Literature Analysis #2 ~ The Scarlet Letter

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

Exposition: The story begins with the entirety of Boston awaiting the exit of Hester Pryne, a woman who is in prison for committing adultery and conceiving a child. Once she steps out of the prison and set on display with her child in arms, she is questioned, as to who the father may be. Hester Pryne refuses to reveal the man's name and bears the sin on her own shoulders, the scarlet A already on her bossom. While she stands on display, bearing the stares and the many insults, she spots a man she recognizes. Once in her cell again, the man introduces himself as Dr. Roger Chillingworth, although he quickly reveals that he is Hester Pryne's presumed to be dead husband, and Chillingworth vows to take revenge on the man she had this child with, although he doesn't know the name of the father.

Inciting Incident: Dimmesdale begins to lose his health, his sin and guilt are killing him (literally!). Roger Chillingworth becomes his confident, as well as his doctor. Chillingworth begins to notice oddities between Dimmesdale and the child Pearl, Dimmesdale shows the child affection when in contact with her, and defends Pearl staying with Hester when they attempt to relocate her.

Rising Action: Chillingworth begins to take his revenge, tormenting the soul of Dimmesdale, and worsening his health.

Conflict: Hester Pryne plans on telling Dimmesdale that Chillingworth was her husband, that he is seeking his revenge on him, that he is living with evil under his home. Hester meets Dimmesdale one day out in the woods with Pearl, and allowing Pearl to play, recounts the entirety of Chillingworth's plan to Dimmesdale. Hester pleads that the Reverend abandon the land and be safe and healthy somewhere else, but he claims that he cannot go alone. Dimmesdale is asking, without saying, that all three of them leave together to Europe. The plan is to leave on a Spanish ship that Hester can manage to get them on. Hester attempts to tell Pearl what will happen, and once again Pearl wonders if this man, her father, will hold hands with them on top of the scaffold. The answer is once again no, not this time.

Climax: Before the couple and child are able to flee to Europe, Reverend Dimmesdale must give his Election Sermon. A sermon he worked on vigorously after having made plans with Hester to leave. In this speech he admits to the sin that has weighed him down for so long, he openly admits to the crowd that he is the father of little Pearl. After having done so, Dimmesdale passes away.

Falling Action:

Resolution: Hester Pryne eventually returns to Boston, having waited for Pearl to grow up. Hester lives for some years and is then buried next to the father of her child.

2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid clichés.
Isolation and the effects of society seem to be the two largest themes in this novel. The first theme actually being caused by the second theme, isolation is something that occurs with all three of our sinful characters. Hester Pryne is pushed out of society with a small child, Dimmesdale is pushed into becoming an introvert in order to keep the secret within, and Pearl is punished with her mother. Hester is forced to live in a cabin out on the end of the town, never having companionship, never having a friend, but Pearl. Pearl experiences isolation in the worst years, being taunted by kids when they go to town, having to create her own friends out of stick and such, and being a bit cynical sometimes. All of this isolation is caused by society and its way of function. If Reverend Dimmesdale would have confessed to his sin and stood on the scaffold with Hester, she wouldn't have been punished alone (isolation), but his position in society wouldn't let it be. He was afraid of losing his stance and reputation, and instead pushed himself into an unhealthy life.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
The tone is not only ironic, but hopeful. The ironic portion comes from society and the way they perceive Hester Pryne. They have the audacity to brand her with the scarlet letter and then call her 'able.' It is ironic that this symbol of sin causes so much good within the community, being bragged about to visitors for her many good deeds, and being recognized as one of the most giving people. It is also ironic in the end, when Dimmesdale finally admits the sin, and asks for help from Hester to be put on display on the scaffold. The tone is also hopeful, because through adultery, Hester was able to maintain a good reputation and be seen as good, giving her hope, for her daughter and herself, that one day the secret may be out, or they be freed of the town and the ignominy.

"Come, Hester, come! Support me up yonder scaffold!" (Dimmesdale)
"None so ready as she to give of her little substance to every demand of poverty..."
"Such helpfulness was found in her- so much power to do and power to sympathize- that many people refused to interpret the scarlet 'A' by its original signification. They said that it meant 'Able'; so strong was Hester Pryne, with a woman's strength."

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

1. Characterization: "He was a soldier, legislator, judge; he was a ruler in the Church; he had all the Puritanic traits, both good and evil. He was likewise a better persecutor; as witness the Quakers, who have remembered him in their histories, and relate an incident of his hard severity toward a woman of their sect, which will last longer, it is to be feared, than any record of his better deeds, although these were many." Pg. 21
2. Metaphor: "Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted for too long a series of generations in the same worn-out soil." Pg. 23
3. Personification: "...where the Actual and the Imaginary may meet, and each imbue itself with the nature of the other." Pg. 45 
4. Symbolism: "It(the rose) 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 fragility and sorrow." Pg. 56
5. Puritanical/Religious/Biblical Allusion: "Tomorrow would bring it's own trial with it; so would the next day, and so would the next.." Pg. 82-83
6. Simile: "All other scenes of earth- even that village of rural England, where happy infancy and stainless maidenhood seemed yet to be in her mother's keeping, like garments put off long ago- were foreign to her in comparison." Pg. 84
7. Foreshadowing (Dimmesdale the father of Pearl):  "...the minister looked round, laid his hand on the child's head, hesitated an instant, and then kissed her brow." Pg. 115 & " A man (Dimmesdale) burdened with a secret should especially avoid the intimacy of his physician (Chillingworth-Hester's presumed to be dead husband)." Pg. 123
8. Flashback (on what Chillingworth used to be): "'Dost thou remember me? Was I not, though you might deem me cold, nevertheless a man thoughtful for others, craving little for himself- kind, true, just, and of constant if not warm affections? Was I not all this?' 'All this and more,' said Hester. 'And what am I now?' demanded he, looking into her face, and permitting the whole evil within him to be written on his features."
9. Hyperbole: "There was no peril of discovery. The minister might stand there, if it so pleased him, until morning should redden in the east, without other risk than that the dank and chill night air would creep into his frame and stiffen his joints with rheumatism and clog his throat with catarrh and cough, thereby defrauding the expectant audience of tomorrow's prayer and sermon." 
10. Imagery: "And thus, while standing on the scaffold, in this vain show of expiation, Mr. Dimmesdale was overcome with a great horror of mind, as if the universe were gaping at a scarlet token on his naked breast, right over his heart. On that spot, in very truth, there was, and there had long been, the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain."

CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

INDIRECT:
"'Speak, woman!' said another voice, coldly and sternly, proceeding from the crowd about the scaffold. "Speak; and give your child a father!" "I will not speak!" answered Hester, turning pale as death, but responding to this voice, which she too surely recognized. "And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!" "She will not speak!" murmured Mr. Dimmesdale.."

"..Hester bestowed all her superfluous means in charity, on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them. Much of the time which she might have readily have applied to the better efforts of her art, she employed in making coarse garments for the poor."

DIRECT:

"The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. 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. 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. And never had Hester Prynne appeared more ladylike..."

"- at the deformed figure of the old physician. His gestures, his gait, his grizzled beard, his slightest and most indifferent acts, the very fashion of his garments, were odious.."

The author uses both indirect and direct characterization because it allows the character to build its own persona. Hester Pryne is characterized as beautiful through direct characterization, but her true character is shown through indirect characterization, by spoken word, and by her actions. On the other hand, Roger Chillingworth's direct characterization opens up his true identity, a crooked old man, wanting to cause nothing but trouble.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character? How? Example(s)?
Syntax differs when focused on characters and when focused on location or experiences. The characters are characterized by their actions, as well as by direct characterization. When focusing on a location, the descriptions are lengthy, and very detailed, going into such detail as mentioning the color of leaves, the way a branch blocks the sunlight, the way a creek flows.

3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.
Hester Pryne is a dynamic character transforming herself and her ignominy into a positive by the end of the book. Hester seems to remain the same throughout the book, but her personality does go through some change. With little Pearl by her side, Hester becomes more patient, more giving, and more kind. Hester has a point of rebellion when she removes the scarlet letter, relieving herself of the weight of sin, but she soon returns to normality by request of her sweet Pearl.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction. 

After reading the book I felt like I had read a character. My brain couldn't imagine such a woman, such a courageous and self-disciplined woman, I couldn't imagine someone who wouldn't crumble under so much pressure. My brain could not form the image of a woman that could handle this situation so gracefully, accepting what she had been branded as and turning it around into a positive. The idea that people later pointed her out as a good representation of the town or of women was astounding and simply quite impossible.

VOCABULARY:

• Ignominy- public shame or disgrace
• Paramour- lover, illicit partner of a married person
• Anathema- somebody or something cursed, denounced, or excommunicated by a religious authority
• Anon- soon
• Phantasmagoric- having a fantastic or deceptive appearance, as something in a dream or created by the imagination
• Expiation- the act of making amends or correcting wrongdoings