- black and weather-stained
with the storm or sunshine of seven long years ...
sl12.html#g01
- By these words Hawthorne poetically states that Hester had been on
the scaffold seven years before, not that the scaffold had been
built seven years before--presumably it was built early after the
Puritans arrived in 1630, along with the jail and the burial
ground. However, since the pillory was not really mounted on the
scaffold at this time, we cannot hold the author to strict
historical accuracy. We are assuming here that the story started
in the late spring of 1642 and that we are now in 1649, seven years later.
It is late spring--"early May," according to the next
paragraph, but late March if we wanted to be historically
accurate with Governor Winthrop's death on March 26.
- eye-witnesses while...her
punishment ...sl12.html#g01
- Here is a flashback to the scaffold scene in the first
chapters. But also it makes a parallel between the public
confession (or defiance) of Hester on the scaffold, and what
Arthur is doing now. One has to wonder which appearance on the
scaffold would be more sensational to the same audience.
See an earlier reference to the requirement for public
confession rather than private.
- that Remorse which dogged him
everywhere ...sl12.html#g01
- The capitalized Remorse and Cowardice, like John
Bunyan's allegory in Pilgrim's Progress,
mean that these qualities take on a life of their own as
characters--only a partial, shadow life, since they are not
really living, but through their names we already know how they
are supposed to act. Hawthorne uses this rhetoric at times, but
sparingly--the whole novel is more than a simple allegory, and
the living characters have a rich and free life beyond what
allegory (or Calvinist predestination) would allow.
- the gnawing and poisonous tooth of bodily
pain ...sl12.html#g03
- The author identifies the mental anguish the pastor is
feeling with physical pain centered on his naked chest and tells
us that what Chillingworth saw (or thought he saw) was a scarlet
"token" or sign. Further, Hawthorne states that for
some time Dimmesdale had felt great physical pain at that
location. Since the scarlet letter on his chest happened before
Chillingworth had a chance to poison him, we have to believe that
Dimmesdale had inflicted this injury on himself through excessive
whipping or cutting of the skin.
- he shrieked aloud ...sl12.html#g03
- In "Young Goodman
Brown," Brown shouted "Faith!", and the echoes
of the forest mocked him, "as if bewildered wretches were
seeking her, all through the wilderness." This is much
finer, even if Brown only shouted rather than shrieked--mocking
is much stronger than playing or bandying. But notice that
Dimmesdale does not articulate any words, at least in a
language that we can understand--perhaps the Holy Ghost is
operating through his conscience as at Pentecost, and
ironically the hearers believe this to come from an evil voice.
- the noise of witches ...sl12.html#g05
- There may have been some belief in witches at that period,
but the period of witchcraft hysteria was after the date of this
story, and does not especially reflect the practices of the Puritans
Hawthorne is depicting here--Hawthorne as usual is touching up
history and mixing in effects for his story. It would be more
likely for residents to assume owls or loons would make strange
noises at night, even in downtown Boston of the time.
- Governor Winthrop ...sl12.html#g07
- Hawthorne chooses the death of Governor Winthrop as the
critical event here, emphasized by the scaffold scene. Winthrop,
the greatly revered first governor of the Massachusetts Bay
Colony, died March 26, 1649. He left a journal that Hawthorne no
doubt read. He would have characterized Winthrop as one of the
iron men of the Puritans, but one who insisted on the rule of the
elders instead of civil democracy--which Hawthorne would
prefer.
- Geneva cloak ...sl12.html#g08
- A Geneva cloak ought to be familiar to those who have seen it
in graduation ceremonies--it was black or dark, but the ones the
Puritans wore were heavy wool, in order to stay warm. The name
comes from its use in Geneva by the followers of the Protestant
theologian Calvin. The Puritans were Calvinist Protestants rather
than Lutheran Protestants.
- The three formed an electric chain
...sl12.html#g01
- What words could not communicate, their emotional energy
could. Electricity of course was not harnessed at this date for
homes as today--it was a strange phenomenon barely understood,
perhaps magical or supernatural. The image is a powerful
one.
- a light gleamed...one of those
meteors ...sl12.html#g01
- Meteors and comets and other celestial phenomena were not
blamed on unidentified flying objects in this time, but rather
were thought to have special sigificance as direct word from God
about what the people down below were doing, good or bad (usually
bad). For example, when Reverend John Cotton died in 1652 a
meteor was seen at night and the residents of Boston were alarmed
at the strange sight, which they connected with Cotton's
death. Perhaps it meant he was on his way to heaven, but perhaps
something bad was about to happen. We should not look too closely
at this, but it seems strange that it was so dark unless it was
cloudy, and then it would be strange to see the meteor so
distinctly. Hawthorne had seen a comet, which sounds like it
would fit this description better than a meteor, but one lasts
too long in the sky and the other flashes too quickly. The aurora
borealis would not be visible if it was that cloudy.
- humorous ...sl12.html#g11
- Here Hawthorne gives us some deep insight into the character,
whose unconscious is acting in spite of his conscious will. Later
we will see what happens when he has decided to escape--his
actions are nearly psychotic (a sort of identity crisis), the
minister in a maze. The implication is that he might be
controlled by evil forces--who knows?
- the destiny of nations ...sl12.html#g01
- Here we see a text in the sky to decipher along with the text
of this book. Both seem to be about nations, or at least that is
what we seem to be looking for. Pearl continues this theme by
talking gibberish. And Dimmesdale ends up like Simon Peter denying the
truth.
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. 12 SL Summary" as the Subject:
line.
Suggested MLA citations to this web page,
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Use as in ?Help? page citation guide.
Eldred, Eric. <cite>Notes to Ch. 12, The Scarlet
Letter.</cite> <br />
1999. 23 Sep. 1999. <br />
<<a
href="http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sl12-n.html">http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sl12-n.html</a>>
(<a
href="http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sl12-n.html">Eldred</a>)
Eldred, Eric. Notes to Ch. 12, The Scarlet
Letter. 1999. 23 Sep. 1999.
<http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sl12-n.html>
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