"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.
This is an interesting point to make. I guess it's always useful to have a historical perspective of a work to determine what motivation or influences the author felt while writing. Maybe Hawthorne should have included a brief passage about the Witch Trials and how they connected to the action in the book.
ReplyDeleteI like the tie in to AP psych class, haha. :) I think that this is an interesting point to make too, but doesn't Chillingworth see the scarlet letter on Dimmesdale's chest? I could be wrong. If not, it is not a hallucination but truly reality. It makes sense too because Dimmesdale went psycho on himself and would physically harm himself due to his sins.
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