The Scarlet Letter - Chapters IX and X Reading Tags
DUE BY 8am ON FRIDAY, 11/17!Analyze the tags for Chapters IX AND X in this blog. Use the following format in your analysis of each tag:
1. Tag and page number where the tag can be found
A. Author/Facts (does not have to be in complete sentences)
oFacts from the novel according to the tag
oWho?, What?, When?, Where?
oDefine new words
oParaphrase/Summary
B. Reader/Response (SHOULD BE IN COMPLETE SENTENCES)
oHow? Why?
oApplication
oWhat do you think about the situation surrounding the tag?
oRespond to the quote.
oPredictions/Questions
DON'T FORGET TO BRING A HARD COPY TO CLASS ON THE DAY THE TAGS ARE DUE IN ORDER TO GET YOUR POINTS!
1. Tag and page number where the tag can be found
A. Author/Facts (does not have to be in complete sentences)
oFacts from the novel according to the tag
oWho?, What?, When?, Where?
oDefine new words
oParaphrase/Summary
B. Reader/Response (SHOULD BE IN COMPLETE SENTENCES)
oHow? Why?
oApplication
oWhat do you think about the situation surrounding the tag?
oRespond to the quote.
oPredictions/Questions
DON'T FORGET TO BRING A HARD COPY TO CLASS ON THE DAY THE TAGS ARE DUE IN ORDER TO GET YOUR POINTS!
posted by Jenni Vega | 9:13 AM
4 Comments:
11. Failing Health(96-98)
A. Author/Facts
-Minister Dimmesdale is regarded as a great spiritual leader in the Puritan community.
-Dimmesdale hasn't been feeling very well lately.
-Many are afraid that Dimmesdale will die soon.
-Roger Chillingworth started trying to help him feel better.
-Chillingworth felt that the only way to make Dimmesdale better was to be near him and understand what the problem is.
-Chillingworth starts to live in the same house as Dimmesdale.
B. Reader/Response
-Why is this just starting to affect Dimmesdale now. It seems that he would have started developing these symptoms a long time ago if he was going to develop them at all.
-It's kind of ironic isn't it? Chillingworth is trying to ensure the survival of the man that he hates the most.
-It seems that the adultery has affected both of them in a positive way in that both have grown closer to God as a result of it.
-Dimmesdale is a giant weenie
12. Roommates (99-100)
A. Author/Facts
-Chillingworth starts to live with Dimmesdale.
-They are bording with a widow who gives them a good apartment.
-The wallpaper depicts Bible stories including David and Bathsheba.
-Chillingworth had apparently been involved with the deaths of several leading physicians in London.
B. Reader/Response
-Chillingworth and Dimmesdale get to know each other very well when they're in their apartments.
-It's a pretty cool reference that Hawthorne put in there with David and Bathsheba.
-The book tells us that it was apparent to everyone that Chillingworth would probably be the death of Dimmesdale. That is where the nickname of leech is most relevant.
13. "...The freedom of a broken law" (106)
A. Author/Facts
-Dimmesdale and Chillingsworth get into a discussion about hidden secrets.
-Chillingworth asks Dimmesdale why any man would keep his dark crimes with him till the grave.
-Dimmesdale says that any man that has confessed a dark sin in life has been better off in the end because of it.
-The freedom of a broken law refers to the weight lifted off one's conscience when you reveal what your secrets are.
B. Reader/Response
-It is realistic and inevitable that these two would eventually have this discussion. They both have backround in this and it is very intreaging for the story.
-It is interesting to me that Dimmesdale knows it is better for him to confess but cannot bring himself to do it despite this knowledge.
-Chillingworth is gradually starting to figure Dimmesdale out and soon Dimmesdale's secret will be gone
14. "A ghastly rapture" (109)
A. Author/Facts
-Chillingworth asks Dimmesdale about what he thinks of Hester.
-Dimmesdale indicates that while she clearly did break the law, she doesn't deserve the punishment given to her.
-Chillingworth asks Dimmesdale if he has really revealed what is wrong with him.
-Dimmesdale kind of avoids the question.
-At the end of the chapter, Dimmesdale gets figured out by Chillingworth.
B. Reader/Response
-It is interesting that Chillingworth asks Dimmesdale what he thinks about Hester even though the minister has already made that clear.
-Dimmesdale doesn't really answer Chillingworth when he is asked what is wrong with him.
-It is unreasonable to believe that Dimmesdale could have been found out while he was sleeping.
-Comparisons to the devil are continuously made to Chillingworth so I have to believe that he will go mad later in the story.
Ryan Jones
11. Failing Health (96-98)
a. Author/Facts
• Dimmsdale is slowly but surely dying because of an unexplainable sickness that Chillingworth is having trouble curing. Dimmsdale is described as becoming paler and paler each Sunday, and his voice is becoming weaker and weaker. There is no explanation in the book about why Dimmsdale is sick.
• Dimmsdale actually refuses any medication for his illness, but is confronted by ministers. They say that it is a sin to reject any help because God was offering it to him. Probably out of fear, Dimmsdale aggress to seek medical attention.
• It is ironic that Chillingworth is the one that is trying to cure Dimmsdale because the father of Hester’s child, the one that he is seeking revenge for, is right under his nose and neither of them realizes it.
b. Reader Response
I think that Dimmsdale’s illness is caused by the growing guilt of complete hypocrisy in his occupation and in his life in general. Every time that Hester’s sin is mentioned or the fact that she will not say who her partner in crime was, he must just grow a little paler. Every time that he goes up to the pulpit and speaks on being sinless in nature, there must be just a wrenching feeling inside of him.
12. Roommates (99-100)
a. Author/Facts
• In order figure out how to heal Dimmsdale in a more efficient way, Chillingworth practically moves in with him to observe his every day life.
• It is said that Dimmsdale was encouraged to get married, but refused this idea. Instead, every night he will eat his meals at another’s house, enjoying another’s fireplace. Dimmsdale lives a lonely life, a reason that may have contributed to his eventual affair.
• It is mentioned that Chillingworth has changed his name, and that someone had known him before by another name. It is also revealed that Roger was captured by Indians, and communicated with someone whose medical talents included black magic.
b. Reader Response
Are they implying that some find Dimmsdale’s and Chillingworth’s intimate companionship homosexual? That is what it sounds like they are implying. I didn’t even know that they even had anyone who would dare to think that back then. In a Puritan community, anything like that suspected was probably the death penalty. Do they think that that is what is going on? It is kind of weird, but isn’t it strictly medical and for Dimmsdale’s own good? The inappropriate situation has probably not been addressed yet because they need Chillingworth’s medical expertise and Dimmsdale is a valuable pastor. It is ironic, though, that the adulterer and husband are now even living together without knowing who the other is.
13. “…the freedom of a broken law” (106)
a. Author/Facts
• This quote is referring to Pearl, who is trotting around very disrespectfully on the graves. They subconsciously believe that because Pearl was born under unrighteous circumstances, that she is not held to the same standards as all of the other Puritans are.
• Chillingworth is convinced that Pearl has no moral standards or principle, no affections for anyone. He is questioning Dimmsdale about this topic. This is ironic because, again, it is Hester’s husband questioning the man who had adultery with his wife, and they are talking about the child birthed as a result of that sin.
• Chillingworth questions Dimmsdale about the claiming of a sin, and telling authorities that you have done something wrong. Chillingworth has discovered a ‘passion’ inside of Dimmsdale that a reverend usually does not have. Chillingworth probably recognizes this passion from what he sees in Hester.
b. Reader Response
Chillingworth is so on to Dimmsdale that it isn’t even funny. Dimmsdale can’t even stay in the room, the conviction is so hot. It is almost to a point of openly accusing him when Chillingworth is having the debate with Dimmsdale. Though Chillingworth is correct, I think that he is more correct than he realizes. I think that Roger is just so eager to find out for himself who the adulterer is, that his judgment is impaired.
14. A Ghastly Rapture (109)
a. Author/Facts
• Up until this point, Chillingworth had been philosophically questioning Dimmsdale about what a man should do if he had committed a horrible sin, indicating strongly that Dimmsdale is who he was preaching to.
• This quote represents Dimmsdale’s strange shock when Chillingworth walks over to him and rips off his vestment without a word, then walks away. The vestment was a religious representation possibly in a pastoral color, or even a cross on a chain.
• Why Chillingworth does this could have very well been because he has finally pieced everything together, or just because he knows that Dimmsdale is hiding some deadly sin, though Chillingworth doesn’t know what.
b. Reader Response
I still cannot figure out if Chillingworth has finally put everything together or if he knows by studying Dimmsdale that he has committed a great sin, just doesn’t know what exactly he has done. Whatever the circumstance, I think that Chillingworth is suspicious that Dimmsdale has not at all lived up to the moral standards that he has been preaching, which is why he ripped off his religious vestment. That was a bold move on Chillingworth’s part, so he has to have some solid grounds on which he go so far as to nearly assault a priest.
this is Katherine Miller
...as you may call me v. :)
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