Into The Wild Quiz: 15 questions, 30 points matching or fill-in-the blank quiz on Into The Wild vocab words from chapters 7-10, 13-15 and content from chapters 16-through the epilogue. Roughly half the questions will be vocab and half will be on content in chapters 16 through the epilogue.  

For use with period 2 and 3

Wesley


English

4 November 2015                                                                   

The Scarlet Letter: A Study in Romance


The nineteenth-century author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is well known for writing novels and short stories that explore America's Puritan past as well as themes of religion and sin. Although his most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter, exemplifies this tendency, it offers so much more.  The Scarlet Letter is rich in symbolism, provides excellent character studies, and has a riveting plot. But, what perhaps distinguishes it most from his other novels is its perfect fit into the Romantic tradition. Romantic literature is characterized by a deep appreciation for nature, characters with intense emotion and imagination, abhorrence for the constraints of society and religion, and emphasis on freedom of the individual. The Scarlet Letter is quintessentially a Romantic novel due to its New World setting and portrayal of Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale, characters who embody various aspects of Romanticism.

One of the central characteristics of Romanticism is a deep appreciation for nature.  Nature is viewed as the antithesis of civilization, a place devoid of all the evils inherent in society. The Scarlet Letter takes place in colonial America, specifically a Puritan town in New England located on the edge of an untamed wilderness. America itself was founded on the principals of freedom and escape from oppression synonymous with Romantic ideals. The New World represented untouched land, a place free from the corruption of Europe and its institutions. Here, people believed they could forge a new future based on self-reliance instead of preordained destinies. The Scarlet Letter describes a society of early American colonists who came to the New World in order to practice their religion, but ironically construct equally oppressive laws. The townsfolk, for example, believe they are flawed, unworthy people and punish anyone who strays from their strict and unnecessary rules. Although they have left the stifled atmosphere of Europe behind, they are unable to shed their traditional mindset. Even their children are described as “the most intolerant brood that had ever lived” (64).  In stark contrast to the insular Puritan society is the vast unspoiled forest that surrounds them. The enlightened Native Americans are at home here and are puzzled by the colonists' actions in shunning the beautiful Hester Prynne. Banished to the forest, Hester begins to change. Indeed, it is the natural setting that leads to her enlightenment. In the forest, Hester "roam[s] as freely as the wild Indian in his woods" (137). The forest signifies a Romantic oasis that changes all who enter for the better.  It is described in cheerful and positive adjectives.  The forest is "sunshine," "merry," "brightness," "gleaming," and "gold" (139), the Romantic ideal.

Consequently, Hester's daughter who has only known the forest, personifies it.  Pearl is a free spirit, raised without the evils of society and religion. She is wild and free due to her deep connection with nature.  Because she had the luxury of being raised outside of society, she is unspoiled by human mistakes and, like the wild Indian, she is a superior being.  Romanticism favored freedom of expression and imagination over the laws and judgments of human culture.  With her carefree ways, Pearl epitomizes this idea.  Chapter 18, for example, describes Pearl's special relationship to the forest and its creatures. While the forest is a frightening and dark place to the civilized, it is Pearl's "playmate" and her refuge: "mother forest, and these wild things which it nourished, all recognized a kindred wildness in the human child" (140).  Not only is Pearl at home in the forest, it brings out the best in her; “She was gentler here than in the grassy-margined streets of the settlement, or in her mother’s cottage” (140).  Only in the forest is she viewed as the product of love, nature’s gift instead of its curse.  Pearl, the result of Hester and Dimmesdale's infidelity, symbolizes untamed nature and, as such, is the most evolved romantic character in the novel.

Hester is also influenced by nature.  After being forced to wear the scarlet letter and exiled from the village for adultery, she can finally recognize the problems of Puritan society.  She now lives free from the church's rules.  Ironically, the horrible punishment of the scarlet letter liberates her: "the scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread" (137).  Literally she is banished to the forest where a respectable woman cannot wander and figuratively she can think critically and support herself in a time when women were subjugated.  Hester is an extremely artistic and creative woman; “She had in her nature a rich, voluptuous, Oriental characteristic,-- a taste for the gorgeously beautiful” (57).  She expresses this passion through her “delicate and imaginative skill” (56) in needlework.  Her artistry is not valued by the Puritans who desire simplicity and modesty.  In every way, Hester Prynne embodies the Romantic heroine as a free thinker, as an artist, and as someone who lives apart from a flawed society.  In addition, she nobly faces her sentence and even keeps Dimmesdale's part a secret.

On the other hand, Dimmesdale, the minister, exemplifies the romantic antihero.  He is handsome and passionate, but carries a horrible secret in his heart.  He is Pearl's father, but instead of owning up to his transgressions, he allows Hester to bear the blame alone.  Like other romantic heroes, he is moody and deeply flawed.  His focus is inward, on his sins and his guilt.  Although he lives in the town, he is isolated by the secret that is eating at him from within.  Instead of confessing to the outside world, Dimmesdale internalizes his sin, “the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily pain” (102), where it manifests onto his physical body. Yet, Dimmesdale is not an unsympathetic character. Rather, his intense emotions and solitary suffering evoke pity: "This feeble and most sensitive of spirits could do neither, yet continually did one thing or another, which intertwined, in the same inextricable knot, the agony of heaven-defying guilt and vain repentance" (101).   Like Hester and Pearl, he finds release in the forest:

It was the exhilarating effect—upon a prisoner just escaped from the dungeon of his own heart--of breathing the wild, free atmosphere of an unredeemed, unchristianized, lawless region. (138)

In nature, he finds joy, can acknowledge his child, and love Hester once more.

The setting and characters of The Scarlet Letter place it firmly within the Romantic tradition of literature.  Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale, and their child Pearl are all affected by the infidelity, but the consequences ultimately lead all three to enlightenment.  Certainly, The Scarlet Letter provides a great introduction to the Puritan way of life, but more importantly it explores intense emotions in people. Romantic literature stresses self-examination and a return to the natural world and these ideas remain relevant today.  More and more, people are aware of the harm that civilization can impart on the world and are appreciating the gifts of nature.

Wesley

English 3 AP p.2

26 October 2015

Intrinsic Hypocrisy

            Guilt is a powerful emotion.  Although it is normal to experience guilt, it is typically only for a short time, immediately following some type of wrongdoing; however, long term guilt, lasting for months or years, can take a massive toll on an individual, as in the case of the Reverend Dimmesdale in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.  In Puritan Boston, Reverend Dimmesdale secretly and illegally fathers a child, even though he and the child’s mother, Hester, are unmarried.  Hester is found guilty of adultery, and her formal punishment is to wear a scarlet “A” on her dress for the rest of her life.  In truth, her punishment extends beyond simply wearing the letter, as she is forced into complete social ostracism.  Reverend Dimmesdale does not confess to his crime for over seven years, and for this duration he seems to act as a hypocrite by continuing his work as a minister, but in truth, he is filled with inner turmoil about his hidden sin.  In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Reverend Dimmesdale’s guilt and hypocrisy are results of Puritan society and religious teachings, rather than the minister himself, and are caused by the belief in predestination, theocracy, and societal intolerance that characterized Puritanism.

            The Puritan belief in predestination is the most powerful reason behind Reverend Dimmesdale’s guilt.  The Puritans believed that “belief in Jesus and participation in the sacraments could not alone affect one’s salvation”(Puritanism and Romanticism Packet), and that only a few people selected by God, called the elect, would be saved and allowed to go to heaven after death.  Consequently, they also believed that no amount of good works could guarantee salvation, and that living an upstanding life was only an indication of being elect, not a path to doing so.  There was “no reality in the penitence thus sealed and witnessed by good works” (Hawthorne 131), so there was no real way to atone for sin.  Dimmesdale struggles because, as a minister, he helps many people and “workest good among them” (Hawthorne 131), but does not believe he has been chosen by God because he is secretly a sinner.  He believes that his one great sin can never be reconciled, so “his pathway through life [is] haunted” (Hawthorne 130) by guilt for his wrongdoing.  Puritanism deludes Dimmesdale into believing that he can never right his wrong, coercing him into an endless cycle of guilt and misery.  His lasting guilt is predominantly caused by the Puritan doctrine of predestination.

The Puritan theocracy contributes to Dimmesdale’s decision to remain secretive about his transgression.  For the Puritans, religion controlled all aspects of life, including the government.  Thus, moral crimes against Puritan religious teachings were handled by the government as legal crimes, and serious punishment could result. Adultery, for which Dimmesdale would have been tried, had many possible punishments, ranging from public whipping to being hanged.  As a clergyman, Dimmesdale was “at the head of the social system” (Hawthorne 137) and “as the clergymen of that day stood, he was only the more tramelled by its regulations, its principles, and even its prejudices” (Hawthorne 137).  So, he would have been held to even higher moral and behavioral standards than everyone else.  Consequently, confession would have been a major shock to the entire community, and would have likely ended his life, as it is known that some “adulterers were executed in Massachusetts Bay” (Puritan Life), and a public official like Dimmesdale would not have been able to escape this drastic punishment.  So, Dimmesdale’s decision to remain silent likely arises in part out of the need for safety from the oppressive society in which he is immersed.  Regardless of the specific punishment, Dimmesdale would lose his job, social status, and probably church membership if he admitted his sin.  Every aspect of Puritan society was governed by religion, so a violation of religious law would render Dimmesdale a complete outcast to society.  Without access to his parishioners, Dimmesdale believes “no good can be achieved by [him]; no evil of the past be redeemed by better service”

(Hawthorne 91), so his secrecy likely results in part from an altruistic desire to improve the lives of others, something he would not be able to do if he was convicted of adultery.  The Puritan theocracy coerces Dimmesdale into silence for the sake of his safety and his ability to continue to help others through the church.

            Additionally, the Puritan society was extremely intolerant, which contributes to Reverend Dimmesdale’s unwillingness to confess.  There were many rules, and nonconformity was absolutely unacceptable.  Anyone who did not adhere to the Puritanical social norms was severely punished, as they were “seen as straying from God’s work” (Puritan Life); however, sin still occurred in Puritan communities, and “many a penitent… had confessed sins of perhaps as deep a die as the one betokened by the scarlet letter” (Hawthorne 125) in secret.  Consequently, people’s lives centered on crafting the appearance of being a moral and pure citizen, regardless of what their actual thoughts were, in order to maintain their image and place in society.  In this respect, Dimmesdale is an ideal Puritan: he “wear[s] one face to himself, and another to the multitude” (Hawthorne 147-8) solely for the purpose of maintaining his reputation as a holy man.  This idea is forced upon him by the oppressive Puritan society which surrounds him, and he is misled to believe that it is more important that he appear unadulterated than he actually be so.  Puritan intolerance also led to the idea that the worst crimes were to give in to earthly pursuits instead of following the Lord, as these sins were visible and tangible, and thus shattered the illusion of a pure and devout character.  Dimmesdale is guilty of one of these earthly sins, adultery, and the tangible evidence is his child, Pearl, “the living hieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret [he] sought so hard to hide” (Hawthorne 141).  This very visible spot on Dimmesdale’s character causes him immense stress and turmoil.  However, he chooses not to admit to his wrongdoing because it would sacrifice his image as a holy man, and would directly contradict his Puritan beliefs.  Thus, societal intolerance is at the root of Reverend Dimmesdale’s hesitancy to confess.

            The Reverend Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy and guilt are caused by Puritan society and religion.  Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy merely reflects that of Puritan society: it asks an innately imperfect being to act perfectly, and impresses deceit upon the search for religious truth.  Aside from his original sin, Dimmesdale adheres flawlessly to the Puritan doctrine, but this same institution, through which he seeks redemption, destroys his chance at achieving it.  The intrinsic hypocrisy of the Puritan ideology is the true cause for the guilt and suffering of its followers, and its guiltiest sinners are actually the least sinful of them all.