Initial Reactions to the Scarlet Letter
Initial Reactions to the Scarlet Letter
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Blog # 7
Non-Conformity and its consequences: So far, we are given the information that Hester Prynne has done something that goes against the conformity of her community, and for that reason, she has been in prison. Once she gets out of prison, she is forced to wear an embroidered letter “A” (the SCARLET LETTER) in order to represent her terrible act and because she wears that scarlet letter, she is essentially ostracized from society, without actually being physically ostracized. The women in her town, “the gossips” talk about her in a cruel manner, and they say that she deserved what she got, or even worse. Either Prynne committed a truly horrible act, or the strict rules in this Puritan town make a lot out of what she did, whether or not it was severe or not. Prynne is made to stand in front of all of the people in the town as they stare at her and her scarlet letter, as well as the baby that she carries, who, until she was let out of prison, had never seen the light of day.
The Baby: First of all, it cannot have been good for the baby’s health that she had been shut up in darkness for three months and then, suddenly brought into full daylight. Also, it seems that the baby’s birth must have happened in close proximity to the crime that Hester Prynne committed, which could indicate that the baby had something to do with the act that she committed.
Relationship between community and the individual: The community disapproves of what Hester Prynne did and they think that she deserves her punishment, and many people even think that she deserves worse. The community represents the idea of conformity and obeying the strict rules of Puritan society. The rules in a Puritan town are very strict for two main reasons: the first is that Puritans believe in Original Sin. They believe that all people are sinful by nature, and therefore they need to implement strict rules of conduct in order to keep all of the citizens free from sin and conforming to society. The second reason is basically the reason that the success of Puritan towns depended on ALL of their citizens being free from sin. In a Puritan town, all the citizens believed that if one person in the community broke the rules of society, they would put the salvation of the entire community in jeopardy. This meant that when someone went against the conformity of the society or broke any of the rules in the community, they would be killed, or severely punished.
My own observations based on the first two chapters of The Scarlet Letter are that there seem to be several comparisons between opposite metaphorical ideas. This can be seen in the comparison between…
Imagination and Reality
Hester Prynne has visions about her past while she is standing in front of the throng of people in her town and then she comes back to reality and she even touches the Scarlet Letter to make sure that it is real.
Shame and [Beauty and Luxury] (grouped)
The Scarlet Letter is meant to be a symbol of utter disgrace, but in fact, it is quite beautifully embroidered with gold and bright scarlet red which makes it seem very luxurious and opulent…maybe even something that a King or Queen would wear, or a seal of pride. In reality, it is meant to cause the wearer embarrassment and disgrace at what they have done or committed.
Melancholy and Half-Holiday
The boys of the town are very innocent and they do not really know what is happening to Hester Prynne, but they are in somewhat high spirits because it is almost a half-holiday for them. Obviously, this is meant to be a melancholy event and a great disgrace for Hester Prynne, but the boys are innocently quite happy for the holiday.
Another important comparison is between the Prison Door and the Rose Bush outside. This comparison expresses the juxtaposition between darkness and gloom and beauty and freshness. The fact that these two things are so close to each other (the rosebush is right on the threshold of the prison door) that it presents a very important comparison between the two. When I think about this juxtaposition, it makes me think of a painting in which the prison is depicted and everything is very dark, except for the rose bush, sitting right at the threshold with red or pink or white roses, so bright in the contrast with the dark background.
So far, I really like the book, I am really curious about what happens in the story and what Hester Prynne did to deserve the burden of the SCARLET LETTER.
After Class: Now I know that the A stands for Adultery…I am really curious about the rest of the story.
