"...Mr. Dimmesdale, conscious that the poison of one morbid spot was infecting his heart’s entire substance, attributed all his presentiments to no other cause. He took himself to task for his bad sympathies..."
This passage is found in the beginning of chapter 11. It is referring to Dimmesdale punishing himself for his sins. This action is justice. The law is a set of guidelines. Justice is the actual "punishment" or "consequences" for sins and wrong-doings.
"The place whence proclamations were wont to be made"
The brief quote here tells alot in such a small context. In the scene of public witnessing that begins The Scarlet Letter, the Governor, magistrates and the older crowd gaze down form above to the platform where Hester Prynne was standing in a sense of pride with her same. The Scarlet Letter: "A" tells her story the simplest way possible.
Here, it is shown that Hester is being shunned from all of society with the scarlet letter on her chest until death. She cannot escape what she has done physically/emotionally. There is a difference between law and justice. Law is something created by a national or small scale government on a level that needs to be abidable by citizens. Justice is what is right. Morally, it's what is RIGHT deterring away from if's and but's or what-nots. Hester is basically punished by the "law" of the townspeople. It's justified by them from their natural mind that adultery is a sin, but nowhere is it mentioned in the law for the land. Its the townspeople's law, not the governments. This is a symbol of contrast between justification and law. What this symbol represents is how people think in a majority can separate equality throughout vast amount of people. When the law of the land is created for every single person born to follow, it is taken differently. This message is carried out through the entire book because there is a noticeable difference between the townspeople's opinions and thoughts, versus the authority/clergy/etc. What Hawthorne is trying to convey here is that justification and law are totally different in the grand scheme of religious laws and general laws (non-religiously). It does have an opposite, Hester does not take this adultery concept as seriously as the townspeople do. When you commit something, you have a different view than most people do on it because they view it form a different perspective and things are totally different form 1st-person. What Hawthorne is trying to say about the scarlet letter "A" is that Hester is shunned by the majority of her surroundings but she still wears the scarlet letter after reappearing from her years of disappearance. Because she feels as if there's something right from all the rain and the pain, because she produced life; Pearl.
"...Mr. Dimmesdale, conscious that the poison of one morbid spot was infecting his heart’s entire substance, attributed all his presentiments to no other cause. He took himself to task for his bad sympathies..."
ReplyDeleteThis passage is found in the beginning of chapter 11. It is referring to Dimmesdale punishing himself for his sins. This action is justice. The law is a set of guidelines. Justice is the actual "punishment" or "consequences" for sins and wrong-doings.
"The place whence proclamations were wont to be made"
ReplyDeleteThe brief quote here tells alot in such a small context. In the scene of public witnessing that begins The Scarlet Letter, the Governor, magistrates and the older crowd gaze down form above to the platform where Hester Prynne was standing in a sense of pride with her same. The Scarlet Letter: "A" tells her story the simplest way possible.
Here, it is shown that Hester is being shunned from all of society with the scarlet letter on her chest until death. She cannot escape what she has done physically/emotionally. There is a difference between law and justice. Law is something created by a national or small scale government on a level that needs to be abidable by citizens. Justice is what is right. Morally, it's what is RIGHT deterring away from if's and but's or what-nots. Hester is basically punished by the "law" of the townspeople. It's justified by them from their natural mind that adultery is a sin, but nowhere is it mentioned in the law for the land. Its the townspeople's law, not the governments. This is a symbol of contrast between justification and law. What this symbol represents is how people think in a majority can separate equality throughout vast amount of people. When the law of the land is created for every single person born to follow, it is taken differently. This message is carried out through the entire book because there is a noticeable difference between the townspeople's opinions and thoughts, versus the authority/clergy/etc. What Hawthorne is trying to convey here is that justification and law are totally different in the grand scheme of religious laws and general laws (non-religiously). It does have an opposite, Hester does not take this adultery concept as seriously as the townspeople do. When you commit something, you have a different view than most people do on it because they view it form a different perspective and things are totally different form 1st-person. What Hawthorne is trying to say about the scarlet letter "A" is that Hester is shunned by the majority of her surroundings but she still wears the scarlet letter after reappearing from her years of disappearance. Because she feels as if there's something right from all the rain and the pain, because she produced life; Pearl.