- Bunyan's awful
door-way in the hill-side ...sl10.html#g01
- See
Pilgrim's Progress, 1678: "Then I saw
in my dream, that the Shepherds had them to another place, in a
bottom, where was a door in the side of a hill, and they opened
the door, and bid them look in. They looked in, therefore, and
saw that within it was very dark and smoky; they also thought
that they heard there a rumbling noise as of fire, and a cry of
some tormented, and that they smelt the scent of brimstone. Then
said Christian, What means this? The Shepherds told them, This is
a by-way to hell, a way that hypocrites go in at; namely, such as
sell their birthright, with Esau; such as sell their master, with
Judas; such as blaspheme the gospel, with Alexander; and that lie
and dissemble, with Ananias and Sapphira his wife."...
(Note that no "gleams of ghastly fire" darted from the
opening, as Hawthorne misquotes.)
And at the end of the
entire book, this is what happens to Ignorance: "Then they
took him up, and carried him through the air to the door that I
saw in the side of the hill, and put him in there. Then I saw
that there was a way to hell, even from the gates of heaven, as
well as from the City of Destruction. So I awoke, and behold it
was a dream." Hawthorne was very impressed by
Pilgrim's Progress and John Bunyan's use
of allegory no doubt influenced Hawthorne's technique. See
"The Celestial
Rail-road" for Hawthorne's criticism of the
Internet, and of modern technology such as the railroads in
19th-century American life.
- Holy
Writ ...sl10.html#g11
- The reference to the Bible is to
James 5:16-- "Confess [your] faults one to another, and
pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Confession
is central to this novel. We have
already seen Reverend Wilson exhort
Hester to repent and confess publicly on the scaffold.
Here Dimmesdale rationalizes why he does not confess, saying that
Holy Writ does not require public confession. He does not really
believe this--if he did, he would not agonize over the issue for
the rest of the novel, and reach final closure by his complete
repentance and public confession at the end. There is a
difference between private confession and public confession,
explored usefully by Ernest W. Baughman ("Public Confession
and the Scarlet Letter," New England Quarterly,
1967, 40:532-50). Private confession to a Puritan minister could
not bring absolution as to a Catholic or Anglican priest. The
sinner would not only have to confess publicly in church (for
many crimes as well as sins, and this was indeed common practice
in Puritan Boston society) but then stand trial for the offense
as well. Thus Dimmesdale even if he had confessed to Wilson
would probably still have to confess publicly in church and then
would probably have been executed as an adulterer. The sin is
compounded by Dimmesdale's continuing to take the Holy
Sacrament and administer it to others--this requires complete
repentance first. Dimmesdale rationalizes here, thinking that if
he confessed he would not be able to serve God's calling as
a minister. Hawthorne shows that he is rationalizing when he
comments, "He had a faculty, indeed, of escaping from any
topic that agitated his too sensitive and nervous
temperament." (g17).
Although Hawthorne would agree that nobody
else should intervene between God and a sinner, Dimmesdale as a
Puritan minister should not have agreed--but in either case, it
is finally a matter for the sinner's conscience, and here we
see the workings of it. (In The Marble Faun,
Hawthorne has one character confess privately to a Catholic
priest, and he mentioned to James Russell Lowell that he had
thought of doing the same with Dimmesdale, but of course that
would have ruined this book.)
- the day when all hidden things
shall be revealed ...sl10.html#g11
- Dimmesdale refers here to the Day of Judgment, the final days
of history when God reviews the deeds of men and weighs their
sins and passes judgment, condemning some to hell and others to
heaven. He is saying that only God can judge the human heart. But
then he is really saying that he wants to wait until then before
repenting. This is too late for Dimmesdale and too late for us
readers.
- no evil of the past be
redeemed by better service ...sl10.html#g15
- Here Dimmesdale refers to his own plan to keep secret in his
heart his sin, and make up for it by good works. This strongly
parallels Hester's predicament, though she has less choice
in the matter than does Dimmesdale--eventually she does reveal a
secret to Dimmesdale, but only at the expense of breaking a
promise to her husband not to reveal his identity. Hester too
carries around a flaming pain in her bosom and this pricks her to
do good works to make up for it. However, the Puritans did not
believe this was enough--repentance and grace were required as
well as good works. Eventually we come around to the other side,
but here the battle plans are made out for our story.
- at the
cattle-trough in Spring Lane ...sl10.html#g20
- The cattle trough in Spring Lane would have been a
crossroads, right in the middle of downtown Boston of the day, a
block away from the docks to the east and equally the Boston
Common to the west, and a block south of Governor
Bellingham's house and a block north of Governor
Winthrop's. No doubt it would have been muddy and an
attraction for the students coming from school a block to the
west, next to the apartment of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth.
We see no reason why Pearl would have to be the only child to
splatter a passer-by with mud from it.
- a
bygone and buried generation ...sl10.html#g23
- Although Pearl was according to a previous chapter supposed
to attend school and church we do not know if that has happened,
and her behavior here seems to indicate that her isolation is
continuing. Her playing in the burying ground shows off a
contrast between her freedom and the severe orthodoxy of the
first generation of Puritan immigrants, who would be the ones
buried here. But the author goes further, noting not only her
eccentricities but that she might be "a law unto
herself." What does this mean? That she already is going
her own course, perhaps away from God, or that in the future she
may be capable of love and thus obeying the New Law instead of
the Old Law? Chillingworth seems to take a pessimistic view,
perhaps ascribing her behavior to the Devil (maybe in turn for
her sauciness in describing him as the Devil or Black Man), while
Dimmesdale takes a more paternal view.
- the one Physician
of the soul ...sl10.html#g36
- He is referring to God. But he neglects the role of a proper
Puritan minister to minister to the soul just as a physician
ministers to the body.
- the art's
sake ...sl10.html#g40
- Obviously Chillingworth's quest is not for art or his
interest in science, or his curiosity in psychology or medicine.
But he is excusing his unnatural search by these means. He has
been accusing his patient Dimmesdale of being untrue to his own
heart, while here he falls into the same trap of hypocrisy.
Summary. From here until the end of the book
we expect you to write your own summaries, following the models
of preceding chapters. E-mail to EricEldred@usa.net
your summary (after reading the chapter carefully). You will get
in return e-mail similar summaries made by others, which you may
then compare with your own to see if you have understood the
chapter. Use "Ch. 10 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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