The Scarlet Letter Chapters XXII-XXIV THE LAST SET OF READING TAGS! WOOHOO!
DUE BY 8am ON TUESDAY, 12/12! Analyze the tags for Chapters XXII - XXIV 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 | 7:45 PM
2 Comments:
31. Never, since Mr. Dimmesdale first arrived....had he exhibited such energy (187)
A. Author/Facts
-The procession for the governor's induction is passing through the streets.
-Hester is watching all of the people involved pass by and spots Dimmesdale.
-Dimmesdale looks like he is in very good shape and is looking very proud walking through the streets with everyone.
-Hester hardly recognizes him and Pearl has to ask her if that is really him.
-Mistress Hibbins tells Hester that Dimmesdale looks like a man who has been in the forest.
B. Reader/Response
-Hester almost looks very disappointed at the way that Dimmesdale looks during the parade.
-Dimmesdale is soaking in the whole experience and he looks like he is very comfortable where he is.
-Pearl says that she wants to give him a kiss but Hester deters her from that. It is obvious that Hester is fully anticipating that Dimmesdale won't reveal anything today.
-Mistress Hibbens says that Dimmesdale looks like someone who has been in the forest but Hester dismisses that comment. Nothing is really resolved in the forest side plot.
32. "Mistress Hibbins says my father is the Prince of the Air" (191)
A. Author/Facts
-The sermon that Dimmesdale is preaching and Hester is paying close attention to it.
-Pearl is running around the area and everybody is interacting with her.
-One man tries to give Pearl a kiss and another gives her his golden chain.
-The man that had given her the golden chain tells her to tell Hester that Dimmesdale is coming with Chillingworth.
-Pearl says that Mistress Hibbins said her dad was the devil and I guess Pearl believed her.
B. Reader/Response
-Pearl puts her wildness on full display in the second half of this chapter. She runs around the area and the people interact with her along the way.
-Maybe people desire to be with her because she seems free from the laws and regulations that they are bound by.
-It is interesting that she is so eager to believe what Mistress Hibbins says about who her dad really is. It's like she likes that idea.
33. How feeble and pale he looked amid all his triumph! (195)
A. Author/Facts
-Dimmesdale is still preaching his sermon and he is on a roll.
-He's doing a very good job with the sermon and the respect that the town has for him is reaching its peak.
-Hester is still watching him and is feeling very anxious.
-At the end of his great sermon, all of his strength faints away and he is left as he was before the parade.
-Some people try to help him but Dimmesdale doesn't want to accept their help.
B. Reader/Response
-Dimmesdale has just preached the greatest sermon that is a great end for his spectacular career that he couldn't enjoy.
-He has broken out of the trance that he was in but that just returns him to the way he was before.
-All of his strength drains away from him as he is obviously thinking about what he is getting ready to do.
-Dimmesdale doesn't want help from anyone because he realizes that they won't want to help him in a minute anyway.
34. "Madman, hold! What is your purpose? Wave back that woman! (196)
A. Author/Facts
-The book reaches its climax and Dimmesdale is finally able to proclaim his sin to everyone.
-Chillingworth curiously tries to stop him from doing so but Dimmesdale is determined to be heard.
-Everyone in the crowd is pretty much speechless and Hester joins him on the scaffold platform.
-He kisses Pearl and Hester again proclaims her love for him.
-Dimmesdale then finally collapses and dies.
B. Reader/Response
-Many symbols in this story are resolved in the climax of this novel.
-The first and surprisingly most focused on symbol is the "defeating" of Roger Chillingworth. It is almost as if he has no purpose in life any more after Dimmesdale has revealed his secret.
-He keeps repeating "you have escaped me" meaning that by revealing his secret, Chillingworth cannot torture any longer.
-Pearl finally is able to do what she has already longed to do almost the whole book. She is able to show affection for Dimmesdale in public and she thinks that is a lot truer than when he tried to kiss her in the forest.
-Finally, Hester asks Dimmesdale if they will see each other in heaven. She thinks that they will because of the "ransom" that has been paid in full by both Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale.
-I think that the reason Hawthorne killed off Dimmesdale in the end is because of the fact that it makes for a very tidy ending and a very symbolic one also.
35. "Be true! Show freely to the world...some trait by which the worst can be inferred. (202)
A. Author/Facts
-After several days, the story of what happened is slowly pieced together and while some disagree, it is finally decided that Dimmesdale had nothing to do with the adultery.
-He was merely too holy to live on earth according to all of his congregation.
-Hawthorne encourages people to be true to themselves near the end of this section of the chapter.
B. Reader/Response
-I think that the fact that the Puritans didn't realize what Dimmesdale did, much less learn a lesson from it, after he died. The point of all that he did was finally getting everything off of his chest and being true to who he knew he really was.
-Hawthorne makes the statement in the above tag saying that you should be true to yourself. I guess that you could consider this the moral of the story.
-Considering that the moral of the story centers around Dimmesdale, an arguement could be made that he was the antagonist instead of Hester. This is because of the fact that while she has many chapters in the book centered around her, there are at least as many that are centered around Dimmesdale where Hester takes a back seat role.
36. "ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES" (205)
A. Author/Facts
-All of the rest of the story is wrapped up in this last section of the chapter.
-Hester goes on to live a long life and never takes the A off of her chest.
-Dimmesdale dies within a year and leaves a huge inheritance to Hester and Pearl.
-No one knows exactly what happened to Pearl but many think that she got married and had children herself.
-When Hester died, this was her epitaph.
B. Reader/Response
-Chillingworth couldn't emotionally overcome his defeat and died in much the same way that Dimmesdale suffered.
-The red A would always be a part of Hester and she would never be separated from that sybol of what she did, however many years ago it was.
-Pearl remains a mystery in the end of the book just as she was throughout the entire book.
-The epitaph shows how she would never be separated from the SCARLET LETTER and brings the book back to where it was begun. It is in the graveyard.
31. “so strange he looked” (188)
a. Author/Facts
• Hawthorne begins to describe the procession of people which Hester and Pearl are watching. As Dimmsdale begins to come, he is described as looking much stronger. His hand is not over his heart, and Hester wonders if Dimmsdale even heard the music. Dimmsdale’s seemed to be having an out of body experience, his newly strengthened soul taking over and filling him with confidence.
• Pearl does not recognize Dimmsdale and asks if it is the same man who kissed her in the forest, and also asked if she cold run over and give him a kiss. She is somewhat confused when Hester again tells pearl that she can not publicly recognize this man.
• Pearl goes on to ask that if she did kiss him, would he have clapped his hand over his heart, scowled at her, and bid her be gone? Hester replies that kisses are not to be given in the marketplace and that is what he would tell her.
b. Reader Response
It is very important that Pearl does not recognize Dimmsdale through his newly found confidence when she has just seen him three days ago. Hester notices the obvious change as well. I am quite angry with Chillingworth for spoiling their plans to be happy people. Dimmsdale still has no idea, I don’t think, that Chillingworth has figured out their plans, and I don’t know what he will do when he finds out. Maybe kill him. I would push him overboard into the ocean and make him swim back. But knowing Chillingworth he would probably go to Europe and track them down and haunt them forever.
32. “the same scorching stigma was on them both.” (192)
a. Author/Facts
• After a bit, Mistress Hibbins approaches Hester, who tells Hester that she knows he was in the woods with her, using the proof that a sinner knows a sinner. She said that as Hester does, Dimmsdale has the mark of the devil, and it matches Hester’s. Hester only wears it openly.
• Mistress Hibbins says that she will whisper to Hester why Dimmsdale always holds his hand over his heart. Pearl intervenes and wants to know for herself. Mistress Hibbins answers by telling Pearl that she is descendent of the prince of the air, meaning the devil and asks if she will ride with her one night to see him.
• At this time Dimmsdale begins the prayer and his speech. Hester gets as near as she can, and, though she cannot understand what he is saying, hears the emotion in his voice.
• Pearl, on the other hand, goes off to play. When she comes upon a group of sailors, the sea captain gives her a message to be delivered to her mother. He tells her that Chillingworth has told him that he will take care of Dimmsdale getting onto the ship, and Hester only has to worry about Pearl. He ends the message calling her a with baby, but Pearl passionately responds that Mistress Hibbins said that she was a descendent of the prince of the air and not to call her that ill name or she would tell him so and he would chase their ship with a tempest.
• After Pearl tells her the news, Hester looks around and realizes that she is being silently harassed by the crowd of people staring at her and surrounding her a few feet away. She cannot see how the same sin lay on the worshipped minister inside and the woman of the scarlet letter in the marketplace.
b. Reader Response
This comment made by Hester is very true. The same sin lay on both the sainted minister and scorned woman. Mistress Hibbins is slightly intimidating with her accurate knowledge, though somewhat wrong. She kind of freaked me out when she asked Pearl to ride away with her to visit Pearls father, the devil. It is also ironic how even the sea captain calls her a witch baby. She is not bound by the laws of the Puritan society but by the laws of nature. It will also be interesting to see what happens next when it is time to go to the ship.
33. “there was no one place…thou couldst have escaped me-save this very scaffold.” (197)
a. Author/Facts
• Up until this point, Dimmsdale has just given the sermon of his life and the congregation has more respect for them than they have ever had. However, Dimmsdale is described as looking deathly ill, as if the sermon took a lot out of his and his strength was leaving him. He was being watched by the other ministers because he looked as if he was going to fall.
• When Dimmsdale comes upon Hester and Pearl he stops, instead of continuing on to the festivities, and calls to them. To the amazement of the crowd he asks them to stand upon the scaffold with him. Chillingworth runs to them and tries to stop Dimmsdale from doing this, knowing that if he does he will have escaped from his grip for good.
• Chillingworth makes the statement that ‘had thou sought the whole earth over, there was no one place so secret,- no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me,-save on this very scaffold.’
b. Reader Response
The statement that Chillingworth makes means that it doesn’t matter what Dimmsdale did to try to appease his sin and guilt, until he confessed his sin publicly upon the scaffold he would not be free of it. When he pauses at Hester and Pearl and asks them to stand at the scaffold with him, I got nervous cause I thought that they would not let them escape on the ship, with Chillingworth making it even more complicated- but then I read what happens next…
34. Final words (198-199)
a. Author/Facts
• Dimmsdale, Hester, and Pearl go and stand upon the scaffold. Hester has to help Dimmsdale stand up because he cannot on his own. Dimmsdale starts to give his confession to the complete utter shock of the crowd.
• After he steps forward, apart from Hester and Pearl and on his own strength, Dimmsdale reveals all, including the fact that he has carved an A on his chest. After he has finished, Dimmsdale sinks to the ground from loss of strength. He asks Pearl if she would kiss him now, because she would not in the woods. Pearl runs over to kiss him.
• After Pearl gives Dimmsdale a kiss, she asks if they will all be together in heaven, and Dimmsdale says that he does not know for sure. Pearl can tell that he is dying, and says that surely, being so close to death, he can see what is to come.
b. Reader Response
Ahh. I cannot believe that Dimmsdale dies. That is so disappointing. Dimmsdale and Hester were supposed to escape together into the sunset with their daughter, away from Chillingworth, away from the Puritans. Bah humbug. At least it was a good way for him to die, but if he had done that in the first place instead of letting the guilt and Chillingworth kill, he wouldn’t have! If he was going to die at all it took him longer than I thought, though. I thought he would have died much earlier if he was going to die at all. When Pearl kisses him it is like she is finally accepting him as her father, because before she would not and got mad at him for not standing on the scaffold with them in the day time.
35. Chillingworth’s death (202-203)
a. Author/Facts
• After Dimmsdale’s death, there are many stories about what exactly was on his chest. Many said that is was a scarlet letter to match Hester's, while many people tried to protect his reputation saying that even the saintliest sin.
• After all this, Chillingworth dies within the year. Since all that has taken the life from him has died, revenge and malice, he dies as well, with nothing to thrive on. Upon his death he leaves Pearl a considerable amount of land.
b. Reader Response
Chillingworth dies because his revenge and malice and hatred for Dimmsdale that had killed Chillingworth along time ago were all that he had left to run on, and when that died with Dimmsdale’s death, Chillingworth fully died as well. One of the assumptions made on how Dimmsdale got the mark on his chest was because of the guilt that Chillingworth laid up Dimmsdale gnawed at him. It was nice of him to leave Pearl all of the land, because now it seems as if she will have somewhat of a prosperous future for her mother to look forward to.
36. “On a field, sable, the letter A, gules” (205)
a. Author/Facts
• Hester and Pearl disappear, probably to Europe. Hester returns years later to the same cottage which is still there due to legend. All stigmata that may have been attached to the A is now gone, yet Hester still wears it. Pearl is not with her, yet it is hinted that she has married and is wealthy due to the nice things that Hester has.
• When Hester dies she is buried next to Dimmsdale, though not to close. They share the same tombstone, however, and the book ends describing what is written on it. A red letter A on a black field.
b. Reader Response
The scarlet letter is over. I like the very ending, how they are buried together, but I wish that they could have lived happily ever after. I am glad, however, that Pearl has married well and seems happy enough because otherwise I think that she would have returned with Hester. It is sad that the story has to end. It was a very good book. I don’t know why, but upon finishing the book, Hester seems more like a hero to me for the fact that she did what she had to do for her daughter. Regardless of the torturous weight of Puritanism, regardless of the fact that she mostly suffered alone, apart from the fact that all odds were against her, she gave her Pearl a future, buying it with all that was precious to her, even her beauty and her reputation. She survived.
Katherine Leigh Miller
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