The last two chapters of this novel have left me with many mixed feelings about the novel and how it ended. The first of the two chapters mainly focuses on the end of the Dimmesdale and the impact that he leaves on the puritan society in his final hours. The final chapter of The Scarlet Letter was perhaps one of the most unsatisfying yet one of the most completing culminations of a novel that I have ever read. In Chapter 23 Dimmesdale gives one last sermon written from his heart telling people about the relations of God and mankind. He leaves the people of the town in awe with the holy spirit he seemed to possess while giving this speech. Once he emerges again after the parade, all of the townspeople see that he really is dying and has grown very weak. He gives a few more heartfelt words admitting his guilt but asking for forgiveness, not only for himself but for Hester and Pearl before dying on the scaffold in front of the town. When I first read about the events leading up to his death it reminded me of a cheesy ending to a tragic romance that would leave most people who were looking for a happily ever after, with a bitter aftertaste that would make even the most open-minded and willing of readers want to scream in frustration.
It was a good thing I did not stop there because the final chapter of the novel answered many questions I had while leaving a few more that I would have liked to be answered. The concluding chapter glazed over the rest of Hester Prynne's life in a matter of five pages. The narrator has a more personal voice in the ultimate chapter. The narrator gives his opinion on the message of the novel, and a summery on the rest Hester's life. After Chillingworth dies, about a year after Dimmesdale, he leaves his estate to Pearl, earning her a substantial amount of respect in the Puritan community. Soon thereafter, both Pearl and Hester leave the society and travel to some unknown places until Hester as an older woman return to her cottage after many years. We learn that Pearl has married a rich man and has started a family of her own, while still staying in touch with her mother from a foreign land. Hester herself continued to live on the outskirts of the village, still wearing the scarlet letter, on her own free will. In the end when Hester dies the narrator explains how she is buried next to an older grave, with both of the graves sharing a single tombstone reading "ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES." In heraldry sable is the color black and gules is the color red. This leaves me with one final question: while the the red letter can most likely be assumed to be Hester, who is the one that is described as the black field? Could it be Dimmesdale, the one who was always dresses in black, or could it be Chillingworth, who had been referred to as the black man at a few points in the novel? This major piece of missing information has left me feeling unsatisfied with the novel's ending. Even though I actually likes the novel as a whole, I want more. I want to know who it was that she was buried next to. I want to know if she was put to rest by her husband, or by the man that she loved.
The first of the two quotations that I plan on discussing is on page 234. "But there was a more [...] with reverence, too." (Hawthorne 234). This quotation was one of the most profound quotations in these chapters because I think it accurately portrays the development of the scarlet letter. It starts out as a mark of scorn and shame and slowly changes badge of respect. People stop looking at Hester in scorn and start seeking her counsel for their worries and how to fix them. These few sentences show how Hester's refusal to wear this as a mark of shame has changed the perspectives of those around her to that of a badge of knowledge, and wisdom.
The other quotation I want to bring up is on page 228. "'It was on him [...] won a victory." (Hawthorne 228). Dimmesdale in his final hour is admitting to his sins and acknowledging that he also has sinned. What I found most interesting about this passage was that he says that both God and the Devil see his sins. He is finally taking all of the blame away from Hester and her scarlet letter by showing his own on his chest. The moral of the novel according to the narrator is to be free and show your worst, or to show enough for people to be able to guess the worst in you. He does exactly this by showing his own mark of shame that is on his chest. The mark that was hidden under his clothes. a mark that he had been carrying by himself for the last seven years.
The gossamer thread that I will be discussing today is the song "Take Me To Church" by Hozier. During an interview Hozier was asked to discuss the meaning of the song and how is critiques oppressive institutions. Hozier replies to the question by saying: "Take Me to Church" is essentially about sex, but it's a tongue-in-cheek attack at organizations that would … well, it's about sex and it's about humanity, and obviously sex and humanity are incredibly tied. Sexuality, and sexual orientation — regardless of orientation — is just natural. An act of sex is one of the most human things. But an organization like the church, say, through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual orientation — that it is sinful, or that it offends God. The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love. Turning your back on the theoretical thing, something that's not tangible, and choosing to worship or love something that is tangible and real — something that can be experienced. But it's not an attack on faith. Coming from Ireland, obviously, there's a bit of a cultural hangover from the influence of the church. You've got a lot of people walking around with a heavy weight in their hearts and a disappointment, and that [stuff] carries from generation to generation. So the song is just about that — it's an assertion of self, reclaiming humanity back for something that is the most natural and worthwhile. Electing, in this case a female, to choose a love who is worth loving." (source)The final line of the interview says that the song talks about being "assertion of self". I think that this properly sums up the main message of the novel, that people should be true to themselves. What Dimmesdale in the end of his life tried to do, and what Hester also did by returning to the Puritan society and refusing to take the label of shame the others tried to keep on her.
It was a good thing I did not stop there because the final chapter of the novel answered many questions I had while leaving a few more that I would have liked to be answered. The concluding chapter glazed over the rest of Hester Prynne's life in a matter of five pages. The narrator has a more personal voice in the ultimate chapter. The narrator gives his opinion on the message of the novel, and a summery on the rest Hester's life. After Chillingworth dies, about a year after Dimmesdale, he leaves his estate to Pearl, earning her a substantial amount of respect in the Puritan community. Soon thereafter, both Pearl and Hester leave the society and travel to some unknown places until Hester as an older woman return to her cottage after many years. We learn that Pearl has married a rich man and has started a family of her own, while still staying in touch with her mother from a foreign land. Hester herself continued to live on the outskirts of the village, still wearing the scarlet letter, on her own free will. In the end when Hester dies the narrator explains how she is buried next to an older grave, with both of the graves sharing a single tombstone reading "ON A FIELD, SABLE, THE LETTER A, GULES." In heraldry sable is the color black and gules is the color red. This leaves me with one final question: while the the red letter can most likely be assumed to be Hester, who is the one that is described as the black field? Could it be Dimmesdale, the one who was always dresses in black, or could it be Chillingworth, who had been referred to as the black man at a few points in the novel? This major piece of missing information has left me feeling unsatisfied with the novel's ending. Even though I actually likes the novel as a whole, I want more. I want to know who it was that she was buried next to. I want to know if she was put to rest by her husband, or by the man that she loved.
The first of the two quotations that I plan on discussing is on page 234. "But there was a more [...] with reverence, too." (Hawthorne 234). This quotation was one of the most profound quotations in these chapters because I think it accurately portrays the development of the scarlet letter. It starts out as a mark of scorn and shame and slowly changes badge of respect. People stop looking at Hester in scorn and start seeking her counsel for their worries and how to fix them. These few sentences show how Hester's refusal to wear this as a mark of shame has changed the perspectives of those around her to that of a badge of knowledge, and wisdom.
The other quotation I want to bring up is on page 228. "'It was on him [...] won a victory." (Hawthorne 228). Dimmesdale in his final hour is admitting to his sins and acknowledging that he also has sinned. What I found most interesting about this passage was that he says that both God and the Devil see his sins. He is finally taking all of the blame away from Hester and her scarlet letter by showing his own on his chest. The moral of the novel according to the narrator is to be free and show your worst, or to show enough for people to be able to guess the worst in you. He does exactly this by showing his own mark of shame that is on his chest. The mark that was hidden under his clothes. a mark that he had been carrying by himself for the last seven years.
The gossamer thread that I will be discussing today is the song "Take Me To Church" by Hozier. During an interview Hozier was asked to discuss the meaning of the song and how is critiques oppressive institutions. Hozier replies to the question by saying: "Take Me to Church" is essentially about sex, but it's a tongue-in-cheek attack at organizations that would … well, it's about sex and it's about humanity, and obviously sex and humanity are incredibly tied. Sexuality, and sexual orientation — regardless of orientation — is just natural. An act of sex is one of the most human things. But an organization like the church, say, through its doctrine, would undermine humanity by successfully teaching shame about sexual orientation — that it is sinful, or that it offends God. The song is about asserting yourself and reclaiming your humanity through an act of love. Turning your back on the theoretical thing, something that's not tangible, and choosing to worship or love something that is tangible and real — something that can be experienced. But it's not an attack on faith. Coming from Ireland, obviously, there's a bit of a cultural hangover from the influence of the church. You've got a lot of people walking around with a heavy weight in their hearts and a disappointment, and that [stuff] carries from generation to generation. So the song is just about that — it's an assertion of self, reclaiming humanity back for something that is the most natural and worthwhile. Electing, in this case a female, to choose a love who is worth loving." (source)The final line of the interview says that the song talks about being "assertion of self". I think that this properly sums up the main message of the novel, that people should be true to themselves. What Dimmesdale in the end of his life tried to do, and what Hester also did by returning to the Puritan society and refusing to take the label of shame the others tried to keep on her.
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