Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Scarlet Letter- Ending

"He is merciful" (197)

The ending proposes that Hester and Dimmsdale were finally forgiven for their sin years ago. After Dimmesdale confessed, he died as though his confession to the townspeople was the last thing that he had to do to obtain peace. Dimmesdale died to stop the anguish that he felt on earth. Chillingsworth died do that Hester could live in peace, knowing that he was not going to punish her. Hester and Pearl finally moved away from the town that caused them so much pain and suffering to have a chance at a happy life. The towns people the cursed stigma off of Hester, but executed Miss Hibbons, showing that they did not truly change. Their judgemental manner will continues to persecute those who are different from the norm for generations to come.

The Scarlet Letter- Ergot

"Lost regular and healthy throb, wandered without a clew in the dark labyrinth of his mind"(127)

It is believed by many that the Salem Witch Trials was strongly effected by a fungus that grew in the wheat harvest called Ergot. This particular fungus causes severe hallucinations and other mental disorder, most of which similar to Schizophrenia. This could explain allot about this novel. For example how Miss Hibbons goes out to the forest and talks to the "Dark Man". This could explain why everyone is Scare of the devil. They think that they are cured with strange mental occurrences that they can not talk about for fear of being persecuted as a witch, so they point fingers at others. Dimmsdale's scarlet letter could be nothing more than a delusion, thinking that there has always been an A on his chest. He covers it with his hand so that no one else will see it.

The Scarlet Letter- Alienation

"The town was asleep, there was no peril of discovery." (113)

In the first half of the novle, Hester was secluded, and alone even in the presce of others. Now, Dimmesdale is secluded. He is a leader of the community. But in all of his interactions with his parishoners, he was not truly with them. He was alone in his mind. On the night he was on the scaffold, he was alone in every sence. Even when he screamed in pain, few people strerred. The only one that saved him from this lonley night was Hester. When she came up the lane Dimmesdale changed from depressed and homisidal to relived at the site of them. Talking to Hester and Pearl, he became present, and he could bear the harsh worls in which he built arround himself. Both Hester and Dimmsdale were alone without eachother. They cured each other of lonleyness.

The Scarlet Letter- The A

"The letter was a symbol of her calling" (123)

The scarlet letter was originally meant to be a punishment set by society toward Hester Prynne, so all would know of her past crimes. Hester, being a religious person believe the letter to be her own personal curse. As evident by her strength in public, she did not care what others thought of her. The letter significance also changes throughout the story, and its meaning is different to different characters. The towns people at first meant it to be a symbol of her curse. Over time and Hester's charity toward others, many of them changed their minds and thought it to stand for able, a symbol of strength. Lastly, the scarlet letter is present in Dimmsdale as well, invisible, known only to him. To dimmsdale, his marks is worse than Hester's because he has to endure it alone, but refuses to tell anyone else.

The Scarlet Letter- Irony

"kind to the least of society" (124)

Hester Prynne was accused of creation of the devil spawn, shunned from society, and still had love for others. She showed kindness to those who she made dresses for, even though they were probably not kind. She would make garments for those who could not afford them. In all these things that she did for the good of others, she was not thanks, the work she did got little appreciation yet she continued to show goodwill to those who despised her. All the while, the townspeople were chastising her and gossiping about her, and refused to show her any good will. Which of these would more readily be proclaimed evil? Even though Hester Prynne was cursed to where the scarlet letter, it was the towns people who where not fit to call themselves people of God. Even the ministers persecuted innocent women just because of rumors claiming witch craft.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Scarlet Letter- The Secret

"Should have the handlings of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? I the hussy stood up for judgment before us five...come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates?...Marry, I trow not." (38)

For a town so small, Hester Prynne keeping a known secret so big must be killing some of the towns people. If this had been a normal secret, like who stole something trivial and the townspeople knew that one of their own knew information, that person would be hounded. It would never be acceptable just to passively walk away with the secret. Hester Prynne did not just walk away. She got a heavier sentence, but she was able to keep her secret. The towns people must have tried everything while she was in jail, before the opening scene. After all that and being asked in front of everyone at her hearing Hester told no one. This added on to her shunning from the society. Now, she was an adulterer and she had a dangerous secret that she would not reveal. In the 21st century, this would be seen as honorable, protecting another, so you can bear the burden, but only worsened Hesters, punishment, both from society and the law.

The Scarlet Letter- Style

This novel is written in a frame story. The first frame is in the Custom house at present. The second lesser frame is of the man intrigued by the story enough to write it down. And the most in depth frame, Hester's story in the late 17th Century. Because of this style of writing, the reader sees generations of townspeople recounting Hester's story as some cautionary tale, instead of learning compassion for other. The generations that were told this story through Prynne perspective, should have learned from it. They could have learned that everyone is equal, but instead the frame will keep getting bigger generation after generation of townspeople happening upon the story with disgust or disinterest. This is what happens in the outer most frame in the Custom house.

The Scarlet Letter- Characterization

"Whether from pride or resignation, or feeling that her penance might best be wrought out by this unutterable pain, she resisted" (73)


Nathaniel Hawthorn characterizes Hester Prynne through indirect Characterization. Throughout the chapters, Hester character changes. At first she seems strong willed and tough in the face of adversity. This is because she is on trail by everyone she knows and despite all this pressure, she is relatively calm. When she sees her husband in the crown, she does not react. She merely stares at him for a while, and they push there conversation to a later time in the prison. When asked to give up the name of the man that has also sinned, she refuses. These moments characterize Prynne as someone who is calculated. She know what she is doing and knows the consequence to every choice, willing to take it.

The Scarlet Letter- The Rose Bush

"This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history" (35)

The lone rose bush outside of the prison door seems to be the only vegetation visible through the bars of a warn down prison. Everything else is a view of the dirt covered town, waring away as well. That rose bush meant that in Prynne's Grim situation, there was still a ray of hope. Just like the rose bush at the prison, pearl was the beautiful thing that came out of a mistake. Everyone thought her to be the spawn of satan. The towns people labeled pearl based solely on the mistakes of her parents, as an abomination to be handled or shunned. But pearl was not a abomination to Prynne. Prynne, comments how pearl was the only thing good that came out of her current situation. Prynne fights for Pearls custody even though it means going against the leaders and townspeople once more. Pearl is what Prynne has to live for. With out Pearl, Prynne could give up with out hurting anyone.

The Scarlet Letter- Setting

"A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and grey, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was assembled." (35)

The setting of this novel is in Salem, Massachusetts, in the 1700s. It is clear that is it not a big town, and everyone knows what everyone, and that includes their secrets. This is how towns in this time governed "effectively". Because Salem was such a small town the smallest rumor could be turned in to a full trail for witch craft, or in Prynne's case, adultery.  Hester Prynne could not hide this from the town like a normal secret however, and knew that persecution was inevitable. Because of the small town, she also knew that giving up her accomplice in her crime would do more harm than good. Opposed to the chaotic opening scenes with Prynne being persecutee and surrounded by the towns people, the house in the country is quite different. Everyone leaves her alone out there to do her work. The setting like this family, is secluded from the rest of the town.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Frankenstein- Conflict

"But now, when I appear almost within grasp of my foe, my hopes were suddenly extinguished, and I lost all trace of him moe utterly than I had ever done before." (154)

Victor faces mostly internal conflict because he could not tell anyone about the creature. He had to face his problems on his own, and deal with the guilt that he faced over creating the creature and the acts that the creature committed. He might have delt with it better if he had confided with someone. Instead he killed himself because this conflict was too much. This conflict was however external with one other character. There was not much hidden between Victor and the creature. From their second meeting, the creature told Victor every act that he committed and why he committed it. The creature knew that Victor still wanted him gone, not to hurt anyone else. This ultimately lead to Victor tracked the creature across the globe, each knowing each others strengths and weaknesses.

Frankenstein- Frame Story

"You have read this strange and terrific story, Margret; and do you not feel your blood congeal with horror" (155)

The frame story of Frankenstein helped to establish the story and call attention to the parts of the story that mary Shelly wanted to focus on, while lessening attention on Watson for the majority of the story. There are many compensate at work with many characters. The reader is not overwhelmed by all of these characters because of the frame story. When Walton is speaking the reader is focused on the characters is associated with walton's story, as well as Victor and the creature's stories. Because Mary Shelly did give the reader the story behind almost all the character, this could have made the story long and drawn-out, but because the characters were important to each frame, the story stayed interesting and suspenseful. Also knowing that the story will end with Victor chasing the creature, add mystery on what scenarios could possibly lead to such an out come.

Frankenstein- Antihero

"I had in the custom of taking every night a small quality of laudanum; for it was by means of this drug only that I was enabled to gain the rest necessary for the preservation of life."(135)

Victor is an antihero because, instead of facing his mistakes and trying to make them right, he hides from them until they go away. He lets the creature wonder for two years with out monitoring or even suspicion as to what he might be doing. If the creature did not happen back in to Victors life by happening on his younger brother, Victor might not have given the hideous, dangerous creature another thought. He mentally shut down at the first sign of anxiety when the main character usually makes a plan to save the day, rid the world of the monster that he just created. When he is forced back with the creature, he acquiesces to make another. Only when he decides to go after the monster does he make any heroic action. Shortly after this, he gives up in the ultimate way and removes himself from the world. This lets the creature win. It's as if he never saw the creature again after his breakdown at the factory, because he had not stopped the monster.

Frankenstein- Guilt

"That is also my victim!" he exclaimed; "in his murder my crimes are consummated; the miserable series of my being wound to its close!" (163)

From the moment the creature was created, Victor could not handle the guilt that it caused with in him. This is the primary reason that he became mentally unstable and could not function. A the story progresses, his guilt grows. He seems to be recovering when he returns to Geneva, only to find out that he was the cause of his brothers death. Added to that Justine's life framed for what his creation had done. In this case he had to watch her die slowly. He knew that she was not going to be exonerated, and he let her die anyway.  This is when he retreats to the mountain in solitude thinking over all of the hanious crimes that he is responsible for. This might be why he agrees to the creature request, to set it right and protect the lives of his potential victims. Only when he starts to feel guilty for all the things that she could do does he abandon the project. And after the creature kills two more of his relatives, he can't take it any more. He mental illness is to much. Huilt is the reason for his suicide.

Frankenstein- Family

"Who was I? What was I? Whence did I come from? What was destination? " (91)

The Creature had no family, and had to learn everything on his own. As a result, he did not get the emotional parenting that he needed. This lead to him basically becoming a psychopath, killing everyone that gets in his way. Since he did not have parents to obtain love and comfort, he became attached to another family, but did not trust that they would accept him for many months. He watched them patiently hoping that they would be different. As he watched, he became more confident that these were good people that could love him. This, however was based on their interaction with each other and not on their interaction with anything hideous and monstrous that they accepted with out question. The monster wanted so badly to fit in that he was unrealistic in his expectations and aloud himself to get hert. This is similar to a teenage girl that dates that bad boy. If she were thinking relationally, this obviously sounds like a bad idea, but other things cloud her judgment like belonging.  This what the monster was deprived of in his development, and after he is rejected and scorn by the family that he hoped he would find acceptance, he no longer had hope for anything.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Frankenstein- Cretion

"I was benevolent and good; misery made me a fiend." (69)

Even though at the time that this story was written, their was not technology, this could be a cautionary tail against the expansion of it. This is illustrated by Victors regret in making the creature. He was so determined to prove himself to those who did not believe that it could happen that he did not take the time to think about the consequences of his actions. Creating life is a wonderful idea. Creating life from death, might not work out as expected. Today, scientists are excited about improvement to technologies, but how do they no what will help and what will hurt the people using them. The world is so focused on TV, Computers, cell phones, and video games, that many people become inactive, and detach from life outside the technological world. Families are becoming distant children are spending more time playing computer games that spending time with their parents and siblings outside. Just like Frankenstein's creature, technology was meant to be good and can be good, but is used for evil.

Frankenstein- Nature vs. Nurtue

"...when they were unhappy, I felt depressed; when they rejoined, I sympathized in their joys." (79)

The creature was "born" with a fully formed brain. This brain already went through the developmental processes. At death the brain might have become inactive, but the capacity to learn was still there. Naturally, genetically, the creature had advanced reasoning skill of a full grown adult even though he was still an infant. Also, his nature when he was born was to be loving and compassionate. He was formed of human part, and must have inherited human compassion. However, her receive no nurture from his creator and ridicule from who ever saw his face. These experiences lead him to become depressed and mad at the world for not wanting him. Yet he still had the compassion, like when he cared for the family he knew would probably never love him.

Frankenstein- Parody

"I became nervous to a most painful degree; the fall of a leaf startled me, and I shunned my fellow creatures as if guilty of a crime." (34)

There are many different accounts of the story of Frankenstein, many of which poke fun at Mary Shelly's story. They take minor details from her story and spin their own version of the rest of the story. However, most versions of the story are somewhat based on the original version. For example, in the other version, Victor is pictured as a mad scientist, out to create a monster for the propose of being destructive. There is a connection to where this falsehood originated. Victor has a nervous breakdown after creating the monster, so technically he is mad. The former version is just a little more exciting. This most likley is the reason that the fabricated stories deviate form the original, to add excitement and make the story more easily understandable and frightening.

Frankenstein- Motivation

"...that I alone should be reserved to discover so astonishing a secret." (31)

Victor's motivation for creating the creature is that he fell in love with the science of human life. He pines for creating life out of Death. To understand this he felt as though he had to go to extreme means to obtain the result of recreated life. He did not what the money that comes with a new discovery, but the fame and the esteem. This is most likely because he grew up with the wealth of his family, but wanted to prove to the world that what he believes in is possible, even when his professor told him otherwise. Once, he succeeded in his goal, this motivation ceased. He was not motivated to even get out his head for many months. He finally gets a fraction of motivation back when he believes that his creation murdered his brother and he is confused about how to handled it.

Frankenstein- Characterization

"Softness and a winning mildness to her manners which had before been remarkable of vivacity." (42)

Mary Shelly has in depth characterization on almost all of her characters, going through their past as well as their personality types. This technique adds suspense to the novel because the reader knows that this character will become important to the development of the story, but do not know when or how they will play a role. For example, she introduces Justine in Elizabeth's letter wrote in early May. This is seemingly unimportant to introduce a new character, in a letter. Elizabeth could simply be trying to entice her cousin to go back home, but the reader expects more. When it is later explained that she is being tried for the murder of his brother, the reader is shocked because of Mary Shelly's characterization of Justine being kind and grateful to the family. This supports Victors suspicions of The creature doing it, because all that the reader knows about the creature is that he is huge and "seemingly" dangerous.