Dark Side Chart

Character	Dark Side	Relation to Gender	Support
Hester Prynne	Hester's only dark side is when she is trying to help. For instance she broke her promise with Chillingworth to not reveal his name, however she tells Dimmesdale to protect him.	She is very dependent as she is raising her daughter on her own.	"Yes, I hate him!" ... "He has betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did him (159)!"
Chillingworth	He seeks revenge on Dimmesdale once he discovers he is the one Hester had an affair with. He makes Hester promise not to reveal his name. He becomes selfish.	He feels betrayed by his wife, leading him to want al power and control- appearing as a villain as well as immature.	"I seek no vengeance, plot no evil against thee. Between thee and me, the scale hangs fairly balanced (70)." This is significant because he is lying to Hester. He wishes to get revenge on Dimmesdale
Dimmesdale	Dimmesdale doe not confess his sin even though he has seen how miserable Hester has been going through this alone. He is selfish as he is concerned about how the community will treat him.	He (nor Chillingworth) does not represent a Patriarch. He is scared and sick showing signs of weakness. Also for not living up to his sin	"Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide" asked pearl. he replied, "Nay; not so, my little Pearl (139)." Illustrating he is not owning up and demonstrating what a "man" should do- he should help protect his family.
Pearl	Pearl does not have a dark side- she is an innocent young child. The only "dark" thing that comes to mind is her fascination with the scarlet letter, which fears her mother.	Her biggest influence in life is her mother- her childhood seems to be female oriented, causing her to be cautious with the men in the story.	"Pearl took some eel-grass, and imitated, as best as she could, on her own bosom, the decoration with which she was so familiar on her mother's (161)."

Chapters 9-15

In chapter 12, Dimmesdale stands on the platform where Hester stood to show her shame. During this time he is very nervous, "the minister discovered, by the faint ness which came over him, that the last few moments had been a crisis of terrible anxiety" (137). Later on when Hester and Pearl find him on the platform and Pearl continually ass, "'Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?'" (139), in which Dimmesdale responds "Nay; not so, my little Pearl".  This is where the difference between Hester and Dimmesdale is very clear. Hester owned up to her sin and has yet to run away from the community that humiliated her by forcing her to wear the scarlet letter, as well as raising her child on her own. This is what makes her the archetype of the independent liberated woman. However Dimmesdale is not ready to confess his secret, even though it is taking over his mind. He is embarrassed and selfish in the sense, completely opposite of how Hester dealt with the situation. It's is hard fitting him into a certain archetype, but the best I could do is to put him under the category of a lost soul. He is confused and vulnerable as his mind is not in the right state from keeping his secret in.

Eventually it is revealed that the A has several different meanings. The A can stand be for angel or able. I need to read further to conclude who finds the A to have a good meaning, and those who find it to be negative.

"You are beside him, sleeping and waking. You search his thoughts, You burrow and rankle in his heart! Your clutch is on his life, and you cause him to die daily a living death; and still he knows to not. In permitting this, I have surely acted a false part by the only man to whom the was left me to be true!" (154)
This is a significant line Hester has where she is speaking to her past husband. It is revealed that Dimmesdale is not aware of Chillingworth's significance in Hester's life, however Chillingworth can do much damage to him if he wished. He has power of Dimmesdale and can make his life terrifying if he wishes to do so. This represents the power of revenge and anger a man can contain. It is up to Chillingworth to use his power or not and I will find out as I continue to read.


Questions:
Who knows what? ->
Does Pearl know Dimmesdale is her father?
Is Chillingworth aware that Hester had her affair with Dimmesdale?
Why did Dimmesdale and Hester barely speak when they were together on the platform one night?
What is the emotional past relationship Hester and Dimmesdale had?

The Applicant

The speaker in "The Applicant" seems to be society. The first stanza asks, "are you our sort of person? ...Rubber breast or a rubber crotch?" Implying do you, man or female, make yourself appear a certain way to become society's "sort of person".
I feel when Sylvia used the word naked several times, her meaning behind it is innocence, and eventually she won't be, "in twenty-five years she'll be silver", illustrating as time gets older she will appear as something else.
I find it significant that she uses the pronoun "it", stating, "A living doll, everywhere you look. It can sew, it can cook, it can talk, talk talk. / It works, there is nothing wrong with it." She is describing a girl who has all the "right" characteristics for a husband. The last line is quite important as it says, "My boy, it's your last resort. / Will you marry it, marry it, marry it." (notice there is no question mark -?). This shows that society believes it is up to the boy to decide who his wife is and if she fits all the criteria. I believe Plath is writing in society's point of view and is trying to speak to men, and even society overall.

Chapter 4-8

Through research, I learned that Hawthorne grew up in Salem, Massachusetts. He was haunted by the Salem witch trials that occurred in his town in 1692, especially because his great-grandfather was a judge. This is a very influential part of Hawthorne's life, leading to the inspiration of The Scarlet Letter which was based during the same time as the witch trials were. Both of these events revolve around woman being accused of sinning and their fate is up to the men ruling the trial.

As time goes on, Hester has moved into a cabin in the forest with her three year old daughter, Pearl. The narrator describes Pearl as, "so magnificent was the small figure, when his arrayed, and such was the splendor of Pearl's own proper beauty, shining though her gorgeous roves which might have extinguished a paler loveliness, that there was an absolute circle of radiance." (82). He describes her as almost a mystical child, I vision almost a goddess or saint. I find it important that she holds this type of beauty because it seems to convey a since of power as well in such a small child.

Analyzing the symbol of the letter A, I found one quote to represent significant meaning. As Hester is in her house the narrator states, "One day as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant's eye had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and putting up her little hand, she grasped at it, smiling not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam, that have her face the look of a much older child." Hester finds her scarlet letter to be shameful and a representation of her sin, she believes it has only negative connotation. However, her daughter is quite fascinated with it which is symbolic due to the fact that her daughter was the outcome of the sin that the A represents. This is similar to how the A led Hester to the prison because it's glimmer is always caught by Pearl's eyes, representing that the her sin is something to not be ashamed of because she got a daughter as a companion in the end. This shows that the A has different meaning to certain people.

Hester comes across a dilemma where the governor either wants to take Pearl away from Hester if she is not a human child for Hester's sake, or he wants to take her away if she is a human child  so she can have a better mother than what he believes Hester would be. This is a tough situation for Hester as Pearl is the most important thing in her life. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation, which is something very hard to live with. Hester speaks loudly to the Governor fighting for her daughter because God has given Pearl to her.

Hester Prynne can fit multiple archetypes, but she mostly falls under the category of a liberated woman. She is independent as she lives alone with a daughter and she frequently stands up for herself, when she denies to tell who she had an affair with and when she fights to keep her daughter. She is making a life and path on her own and hopefully on the way she influences others to have a more open mind from what they are use to from their Puritan beliefs.

Reading Schedule

By Monday September 22: Chapter 4-9 (Page 65-107) due

Tuesday September 23: Chapter 9-11 (Page 126) due

Wednesday September 24: Chapter 11-14 (Page 152) due

Thursday September 25: Chapter 14-17 (page 170) due

Friday September 26: Chapter 17-19 (Page 185) due

Monday September 29: Chapter 19-21 (Page 202) due

Tuesday September 30: Chapter 21-23 (Page 221) due

Wednesday October 1: Chapter 23-Conclusion (Page 235-end of book) due

Chapters 1-3

My first reaction when reading the first page of The Scarlet Letter was shock in how horrifying and ugly the description of the prison was. Already aware that the story is based around an adulterer, I was surprised to see that for a "crime" that is committed frequently now a days, would have you locked up in horrible sounding prisons back then. Before reading chapter three, I was under the impression that the interrogators were only blaming Hester for committing adultery, and not the male in the situation. Thinking this, I was again surprised to see a community only blaming a woman in a crime that consists of two people. Eventually as I kept reading I learned that they were trying to pry out of her who the father of her child is. Something that I found to be a strong impact on the storyline was that the first time Hawthorne had Hester talk was when she yelled, "'Never!... It is too branded. Ye cannot take it off. And would that I might endure agony, as well as mine!'" (64). I found this to be quite significant demonstrating an independent woman, staying true to what she believes in and protecting the father of her baby, which seems difficult to do in this time period as punishments were harsh and cruel. An observation I noticed was that Hawthorne consistently reflects back on the scarlet letter itself and how it is imprinted on her chest. The first time I believe it is mentioned is on page 50 when Hester walks out to the crowd, "On the breast of her gown,  in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A." He ends chapter three with the last line being, "It was whispered, by those who peered after her that the scarlet letter threw lurid gleam along the dark passage-way of the interior.' (65). These descriptions of the letter embroidered on her clothes give it great significance. I interpreted the last quote to mean that the A almost has special powers, it was leading her into the direction of the prison. I am waiting to read more to fully elaborate on that idea, maybe she is meant to be imprisoned to make a difference? As gender goes, the author made Hester come out to be a strong, brave and courageous woman, while the Reverend and men interrogators are helpless in the fact that she won't give any names away, giving her more power and control over the trial.

At the Gym by Mark Doty

Mark Doty revealed a clear image of a man working out at the gym. He emphasizes the idea of lifting and how men at the gym "hoists nothing that need be lifted", they do so because they feel compelled to strengthen their appearance. For example, they chose to do more reps than they need to on their own. The author also repeats the idea of a "stain" and leaving their mark at the gym. In the second to last stanza he said, "we sweat the mark of our presence onto the cloth", implying that men want people to know they go to the gym and are working hard into transforming themselves into something else. In contrary, girls usually do not want people to know they are working to "transform" themselves, they want to convey the idea that they are naturally flawless. I think the author is trying to portray insecurities in a man and they have a sense of accomplishment through increasing their work/lifting method. The last line of the second stanza says, "burden they've chosen this time: more reps" implying that they are doing more than what they need to to be feel successful.