Okay, so the first chapter of The Scarlet Letter was mostly just about a door and a rosebush, which I found to be a little bit boring. But, I really think that Hawthorne is giving us a hint in this chapter about something that will come back to us in future chapters. Which also makes me a little bit more curious and excited to read the rest of this book. I like how Hawthorne is giving us symbols and ideas to think about....
Chapter 2 gives us a little idea of the way the Puritans think and the way they think people should be punished for their sins, particular Hester Prynne's sin of adultery. They think her sin is just so terrible that she needs to be put on a pedestal of shame and have everyone know by marking her with an A of the color scarlet stitched with seams of gold. This irritates me unbelievably because by doing this it's like they are saying they don't sin or that their sins aren't as bad as hers. Aren't all sins just as bad?! It brings us back to the whole theme of The Crucible, they punished their people unbelievably. The Puritans in these times were quite judgmental.
So now after getting some background information, we move on to chapter 3 where we see Hester Prynne standing on public display in front of her town. Hawthrone, again gives us something to think about: Hester sees a white man an a Native American watching her. She recognizes the white man as he does her. He puts his finger to his lips "shhhh" indicating there is something going on that we don't know about. This makes me very curious again...who might this man be? Why does Hester know him and what was he wanting her to be quiet about? Moving on...The townspeople, including the reverend, are pretty much begging Hester to tell them the man who she had the affair with is. Really, I think they are just doing this for entertainment, they find this gossip about Hester being an adulterer so fascinating they are just dying for more. People are screaming for the name of the man she had this affair with. One person even screams out, "Speak; and give your child a father!" Hester replies with "I will not speak! And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!"(page 66) I think this shows a lot of character from Hester for being so bold to say something like that.
So chapter 4 gets pretty intense, Hester is sent back into the prison with her baby and there they have a doctor for her to give her and her baby medicine. Well, turns out the doctor is her husband that has been gone for so long and also who she as cheated on. He seems like a pretty big jerk if you ask me. When Hester is hesitant about taking the medicine, fearing that it may be poisoned he reassures her that he wants to keep her alive because he wants her to feel that shame and misery of the scarlet A embroiderd on her chest. Wow. They then talk about how they have wronged each other and he asks Hester to keep his identity of him being the husband she cheated on, a secret.
Chapter 2 gives us a little idea of the way the Puritans think and the way they think people should be punished for their sins, particular Hester Prynne's sin of adultery. They think her sin is just so terrible that she needs to be put on a pedestal of shame and have everyone know by marking her with an A of the color scarlet stitched with seams of gold. This irritates me unbelievably because by doing this it's like they are saying they don't sin or that their sins aren't as bad as hers. Aren't all sins just as bad?! It brings us back to the whole theme of The Crucible, they punished their people unbelievably. The Puritans in these times were quite judgmental.
So now after getting some background information, we move on to chapter 3 where we see Hester Prynne standing on public display in front of her town. Hawthrone, again gives us something to think about: Hester sees a white man an a Native American watching her. She recognizes the white man as he does her. He puts his finger to his lips "shhhh" indicating there is something going on that we don't know about. This makes me very curious again...who might this man be? Why does Hester know him and what was he wanting her to be quiet about? Moving on...The townspeople, including the reverend, are pretty much begging Hester to tell them the man who she had the affair with is. Really, I think they are just doing this for entertainment, they find this gossip about Hester being an adulterer so fascinating they are just dying for more. People are screaming for the name of the man she had this affair with. One person even screams out, "Speak; and give your child a father!" Hester replies with "I will not speak! And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!"(page 66) I think this shows a lot of character from Hester for being so bold to say something like that.
So chapter 4 gets pretty intense, Hester is sent back into the prison with her baby and there they have a doctor for her to give her and her baby medicine. Well, turns out the doctor is her husband that has been gone for so long and also who she as cheated on. He seems like a pretty big jerk if you ask me. When Hester is hesitant about taking the medicine, fearing that it may be poisoned he reassures her that he wants to keep her alive because he wants her to feel that shame and misery of the scarlet A embroiderd on her chest. Wow. They then talk about how they have wronged each other and he asks Hester to keep his identity of him being the husband she cheated on, a secret.