priceless possession. Pearl lives in her mother’s
sin, and can realize she is treated different by others; another thing I would
not be able to live with. I would almost hate my mother for being treated
different since it is her fault. Instead, Pearl lives up to the reputation, and
is a trouble child. The narrator says, “…Pearl would grow positively terrible in
her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them…” talking about Pearl and
the way she treats other children. She is described as a demons child in this
chapter, and Hester just cannot control her. Pearl has always had her attention
on her mother’s scarlet letter, and we see this in this chapter. The way Pearl
acts is not of the way children should act, giving Hester much trouble. Pearl
asks her mother who her father is, and Hester replies with the same thing she
has told everyone else. In return, Pearl responds with, “’ I have no Heavenly
Father!’” Hester begins to think that maybe Pearl is a child of the devil.
As I began to read on in chapter one The Prison Door, the
setting begins to bring up the mood of the novel.
“The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more
antique than anything else in the world.” A short chapter describing how the
founders of this Puritan colony first built a jail and cemetery knowing there
will be sin and deaths. The mood is sort of cruel in the way everything in the
jail is described. The narrator often talks about the huge rusty prison door,
and how it sets up a sign of decay through its rusty and oldness. It makes me
feel as if terrifying inmates are to be held within those grounds. Also in
chapter one, the narrator starts many metaphors and themes of the story such as
the rose bush. Right outside the prison door is a rose bush, which is the last
thing inmates see going in, and the first they see coming out. It symbolizes
that it is the last beautiful thing an inmate will see going into prison. It
also leads into the next chapter, and giving the rose bush other meanings to it.
Chapter 2 Analysis:
In the second chapter The Market Place, a new character
Hester Prynne is introduced walking out of the prison onto a platform in front
of the whole town to be ridiculed by them for her sin. She stands holding an
infant to her breast where a beautifully sewn scarlet letter “A” is. We can
infer from this that the “A” symbolizes adultery in which she has committed,
bearing the child in her arms. The crowd has a reaction to her standing on the
platform that shows how much sin is unfavorable in their society. The narrator
tells us of Hester’s past and how she moved to Boston from England two years
earlier. She left her deformed husband Roger Chillingworth to America to await
his arrival. The narrator also talks of Hester’s beauty, “The young woman was
tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale.” This brings up
another theme to the rose bush symbolizing that beauty on the outside can still
hurt you. A rose is beautiful, but holds many thorns that will prickle you if
held wrong. Hester looks into the crowd and lets reality sink in that she is
going to have to live the rest of her life scorned by others, but I like the way
she takes about it. She shares a mindset I have, that it doesn’t matter what
others think as long as you have self-acceptance which we both do.
Chapter 3 Analysis:
As Hester is standing in front of the crowd she recognizes a man
standing next to an Indian. It is her husband Mr. Chillingworth, and he begins
to ask someone standing near him what’s going on. The bystander informs him that
Hester’s husband sent her to America and stayed in Amsterdam for a little before
coming to America to her. Chillingworth also asks who the father of the child
is, and if he will suffer any consequences. The reverend Mr. Dimmesdale
approaches Hester to tell the crowd who the father of the child is, bribing her
that her prison sentence will be shorter if she does. Hester replies with, “’And
my child must seek a heavenly father; she shall never know an earthly one!’”
After this goes on she is sent back to her prison cell, and reverend Mr. Wilson
begins to preach a sermon against sin. This is just like another one of
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s stories The Minister’s Black Veil, where a minister
gives sermons on sin using real life examples of people in their community.
Chapter 4 Analysis:
Roger Chillingworth is sent to check on Hester and her child as
a physician in chapter four, The Interview. Hester is subconscious of
what he is doing, and wonders if he seeks revenge. His actions show that
something is to come from him in the future of the book because he forgives
Hester, yet lingers on in the town. He tells Hester to not reveal to anyone that
he is her husband because he doesn’t want his name cursed by her sins. This
leads me to believe Chillingworth is planning to do something in revenge, and
needs not any attention on him. Also he gives the crying baby a medicine that
puts her to sleep and offers some to Hester in which she is hesitant to take due
that he may be trying to kill them in revenge. She also apologizes to
Chillingworth for not being faithful, and he replies with, “’We have wronged
each other,’” saying it’s just as much his fault as hers. Roger tries to get who
the father is out of her almost implying revenge is to come, but she refuses to
tell him. Hester becomes afraid of what Chillingworth’s purpose of coming is,
and he lets her know it’s not her soul he is seeking.
Chapter 5 Analysis:
Chapter five starts with the release of Hester Prynne from
prison, and informs us that she moves to the outskirts of town away from
everyone in a small cottage. A decision I find very wise of Hester to make
because I wouldn’t want my everyday routine to be bothered by people around me
ridiculing me. Yet I wondered why she stayed in Boston where her reputation is
known than to leave elsewhere. The narrator argues that she wants to feel the
pains of her sin until she is purged of her actions. A gift Hester has is
sewing, and makes garments for the average town’s people to sell and make money
for her and her child. Although she has great talent, she cannot make wedding
veils because of the sin she committed. Hester has no social life due to her
history, and is condemned in the streets by ministers who see her and begin
sermons on sin right in front of her. I would be outraged at something like
that, and I do not know how Hester deals with it personally. Some people in town
begin to give Hester this look of sympathy in that they have a secret sin. “it
gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts.” These are
people from within the town that others may look up to, yet still have sins in
which are kept private. It seems everyone has their own issues, yet turns to
others for relief of theirs.
Chapter 6 Analysis:
Pearl is the name Hester gives her child symbolizing that she
has given all she has for a priceless possession. Pearl lives in her mother’s
sin, and can realize she is treated different by others; another thing I would
not be able to live with. I would almost hate my mother for being treated
different since it is her fault. Instead, Pearl lives up to the reputation, and
is a trouble child. The narrator says, “…Pearl would grow positively terrible in
her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them…” talking about Pearl and
the way she treats other children. She is described as a demons child in this
chapter, and Hester just cannot control her. Pearl has always had her attention
on her mother’s scarlet letter, and we see this in this chapter. The way Pearl
acts is not of the way children should act, giving Hester much trouble. Pearl
asks her mother who her father is, and Hester replies with the same thing she
has told everyone else. In return, Pearl responds with, “’ I have no Heavenly
Father!’” Hester begins to think that maybe Pearl is a child of the devil.