Entry 17:
"Whenever that look appeared in her wild, bright, and deeply black eyes, it invested her with a strange remoteness and intangibility; it was as if she were hovering in the air and might vanish, like a glimmering light that comes we know not whence, and goes we know not wither."
All the motifs are compared in the first part of this sentence. Wild, or untamed, like a rose, was a part of Pearl's character, which had to do with the fact that she was born outside of the society's jail cell. However, now, bright and black are in contrast to one another. Brightness is usually in comparison with the scarlet letter, or the sun which goes back to earth. Darkness refers back to sin, or hell. Even though they're all different meanings, they all connect back to one another. To have sinned you have to be wild, but to show that sin, you have to have light shown upon it.
Pearl, instead of comparing her to a 'glimmering light,' can be compared back to a bird which 'hovers in the air and might vanish.' It comes and goes when it pleases, as when describing the light it isn't known when it's going to be there or when it leaves.
Pearl is a sin in another sin of hiding the father, and the light is supposed to show sin, where is it?
Monday, November 1, 2010
Scarlet Letter pg. 80
Entry 16:
"Day after day, she looked fearfully into the child's expanding nature; ever dreading to detect some dark and wild peculiarity, that should correspond with the guiltiness to which she owed her being"
Hester is afraid that Pearl will continue to carry on her guilt. She doesn't want Pearl to be like the A on her bosom for everyone to see, and judge, but not understand. She wants her own consequences of her own sin (Pearl) to have a fresh start regardless of what she actually represents.
"Day after day, she looked fearfully into the child's expanding nature; ever dreading to detect some dark and wild peculiarity, that should correspond with the guiltiness to which she owed her being"
Hester is afraid that Pearl will continue to carry on her guilt. She doesn't want Pearl to be like the A on her bosom for everyone to see, and judge, but not understand. She wants her own consequences of her own sin (Pearl) to have a fresh start regardless of what she actually represents.
Scarlet Letter pg. 80
Entry 15:
PEARL
Pearl: Unique and precious--> Hester held her baby close to her like an oyster would to sand.
Compares to nature, and the magical elements of nature.
She was born out of sin, so she is automatically outside of the Puritan society. She can act however she wants, and be judged, but since she already has the label of 'sin', there's nothing more that can come of it.
"a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank of luxuriance of a guilty passion."
"Her Pearl! For so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price,-purchased with all she had,-her mother's only treasure!"
Hester is 'paying' for the price of her sin, and with it, Pearl is all she has left.
PEARL
Pearl: Unique and precious--> Hester held her baby close to her like an oyster would to sand.
Compares to nature, and the magical elements of nature.
She was born out of sin, so she is automatically outside of the Puritan society. She can act however she wants, and be judged, but since she already has the label of 'sin', there's nothing more that can come of it.
"a lovely and immortal flower, out of the rank of luxuriance of a guilty passion."
"Her Pearl! For so had Hester called her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant 'Pearl,' as being of great price,-purchased with all she had,-her mother's only treasure!"
Hester is 'paying' for the price of her sin, and with it, Pearl is all she has left.
Scarlet Letter pg. 79
Entry 14:
"the symbol was not mere scarlet cloth, tinged in an earthly dye-pot, but was red-hot with internal fire, and could be seen glowing all alight, whenever Hester Prynne walked abroad in the night-time.
Red-hot light: (Red)Hot~Hell Fires Light~Scarlet Light Red~Scarlet
They're all connected, and compare back to the sin of the scarlet letter. It mentions 'earthly dye-pot' as the golden thread surrounding it, and it compares the levels of the earth; you can see the golden sun from earth, and can see the fires of hell from below.
"the symbol was not mere scarlet cloth, tinged in an earthly dye-pot, but was red-hot with internal fire, and could be seen glowing all alight, whenever Hester Prynne walked abroad in the night-time.
Red-hot light: (Red)Hot~Hell Fires Light~Scarlet Light Red~Scarlet
They're all connected, and compare back to the sin of the scarlet letter. It mentions 'earthly dye-pot' as the golden thread surrounding it, and it compares the levels of the earth; you can see the golden sun from earth, and can see the fires of hell from below.
Scarlet Letter pg. 78
Entry 13:
"as she met the same sanctified frown of some matron, who, according to the rumor of all tongues, had kept cold snow within her bosom throughout life"
The matron is one who kept their heart away from anything and was never able to open up to anyone which is why she's 'cold.' She's too focused on being pure.
"The unsunned snow in the matron's bosom, and the burning shame on Hester Prynne's-what had the two in common? "
Matron--> cold snow~unsunned snow- compared to burning shame.
Both the Matron and Hester Prynne are sort of outcasts but in different ways, the Matron being shameless, and Hester being shameful.
"as she met the same sanctified frown of some matron, who, according to the rumor of all tongues, had kept cold snow within her bosom throughout life"
The matron is one who kept their heart away from anything and was never able to open up to anyone which is why she's 'cold.' She's too focused on being pure.
"The unsunned snow in the matron's bosom, and the burning shame on Hester Prynne's-what had the two in common? "
Matron--> cold snow~unsunned snow- compared to burning shame.
Both the Matron and Hester Prynne are sort of outcasts but in different ways, the Matron being shameless, and Hester being shameful.
Scarlet Letter pg. 78
Entry 12
"She felt of fancied, then, that the scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense. She shuddered to believe, yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts."
The people that she could feel gaze at the A when she walked by gave her a throb of pain and she wondered if she had sinned alone. Hester has Pearl so it proves that she has sinned, but no one else has real proof, so as she walks along the town she wonders who else has.
This goes back to the idea of the society being a jail because everyone is too scared of the punishment to actually admit to their sins. If the town wasn't so harsh, Hester's sin would have been dealt with differently, and there'd probably be so many, they'd let some of them go.
"She felt of fancied, then, that the scarlet letter had endowed her with a new sense. She shuddered to believe, yet could not help believing, that it gave her a sympathetic knowledge of the hidden sin in other hearts."
The people that she could feel gaze at the A when she walked by gave her a throb of pain and she wondered if she had sinned alone. Hester has Pearl so it proves that she has sinned, but no one else has real proof, so as she walks along the town she wonders who else has.
This goes back to the idea of the society being a jail because everyone is too scared of the punishment to actually admit to their sins. If the town wasn't so harsh, Hester's sin would have been dealt with differently, and there'd probably be so many, they'd let some of them go.
Scarlet Letter pg. 74 & 75
Entry 11
"She possessed an art that sufficed"
"Her handiwork became what would now be termed the fashion"
"But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride. The exception indicated the ever relentless vigor with which society frowned upon her sin."
Hester Prynne was skilled with a needle and thread, and was asked to make everything besides things for a wedding. 'Pure,' no one can be completely pure, and after what Hester Prynne did, everyone's thoughts had been contaminated with bad and harsh thoughts. This exception doesn't really say much, besides the fact she couldn't make wedding dresses. The society made her live outside their town and wear an A, so obviously they've proved that they frown upon her sin. Allowing her to work for the town, and not allowing her to make anything for a wedding doesn't have much effect.
"She possessed an art that sufficed"
"Her handiwork became what would now be termed the fashion"
"But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride. The exception indicated the ever relentless vigor with which society frowned upon her sin."
Hester Prynne was skilled with a needle and thread, and was asked to make everything besides things for a wedding. 'Pure,' no one can be completely pure, and after what Hester Prynne did, everyone's thoughts had been contaminated with bad and harsh thoughts. This exception doesn't really say much, besides the fact she couldn't make wedding dresses. The society made her live outside their town and wear an A, so obviously they've proved that they frown upon her sin. Allowing her to work for the town, and not allowing her to make anything for a wedding doesn't have much effect.
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