- under..was hidden another
name ...sl09.html#g01
- In Chapter 3 we read
that this old man, just returned from the wilderness, asked about
Hester. In Chapter 4 we learned that
he was Hester's husband (and thus should have been called
Master Prynne) but has decided to conceal this identity and now
goes by the name of Roger Chillingworth. Hester had come to New
England on an earlier ship, and Prynne's was assumed lost,
but he had actually been captured by the Indians. Because he had
been assumed dead, Hester had been granted a more lenient
sentence than otherwise, but was still punished because she was
still legally married. Therefore Pearl could not have been
conceived by Hester's husband in the given time frame, and
must have been conceived by an adulterous father.
- a new
purpose ...sl09.html#g01
- This new purpose or plan by Chillingworth was twofold. He is
to conceal his true identity and try to find out who the natural
father of Pearl is. Both are important--if he were known as the
husband, it would be hard to live in the community; if he is to
find out the adulterous father, he would have to do it in secret.
The plan is "dark" and "guilty" because it is
done in secret and by means of lies--he is doing this in
isolation and by means of science uncontrolled by the humanity of
society and law--and he is afraid or too proud to be shamed
like Hester. (As an instance of the lies, he starts living with
Dimmesdale under false pretences--he also only pretends to be
religious.) Further, he means not only to discover the identity
of the father, but also to do him harm--this is unsaid, but
implied. The implication of "full strength of his
faculties" is that he will use his drugs and powers of
alchemy--and any other powers he can call up, including perhaps
the Devil if he had met him in the wilderness--in this plan. We
know there is another element in the plan--Hester knows his
identity and has been forced to promise to conceal it (the lock
and key of her silence).
- daily and habitual
flourish of a razor ...sl09.html#g02
- Chillingworth becomes a physician (no license was needed
then). Physicians were rare, and even rarer in New England,
since the population was still small and as yet unattractive
for such skilled men. Such drugs as existed were dispensed
by a parttime druggist, and any necessary surgery by the
barbers who in their day jobs cut hair and shaved faces.
- Elixir of
Life ...sl09.html#g02
- The elixir of life is a mythical substance that is supposed
to prolong life without definite end. ("Elixir" is a
word derived from the Greek for dried powder, but elixirs when
legitimate medicines are usually dispensed in a liquid with
alcohol to dissolve the powder.) The Elixir of Life was much
sought after by alchemists, along with the philosopher's
stone, which was supposed to turn base metal into gold. Here the
author points out that alchemists usually tried to make the drug
from a mixture of many ingredients, like the
"heterogeneous" remedies of "antique physic."
In contrast with that mixture, he mentions the
"simples" or drugs such as the Indians used, with just
one ingredient for each remedy. Hawthorne used this Elixir of
Life symbol in many of his writings (see for example
"Dr. Heidegger's
Experiment"), and seemed to be fixated on
it in the unfinished work he left on his death. Hawthorne
always treated this alchemy effort as very wrong, a usurpation of
science over human life and the limits God or Nature has placed
on life. There was much pseudoscience in his day as well as in
the days of the Puritans and much scope for criticizing it in
fiction. Here there seems to be an indirect reference to the
practice of homeopathy as medicine.
- In his Indian
captivity ...sl09.html#g02
- We have already
encountered Prynne-Chillingworth's captivity, and here we
are reminded of it. (The need for a reminder might not seem quite
necessary in this novel, so soon, but you might bear in mind that
other novels were published first in serial form in magazines,
and so readers might have forgotten elements of the plot after a
few weeks--we do not know whether Hawthorne was influenced at all
by that style, but this was the first long novel he attempted, so
it is possible.) Note that Hawthorne never has to tell us the
details of how Prynne-Chillingworth was ransomed or redeemed from
his Indian captors, but it seems that is quite irrelevant to the
plot.
- the now feeble New
England Church ...sl09.html#g03
- We are not prepared for this odd statement. Earlier it
seemed that the author was picturing the Puritans as stern
and powerful. Why now call the church feeble? For one reason,
to justify the attention paid to young Dimmesdale, in this
novel, regardless of historical fact. But it was probably
recognized at the time that the Puritan Church had lost a
lot of its energy as soon as twenty-five years after founding
the new colonies. The earliest arrivals, the Plymouth Bay
Colony, were the sternest and purest. A decade later, the
Massachusetts Bay Colony in Boston and Salem introduced
strains that were hard to patch over when the church operated
by consensus and at most synods rather than central leadership.
The Antinomian heresy with Anne Hutchinson caused internal
conflicts. But most important was probably the fact that the
control of the Elect, the appointed church leaders, was
diffused by so much new immigration. At one point, it was
possible for the church to require a public act of faith in
joining a church, for the church member to have full power.
In later years this proved impossible to require, as the
descendants of church members wanted automatic membership.
Only church members could have power in the church and
government--the concept of membership had to be rethought.
But it is true that during these developments many church
leaders longed for a return to the old days and hoped for
some revivalist preacher to carry the society back to its
roots. Hawthorne is being historically accurate, but he
rather paints a mood than an exact history, and he does
compress the real history for artistic reasons in this
novel. The feebleness of the church seems to parallel too
nicely the feebleness of Dimmesdale--are both caused by
hypocrisy?
- his dawning light would be
extinguished ...sl09.html#g04
- Of course, neither the Church leaders nor Dimmesdale's
admirers among his congregation believed that the central problem
here was hypocrisy. The pastor tells them the truth, but the more
he does so, the more they believe him a saint who is trying to
take the sin of the world on his shoulders--or is it on his
heart? We have to recognize that Hawthorne is using a lot of
irony here. Now the pastor is described as making gestures toward
his chest or neck. These are ambiguous and were variously read,
according to the text. But we ought to remember that
Dimmesdale's decline started before Chillingworth came to
live with him. Later this point is obscured and it seems that
Chillingworth is entirely responsible for poisoning Dimmesdale.
Here we observe that Dimmesdale's face is alternately
pale and red (flushed)--possibly a sign of mental conflict.
Also, we do not really know what causes these strange chest
symptoms of Dimmesdale. But one possibility is offered by these
vigils and even the idea that Dimmesdale might be whipping
himself secretly. That would be something that the Puritan
leaders would not support--instead, they would urge Dimmesdale to
get married instead of trying to handle his sexual feelings this
way. "Priestly chastity" might have been admired by a
segment of parishioners, but was not mainstream Puritanism. One
observation is that universities of the day mainly produced
ministers for the church. Harvard had been founded for that
purpose in 1636 (by a Cambridge man), but Oxford would have been
more famous. Indeed, a Puritan minister who was admired for his
scholarship at Oxford would have been a real
"acquistion" for New England; most Oxford-trained
ministers supported the Crown. Incidentally, Hawthorne had
earlier noted the gravestone of one Nathaniel Mather next to
the home of his in-laws the Peabody family (see
Passages from the American
Note-Books, 1838)--he apparently died at age 19 from
studying books too much.
- Sir Kenelm
Digby ...sl09.html#g04
- Digby was a real figure, placed here no doubt for some
authenticity since otherwise he adds nothing. He was a sort of
alchemist like Chillingworth, but did make real scientific
discoveries. Hawthorne had read of him and read at least one book
by him, and apparently exaggerated his life in the story,
"The Birth-mark".
This story is quite similar to how the author treats the
character of Chillingworth from now on.
- from a German
university ...sl09.html#g04
- "German" adds some romantic touch. The
continental universities were more famous for their
scientific work than for producing ministers, as was
Oxford. (Cambridge at the time produced Isaac Newton.)
- "dealt with
him" ...sl09.html#g07
- No "deal" was intended--the ministers and
deacons gave him an ultimatum, ordered him to shape up.
- golden
pavements of the New Jerusalem ...sl09.html#g09
- See
Revelation 21--this was the place that redeemed souls were
supposed to reside, as in Heaven. It would be impious to wish to
be dead so as to go to this new City of God, in spite of the
wordplay between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale here. "New
Jerusalem" might be an epithet also for Boston, the
"city on a hill" that was deliberately sanctified anew
and separate from the Old World and its sins, by the Puritans.
Dimmesdale's role as a minister and intellectual is largely
to expound on this mission and to justify it. We see many
references in this novel, even in this chapter, to the
Puritan's belief in the role of Providence in arranging
matters to reward them for their faith--this was a text that
could be read from the smallest matters of daily life. Again, we
see the irony in Dimmesdale's answering the truth, but not
being believed.
- seashore or
sea-shore? ...sl09.html#g12
- The first edition spells it "seashore" while
the Centenary Edition text has
"sea-shore.". Later in this book it is spelled
"sea-shore," and not "seashore," but
the latter spelling is used in other Hawthorne works.
We have not regularized it here.
- the solemn
wind-anthem among the tree-tops ...sl09.html#g12
- In many places such as this in the text (and throughout
Hawthorne's writings) the author does not repeat the actual
conversation, but prefers to give us a sort of reflection or echo
of it--we hear the sounds, but cannot make out the distinct
words, yet we seem to catch the meaning. Here is a long passage
from American Note-Books, 1842,
describing a scene from a hill at sunset: "Nearer the base
of the hill, I could discern the shadows of every tree and rock,
imaged with a distinctness that made them even more charming than
the reality; because, knowing them to be unsubstantial, they
assumed the ideality which the soul always craves in the
contemplation of earthly beauty. All the sky, too, and the rich
clouds of sunset, were reflected in the peaceful bosom of the
river; and surely, if its bosom can give back such an adequate
reflection of heaven, it cannot be so gross and impure as I
described it yesterday. Or, if so, it shall be a symbol to me
that even a human breast, which may appear least spiritual in
some aspects, may still have the capability of reflecting an
infinite heaven in its depths, and therefore of enjoying it. It
is a comfortable thought, that the smallest and most turbid
mud-puddle can contain its own picture of heaven. Let us remember
this, when we feel inclined to deny all spiritual life to some
people, in whom, nevertheless, our Father may perhaps see the
image of His face. This dull river has a deep religion of its
own; so, let us trust, has the dullest human soul, though,
perhaps, unconsciously." Hawthorne at this point seems to
prefer the reflected beauty to the real thing--perhaps under too
much influence from the Transcendentalists? Longfellow
beautifully captured Hawthorne's reflective voice, so
similar to that of wind in the trees, in his funeral eulogy. In his time in Concord
he must have heard the wind-chimes and wind-harps of Alcott and
Thoreau, as well as the wind in the tree-tops.
- a fascination for the
minister in...the man of science ...sl09.html#g12
- Similar to the earlier presentation of sounds of a
conversation, here the author manages to present
Dimmesdale's state of mind and philosophy of religion
without ever mentioning any particular religious doctrine. We
really have little idea of what new ideas might have withered in
the "fresh and chill" air that forced them back into
orthodox thought. Surely the pastor would have been inclined when
thinking about religion to bear in mind his own predicament as a
sinner, but here it is treated in the abstract. At least we see
some motivation for the two men to talk together.
- the soul of the
sufferer be dissolved ...sl09.html#g13
- Hawthorne continues by stating his conviction that nobody
should have the right to look into another person's mind or
soul, a conviction expressed throughout his writings. The fact
that a physician can do this, he says, must be understood in the
context that the physician must be trusted to be a healer, and
Chillingworth was not. Nevertheless, there is a strong
psychological component to many diseases, and healing can proceed
only when there is intimate contact between the doctor and
sufferer, and a proper consideration of both mind and body--we
see a play on words of "bosom" meaning both.
- priestly
celibacy ...sl09.html#g15
- "Priest" could be used to refer to a Puritan
minister. However, neither Puritan nor Church of England
ministers were required by church doctrine to be celibate
(abstain from married sex). Protestants were well acquainted with
the abuses that the practice of celibacy among Catholic priests
had caused. But here the author only states that Dimmesdale's
actual life was "as if priestly celibacy were one of the
articles of church-discipline," not that it actually was. It
is never stated just why Dimmesdale did not accept the offer of
the hand of one of these comely parishioners. We see no evidence
he was in love with Hester. We can only suppose that he was
depressed and did not feel worthy.
- King's
Chapel ...sl09.html#g16
- King's Chapel was built in 1688, after the time of
this story. Orginally an Episcopal chapel, it was occupied
by British troops during the Revolution and is now a Unitarian
church and a popular site for visitors walking the Freedom Trail.
Hawthorne described a bit of the inside in 1835 in his
American Note-Books.
- Isaac
Johnson ...sl09.html#g16
- We learned of Johnson in Chapter
1. He died in 1630. Here his name adds a touch of
authenticity to the story. Many New England houses are oddly
named not after the current occupants but after the preceding
ones (e.g., the "Perry House" instead of the
"Eldred House," even though Eldred has lived in it for
a couple of decades now--or "The Old Manse" even though
no minister lived there when the Hawthornes did.) Perhaps in this
case superstitious people did not like to use the direct term
"burying ground" but euphemized it as "Isaac
Johnson's lot." One justification for that is that,
according to Snow's History of Boston, Johnson started the
graveyard by asking on his deathbed to be buried in the
lot's southwest corner--it seemed appropriate for other
early settlers to places graves nearby. You have to understand
the author's irony in mentioning that it was an appropriate
place for a minister and a physician to live.
- Gobelin
...sl09.html#g16
- "Gobelin" refers to the tapestry factory in Paris
of that name, starting from 1601, perhaps too late for these to
be found in Boston. Its woven tapestries were popular in
Hawthorne's day and have always been considered the finest
available, perhaps too expensive even for this bachelor couple.
It is possible that similar handwoven tapestries or carpets were
placed on the walls of homes, because there was no insulation in
the walls, and the walls were drafty, especially in winter.
Puritans did not use carpets on the floor as we do today.
- David and
Bathsheba ...sl09.html#g16
- See
2 Samuel 11-12 for the story of King David's adultery with
Bathsheba, his sending Bathsheba's husband to death, and
the prophet Nathan's condemnation of David's adultery. The
consequence was that David and Bathsheba's first son died.
Their second son was Solomon, and the Lord loved him, and had
forgiven David. There is a parallel between David the priest and
Dimmesdale the priest, though it cannot be followed too far.
-
- Nathan the
Prophet ...sl09.html#g16
- It is rather striking that this strong pictorial evidence of
adultery would confront both Dimmesdale and Chillingworth every
day. It is not clear from our story who owned or who put up the
tapestries. If it was Chillingworth (more likely, considering his
wealth) then it was either earlier than his suspicions about
Dimmesdale, and just to remind himself of his plan--or it was
after his suspicions of the pastor, and it was another element to
torture him. If, on the other hand, Dimmesdale put up the
tapestries it might have been a way of confessing, the only way
he could at the time--but then his sin would have been
immediately obvious to Chillingworth, one thinks. Perhaps the
best conclusion is that the author placed these ornaments in the
story for our benefit, to enrich the texture, and did not mean
them to have a role in the plot.
- library, rich with
parchment-bound folios ...sl09.html#g16
- Although Dimmesdale was a pastor, and so presumably had
ordinary churchly jobs such as weddings and funerals to take care
of, he may have been excused from such duties because of his
scholarly work--the parish was probably large enough to support
some specialization of pastoral duties. (If so, one wonders how
he ever met Hester Prynne or had the opportunity to spend time
alone with her.) Hawthorne may have used Puritan ministers such
as John or Cotton Mather as his model for Dimmesdale--they too
spent most of their time collating manuscripts and facts to place
in their books and as points for the logic of their sermons. The
earliest Puritans left journals, and did not seem to have time
for elaborate scholarly work such as given here. John Cotton
played a role in the Anne Hutchinson case, and some believe that
Hawthorne used him as Dimmesdale's model. John Harvard, a
Charlestown minister, left his library to found Harvard
College--that goes to show how valuable such books were in that
time, when all print runs were very small and printing had not
much begun in the colonies, yet books were the only way that
culture could be transmitted widely. The works of rabbis would
have been useful in translating the Hebrew of the Old Testament.
Hawthorne never really had a library such as this, and he
idealizes it considerably--notice the curtains over the windows
that give the sort of romantic light that Hawthorne preferred,
but which would have been inadequate for reading books. In
contrast to the library, Chillingworth's alchemal laboratory
seems rather devilish, but is not described in detail.
- when an
uninstructed multitude... see[s] with its eyes ...sl09.html#g17
- These two sentences have been widely written down in memorandum
books and later quoted--they sound so fine. Hawthorne urges us to
disbelieve the rumors of the mob, then he urges us to believe its
intuition as "truth supernaturally revealed." Then we
are fed stories, of which we have to assess the truth. We realize
that we are not sure that the narrator is also reliable. For the
time being, we have to accept the narrator's word that these
clues might be important. It seems that the author is not
satisfied with the forebodings and general dark air he has placed
in this apartment, but must drag in stories to make it sound more
authentic. It is important to mark that the narrator and the
truth are not the same, and we might be led in the future to
disbelieve all this and form another opinion. Still, these
fantastic stories are as fun as any other amusements.
- Sir Thomas
Overbury ...sl09.html#g17
- Hawthorne gives us the essential facts of this case of
possible poisoning by an alchemist, as part of a rather famous
adultery scandal and trial in 1615, thirty years before this time.
Here Hawthorne associates Chillingworth with the alchemist Dr.
Forman, who was charged with making up potions for the adulterous
wife to give to both her husband and her lover. Overbury, the
friend of the lover, was apparently poisoned while in the Tower
of London. The lover and the adulterous wife escaped but were
ostracized. The husband, the Earl of Essex, is said to have given
money to support the child of his wife--as Chillingworth
eventually does after his death in this book. Although some
critics have argued that this case really serves as the model for
this novel, there are too many discrepancies to explain, and the
setting is entirely different.
- the black
art ...sl09.html#g17
- Not only was Forman said to be a "wizard" but also
the Native American "incantations" were supposed to
have magical powers, deriving from the Devil. Here we see again
the recurrent theme of the Black Man ("sooty face") and
his home in the wilderness outside the town walls. Hawthorne
mixes it all up--Faust, the Devil, the Devil's emissary,
the bad angel working with the permission of God at this time,
the self-revenge of Dimmesdale authorizing this retribution,
the black heresies of the Catholics and their Indian allies,
and more to come!
Summary. From here until the end of the book
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of preceding chapters. E-mail to EricEldred@usa.net
your summary (after reading the chapter carefully). You will
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may then compare with your own to see if you have understood
the chapter. Use "Ch. 9 SL Summary" as the Subject:
line.
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1999. 23 Sep. 1999. <br />
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Letter. 1999. 23 Sep. 1999.
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