- Master Brackett, the jailer ...sl04.html#g01
- is named, as deserves one who has a speaking role, and this
increases the authenticity, since according to Caleb Snow's
History of Boston, which Hawthorne read, there really
was a jailer by that name. Even though Chillingworth had just
arrived in Boston no more than an hour or two before, Brackett
already believes him a respected physician. Perhaps that was
because Chillingworth was assigned to live in the jail, and
Brackett had talked with him. Or perhaps this reveals something
about the lack of medical professionals in this settlement, or the
credibility of patients in any kind of cure. More likely, Hawthorne
is just compressing the timescale for dramatic purposes, as he does
throughout. In any case, commonsensical, not unkindly, square
Brackett had adopted the experienced law-enforcement position that
maybe it would just be better to whip Hester.
- like a possessed one ...sl04.html#g04
- that is, possessed by Satan, the Devil, the Black Man. This
kind of agitated, incoherent emotional loss of control of
one's
person was felt by many Puritans to be a mark that the Devil had
taken control of a person's soul. (However, in order to be
sure, they had to find other concrete evidence.) On another level,
the intellectual theory behind the belief in witchcraft or devil
possession is not so important when one realizes that these
superstitions stood then for our modern faith in psychiatry and
scientific control of the mind. Prayer, counseling, confinement,
cold water baths, empirical medicines, even a stern talking to (but
not execution, of course), might have been (or be) just as
effective (or ineffective) therapy for these conditions, no matter
what the unprovable theory behind the cause and cure--witchcraft or
neurotic hysteria or brain chemistry. Note that Hawthorne also
describes Hester's state more simply as "moral
agony."
- the child is yours...thine own hand
...sl04.html#g06
- Hawthorne subtly has Chillingworth use both the formal
"yours" and familiar "thine" in sequential
sentences when talking to his wife, Hester. Chillingworth is
conflicted--his first words to his wife are not about her but about
his capitivity and medical skills. Notice that when Hester replies
with "thee" he switches to the same himself, but he
continues to call her "woman" and not "wife" of
"him whom thou didst call thy husband". What right then
does he have to feel injured? He states that "the scale hangs
fairly balanced" between the two of them, but is it? He forces
Hester to promise to conceal his identity as husband--why? (If he
revealed it, reconciled with Hester, adopted Pearl and all returned
to Amsterdam, would this be a great novel?) This sort of promise
that the audience knows about but not the other characters is
typical of a melodrama and not high literature. Even though it
doesn't make the most logical sense, we are willing to suspend
our disbelief in order to prolong the action. Motives of villains
are not usually rational.
Another point to consider is that in this tiny settlement social
problems were not usually dealt with by formal laws--divorce
was not at all usual, and wives had hardly any legal rights, so the
couple has a hard time finding a peaceable solution. The situation
was, however, different by the time Hawthorne wrote, when
industrialization and the metropolis allowed anonymity and freedom
from the scrutiny and judgment of the neighbors in a small town,
and more formal and impartial rules were required. It is of
interest that in China today laws against adultery (usually by men)
are being enforced because of the breakdown of the social
structures that had prohibited this behavior.
- I know not Lethe nor Nepenthe ...sl04.html#g11
- reference to ancient Greek mythology--the river Lethe in Hades
caused people to forget their previous lives, while Nepenthe seems
to have been a Greek antidepressant. Chillingworth is saying he
does not have those drugs in his medicine chest, though if he did
they might work. Maybe he wouldn't give them to her, but he
probably would--he's mad at Pearl's father, not so much
Hester. The word "alchemy" here is used in the general
sense of medieval science, not in the particular one of turning
base metal into gold. Similar to Hawthorne's depiction of
Chillingworth here, as a sort of scientist who intrudes immorally
on nature, is his story "The
Birthmark" (1843)
- the scarlet letter...seemed to
scorch ...sl04.html#g14
- pieces of cloth don't do this, nor "seem" to do
this, so Hawthorne must again be writing on another level,
allegorically, symbolically, or metaphorically, or actually
suggesting there might be some supernatural force in this ornament,
from above or below. (UFO's had not been discovered yet.) Or
perhaps it is just unusual and invested by all viewers with a sense
of awe, projected by their own emotions and beliefs. Read into it
what you will--you will get more out of it that way.
- how thou hast fallen into the pit
...sl04.html#g16
- the pit means Hell, punishment after death, or, if you prefer,
the place one is going if one keeps on doing those bad things. In
other words, Hester has not only violated the criminal law, but she
has sinned, adultery being a violation of religious law, and the
consequence is punishment not only in this world but in the next.
Presumably there it will be worse than just having to wear a
scarlet letter. "Bale-fire" is an old word for the big
bonfire of wrapped logs upon which a dead body is burned, but here
it also implies the fire of Hell as well as the burning brightness
of the scarlet letter.
- a young girl's fantasy ...sl04.html#g16
- women married very young then, without the modern period of
dating, courtship, engagement, and living together. How old do you
think Hester was in 1642, probably still a teenager?
- this wild outskirt of the world
...sl04.html#g26
- it would seem strange for Chillingworth to describe Boston this
way, since he is just returning from captivity in the woods. But in
historical fact there was a strong opposition between the civilized
Western world of Europe (whose paved streets he counted as home) and its raw
colonial settlements (this was the first time he had seen Boston) on the one
hand, and on the other hand the area just outside the town walls that was considered
wilderness--though it was sparsely populated by Native Americans.
There was some dispute about the origin of these other
inhabitants--they might be lost tribes of Israel, they might be
worshippers of the Devil, and they might be able to be converted to
Christianity (i.e., Puritan Protestantism, not Catholicism). Here
the first interpretation seems to be represented by the not hostile
reception given by Bostonians to the Indian holding Chillingworth
in ransom. But later in the book the wilderness appears to take on
something of the home of the Devil--already we see a reference to
the Black Man who "haunts the forest." (For the most
famous example of this, see
"Young Goodman Brown".) Yet the Reverend Eliot is
later mentioned (he preached to Indians), so apparently there is a
chance at redemption after all, and the settlers aim to make over
this wilderness in the image of their own world. Incidentally,
medicine as much as religion has often been the avenue for the
conversion of "primitive" cultures to the modern Western
one, so Chillingworth's occupation might have some additional
significance here (though he states he learned more medicine in the
wilderness than if he had a medical degree in the West--has he also
made a Faustian contract with the Devil there?).
Chillingworth in our first close look at him is described as
a stock villain, rather ugly and not very nice. For a bent and
old fellow he always seems cold (chilling) and powerful--in body language he
always stands taller, towering over the other characters
(except at the very end). But he does in fact
treat Hester rather well in spite of all, and takes a bit of the
blame himself for their relationship problem. The question,
however, will be whether he can do good by what he thinks is his
justified attempt to discover the identity of the man who he thinks
stole his marital property. Is he (a scientist, a husband, a man)
justified in obsessively using evil (devilish) means to achieve
what might be considered a good end (in society's eyes or just
in fulfillment of a private theory or pride)? Is it really such a
good idea to read so many books?
Summary.
Hester and Pearl are returned to the jail cell after standing
on the scaffold in shame. Pearl cries and Hester is in a state
of nervous excitement. Hester's husband, who now calls himself
Chillingworth, and is a physician, calms Pearl with a medicine
and talks with Hester. They both admit wronging the other.
Chillingworth wants to know who the father of Pearl is, but
Hester continues to refuse to say. Chillingworth threatens
to find out and in the meantime forces Hester to promise
to keep his identity as husband secret.
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