SCARLET LETTER - CHAPTERS 5-8 (pgs 75-114)

Scarlet Letter – Chapter 5 – 8 pgs 75-114

CHAPTER 5 – HESTER AT HER NEEDLE

**I found this chapter to be really sad and melancholy. I felt for Hester when they talked about her losing herself as a person and becoming just a symbol. In the beginning of the chapter she has a moment of weakness when she has a false hope that she could one day be with her child’s father, but just as quickly she made herself be realistic and think it could never happen. I think that shows just how strong she is, that even in a moment of weakness she found strength. I didn’t like however that her reason for staying was based more on her punishing herself. I would have found it more to her character is she had stayed to show she wasn’t a coward or ran away from her actions. Instead, she makes herself a martyr which in its own way makes her just as bad as the townspeople who sought to punish her. The most ironic and surprising thing in this entire chapter had to be the fact that she was a seamstress for the town. Interesting how the people who were so ready to condemn her to death ask her to make the clothing they put on their backs. Smh. Hypocritical bigots. Yet, it infuriated me to no end that Hester didn’t defend herself when she was insulted by the woman of the town. I can, however, understand why. She doesn’t want to start more trouble or catch more unwanted attention to her situation. I can’t even imagine how she felt, but I hope they haven’t broken her with their words.**

-INFAMY: extremely bad reputation, public reproach, or strong condemnation as the result of a shameful, criminal, or outrageous act.

-Hester is released from prison = nervous to leave – no protection

“The very law that condemned her – a giant of stern features, but with vigor to support, as well as to annihilate, in his iron arm – had held her up through the terrible ordeal of her ignominy.” - P75

-Foretelling her future = everyday trials = grief

“…giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and the moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman’s frailty and sinful passion.” – p76

-Once innocent –> now infamous symbol of sin

-She has the chance to leave –> stays. WHY?

“There dwelt, there trod the feet of one with whom she deemed herself connected in a union, that, unrecognizable on earth, would bring them together before the bare of final judgment, and make their marriage altar, for a joint futurity of endless retribution.” – p77

-TEMPTER: a person or thing that tempts, especially to evil; Satan, the devil

-Secretly stays for the hope of being with the child’s father = shows her naivety, she is still young

-Pushes away the thought of it possibly happening = shows she is stronger than her weakness, realistic 

-Her reason for staying is half a truth and half self-delusion – this (her town, Providence) is where she is guilty, and this is where she should carry out her punishment = masochist or religious to the point of delusional?

-Through suffering will she purge her soul

-MARTYRDOM: the condition, sufferings, or death of a martyr; extreme suffering, torment

-Decides not to flee

- Goes to her cottage with her baby = small and thatched, remote, isolated, on the shore, lonesome

- Children would spy watching her until they saw her “A” and would scamper off in fear

-No friends = lonely

-Gardens for food

-Does needlework – skilled 

-Tailor and seamstress for the entire town – all the people who condemn her (ironic)

- The only thing she had not been requested to make was the veil for a bride – frowned upon for her sin

-Hester – dressed only in coarse, and sombre clothing with the “A” ; The baby – dressed in fanciful and charming garb

-Worked for charity = her penance for her guilt 

-Finds joy in needling – rejects it as sin 

-Ghost in society – outcast

-Hester remained indifferent to them on the outside – feels hurt and defenseless on the inside

-Everyone stares at Hester’s scarlet letter with scornful looks, yet some show agony as if they share in her torture – she is not alone in sin

“Could they be other than the insidious whispers of the bad angel, who would fain have persuaded the struggling woman, as yet only half his victim, that the outward guise of purity was but a lie, and that, if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom besides Hester Prynne’s?” – p84

-She is not the only one who has sinned (hypocrites!)

CHAPTER 6 –PEARL

** I honestly do not know where I stand when it comes to Pearl. This chapter has me so torn. I’m not sure if I should love her or hate her. I do have sympathy for her but I really love her fierceness even as a kid. I didn’t, however, like her cruelty so much. I guess you could see it as karma to the town, but I feel Hester should keep her more in check. As a little kid it’s common to be a little wild at times, but she also needs to teach her respect. I feel like it would be so much more of a slap in the face if Pearl came out to be the best child in the town. She’s definitely defiant and it could either make into someone strong and outspoken or feared and hated. I was a little interested in the fact that Hester began to see her as non-human. Honestly, that’s wrong on a whole different level. I know she’s scared and it’s hard to be a single parent, but it’s still your child. What happened to a mother’s unconditional love?**

MEET: PEARL

-Who is Pearl?

  ~ Hester – mother

  ~ Named as being of great price, her mother’s only treasure

  ~ Born outcast

  ~ Native grace; faultless beauty: radiant; black eyes

  ~ Not amenable to rules – a bit wild; capricious 

  ~ Intelligent and imaginative 

-Hester struggles with raising Pearl on her own – hard to discipline 

- Hester questions at times whether Pearl is a human child

-Pearl is mocked by the other children 

-Hester sees herself reflected in Pearl with her wickedness and passionate personality that had lessened after she became a mother; almost as if she is afraid of her own daughter at times

-Frequently describes Pearl as being sprite-like 

-Scarlet Letter – first object which Pearl became aware of -> has an odd look and smile when she looks upon the letter

“Whether moved only by her ordinary freakishness, or because an evil spirit prompted her, she put up her small forefinger, and touched the scarlet letter. ‘He did not send me!’ cried she, positively. ‘I have no Heavenly Father!’” –p95

-Hester scolds her for saying that

-The townspeople think Pearl to be a demon offspring

CHAPTER 7 – THE GOVENOR’S HALL

**I loved, loved, loved the way they described Pearl in this chapter. They described her just as I would have imagined her to be. She’s beautiful, free – spirited, and intelligent beyond her years. She’s also more a symbol than anything else. She’s the scarlet letter in its simplest form. I don’t see her as “adultery”, but more like passion. Passion is capricious and fickle and full of love. She’s seen as something unholy because she’s so full of life and so care-free. I hardly think there is anything wrong with being alive and with this chapter I think I’m definitely won over to Pearl’s side.**

-Hester Prynne goes to the mansion of Governor Bellingham 

-People in town are planning to have Pearl taken from Hester

“On the supposition that Pearl, as already hinted, was of demon origin, these good people not unreasonably argued that a Christian interest in the mother’s soul required them to remove such a stumbling block from her path.” –p96

-Pearl is now grown a bit more – still beautiful and vividly luxuriant with a bright complexion, eyes possessing intensity and depth, glossy, dark brown hair; has a passionate personality; adorned in red

“There was fire in her and throughout her; she seemed the unpremeditated offshoot of a passionate moment.” 

“It was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed with life!” 

-SYMBOL: Pearl = embodiment of adultery – object of Hester’s affections and an emblem of her guilt and torture

-They enter the Governor’s stately home and await the Governor and his companions

CHAPTER 8 – THE ELF-CHILD AND THE MINISTER

**I found this chapter extremely intriguing and full of clues. I was shocked that amongst the Governor’s companions was none other than dear old Chillingworth. It’s been about 3 years since his talk with Hester and he’s definitely made a spot for himself in Providence. Odd as it is, I actually like Chillingworth and his deviously clever mind. From the very beginning when we first met him, I had a feeling he would be the type to hold a grudge and I’m sticking to it. I think he’s using a really good tactic to seek his revenge; he got himself into a rather high position to better interrogate and seek out Pearl’s father. As a physician he’s bound to run into nearly all the townspeople and as the friend of a Reverend he could spot out the guilt-ridden men that much quicker. I wished they had said more on his reaction to meeting Pearl more grown up now then he had last seen her though. I was extremely happy with Hester in this chapter with the fact that she stood up for Pearl! It was nice to see that even through all her talk about Pearl, she truly did love her and was trying to be a good mother. I figure it was more her isolation and bitterness getting to her more than anything else. For her to plead so hard for Pearl shows she treasures her. I was a bit upset with Dimmesdale for being so reluctant at first to speak but I was content enough to see that he pleaded just as hard for her. With his status and apparently sought out judgment, he’s a good ally for Hester and Pearl to keep. Pearl’s response to Mr. Wilson’s question was rather funny especially because it was the rosebush from the beginning! I knew the rosebush would mean something! And the fact that Pearl changed from something evil to more of a savior by the end of the chapter shows how much of a paradox she is in herself, being both an embodied sin and salvation.**

-The Governor arrives with his guests in tow :

  ~ MEET: PASTOR JOHN WILSON 

  ~ Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale: brief and reluctant part in the scene of Hester Prynne’s disgrace

  ~ Roger Chillingworth: Hester’s husband and now local physician 

-It has been 2-3 years passed since the beginning of the novel

-Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are friends/ close companions – also Dimmesdale’s physician for his recently declining health

-They meet Pearl and question Hester on her upbringing 

-Pearl is asked who made her and she responds by saying she had not been made at all but was plucked from the rosebush near the prison door! 

-Mr. Wilson is unhappy with her response and wish to take Pearl away

“She is my happiness! – she is my torture, none the less! Pearl keeps me here in life! Pearl punishes me too! See ye not, she is the scarlet letter, only capable of being loved, and so endowed with a millionfold the power of retribution for my sin? Ye shall not take her! I will die first!” –p109

-Hester turns to Dimmesdale for help in pleading her case to keep Pearl. She trusts him to help. Because of his kindness to her in the beginning?

“Thou knowest – for thou hast sympathies which these men lack – thou knowest what is in my heart, and what are a mother’s rights, and how much stronger they are when that mother has but her child and the scarlet letter! Look thou to it!” – p109-110

-He reluctantly turns to look at her and speaks on her behalf so strongly that Chillingworth comments on his earnest

-They are all persuaded and Hester is to keep the child so long as Pearl is taught catechism and goes to school

-Pearl goes up to Dimmesdale and takes his hand in a gentle manner; he kisses her on the head = he is not like the others in hating her – shows kindness 

-Hester and Pearl depart from the house

-She is called by MISTRESS HIBBINS, Bellingham’s sister – later executed for being a witch

“Will thou go with us tonight? There will be a merry company in the forest; and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely Hester Prynne should make one.”

-Hester declines her invitation and says:

“’Make my excuse to him, so please you!’ answered Hester with a triumphant smile. ‘…Had they taken her from me, I would willingly have gone with thee into the forest, and signed my name in the Black Man’s book too, and that with mine own blood!’” – p113 

- The Black Man is mentioned again – most definitely seen as the Devil now 

- She sees Pearl now as a savior = saved from the Satan’s snare