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Post by aihughe38 on Nov 12, 2011 19:04:22 GMT -5
One of the ideas I've seen a lot in the novel so far is that Good and Evil are interrelated. In multiple instances, Hawthorne presents the idea that evil intentions hide behind good actions and vice versa; but also that good can be borne from evil, and evil can be borne from good (The preface to the novel states "The road to hell is paved with good intentions"). For example, page 54 talks of how Hester and her child might be reminiscent of the Virgin Mary and the sacred birth of Jesus; however, "[h]ere, there was a taint of the deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life, working such effect that the world was only... the more lost for the child that she had borne". Even though childbirth and children are holy, they nonetheless turn out to be more immoral than good because the child was created as a result of evil (adultery).
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Post by chfisch35 on Nov 13, 2011 16:26:09 GMT -5
Yes I definitely saw much about good and evil in the book. I also noticed good and evil in conversation with charcters like the "Brazen Hussies". Hawthorne makes them to be puritans, and inherently good, but the Hawthorne makes the readers think otherwise. The readers find the Hussies to be cruel and insipid. The hussies were gossiping, which isn't a very godly activity. Also each goodwife said that Hester Prynne deserved a worse punishment. The oldest, ugliest hussie says, '"This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it?"'(Hawthorne 49). It is obvious that Hawthorne hates Puritans and he shows them as a bland, cruel bunch, only to be contrasted by Hester Prynne.
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Post by chfisch35 on Nov 13, 2011 21:16:37 GMT -5
Another theme I noticed after reading chapters 4 and 5 which I remember discussing in class is: Hester feels inhuman even though the basis of being human is making mistakes. Towards the end of chapter 5, it talks about all of the ways that Hester feels inhuman, such as when she enters church and "finds herself the text of discourse" (82). Or when children "Pursued her at a distance with shrill cries"(82). Furthermore being inhuman as well as solitary are both reocuring themes in this novel.
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Post by aihughe38 on Nov 13, 2011 21:49:49 GMT -5
I agree with the idea that Hester feels inhuman, and we also see an example of that at the end of chapter 2. Hester's views on how she has changed due to her sins are evident when she contrasts the memories from past events in her life with her current situation by proclaiming "the infant and the shame were real... all else had vanished!". Hester now only sees herself as the sins she has committed, and feels that everything else in her life that made her human were gone.
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Post by dacui38 on Nov 20, 2011 1:24:06 GMT -5
Another theme that I see in this book is Punishment or Forgiveness. Should the two sinners be punished for what they have done or forgiven?
The Puritans debated whether or not to have Hester punished and killed. Hester's later path is one of redemption, wanting to have penance for her sin and forgiveness from God.
Chillingworth represents the idea of punishment which is similar to vengeance in his case. It is obvious that Dimmesdale is the co-adulterer and father of Hester's daughter after reading Chatper 11. Chillingworth's watching over Dimmesdale is described as, "calm, gentle, passionless, as he appeared, there was yet, we fear, a quiet depth of malice, hitherto latent, but active now, in this unfortunate old man, which led him to imagine a more intimate revenge than any mortal had ever wreaked upon an enemy" (135). Chillingworth has ideas of revenge, as he suspects Dimmesdale is the father of Pearl and wants to make Dimmesdale suffer.
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