Thursday, April 28, 2011
Difficulty 2
In my quest to continue to understand what The Scarlet Letter means, I find myself running into alot more question marks than I orinally anticipated. The first part that I really didn't understand was why the people started to see Chillingsworth as evil. It is said "... [Dimmsdale] was haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan's emissary, in the guise of old Roger Chillingsworth"(86). It wasn't really until the in class discussion that I understand why the people ever thought that Chillingsworth was a bad person. That part confused me because in the beginning of the chapter they like him. The people were first saying " ..that Heaven had wrought an absolute miracle, by transporting an eminent Doctor of Physic, from a German university, bodily through the air, and setting him down at the door of Mr. Dimmesdale's study!"(81). In this case of figuring out what was going on, the only thing I could do was to keep reading. As I read into the next chapter it became more clear why they called him evil. In my opinion the author was just foreshadowing what was to come. Sure enough, later on in the chapter when Hester talks with Chillingsworth the evil about him comes out again. "In a word, old Roger Chillingsworth was a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable space of time, undertake a devil's office"(110). At that point in the story, Hester went to tell Chillingsworth that she is going to let Dimmesdale know who he really is. I guess the only diffuculty I have is understanding why she didn't just go tell Dimmesdale first. When Hester actually does go and tell Dimmesdale in the woods, I don't really get who Dimmesdale is more angry with, Hester or Chillingsworth. "The minister looked at her, for an instant, with all that violence of passion....the portion of him which the Devil claimed...Never was there a blacker or a fiercer frown than Hester now encountered"(125). When I read that I couldn't really determine who he was angry with but putting myself in his position, it would be both
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I agree that The Dcarlet Letter has many question marks through out the entire story and the labguage is ultimatly despising when you read it is like cracking open a secret code of the seventeeth century. I feel thaqt ther are a lot of things we will all struggle with but in the long run there is always spark notes! Just kidding but really i had to do more research just to understand what was going on and how to interpret it. Good luck with your paper i know i need it!
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ReplyDeleteExcellent work here on working through Difficulty. I especially appreciate your persistence with figuring out how this change in Chillingsworth occurs. The evidence here is very compelling. You were able to track down and locate the exact sentences that show this important change in one of the central characters in the novel. In doing so, you have also uncovered one of the central conflicts: the very human ability to re-create yourself—for better or worse. Also, I believe, that Chillingsworth exhibits the power of revenge and and how this powerful emotion has the capacity to overwhelm a person and change them. Another example...see next comment...
Another example of this is when Chillingworth first talks with Hester in the prison scene. Rather than condemn her outright, he is able to maintain a sense of compassion towards her situation. In fact, one could argue is places more blame on himself, than her. Later, however, when she comes across him madly digging for herbs in the forest, he can hardly be bothered with Hester. He is no longer a compassionate and caring man—but a man obsessed. Hawthorne calls him the "leech" because his one goal in life has been to drive the truth out of Dimmesdale, or perhaps, even destroy Dimmesdale. One complication I think you could also explore in your Research paper is: what drives Chillingsworth to go to such lengths? Yes, we discussed his "possession" has been stolen, and his manhood threatened, but what about the hypocritical nature of Dimmesdale, and religion itself. Remember, Chillingsworth is an educated man who has spent considerable time with the "natives" and because of this, I think his capacity to see the power of religion to control this society as a problem, rather than a salvation in this community....Great work Nate!
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