Chapter 4

Quote: "Lord Henry watched him with a subtle sense of  pleasure. How different he was now from the shy, frightened boy he had met in Basil Hallward's studio! His nature had developed like a flower, had borne blossoms of scarlet flame. Out of its secret hiding-place had crept his Soul, and Desire had come to meet it on the way" (Wilde 59).

Explanation: The narrator is explaining Lord Henry's joy of seeing how Dorian is changing as a result of him. This change may be for the good or bad but Lord Henry has no care about it because Dorian is the experiment and "the experimental method was the only method by which one could arrive at any scientific analysis of the passions; and certainly Dorian Gray was a subject made to his hand, and seemed to promise rich and fruitful results" (63). And from the accounts of others characters, his affects on others are usually bad so Lord Henry is only manipulating Dorian to please his need for intellectual hunger. Thus the reader can assume that Lord Henry may have no limit to how far he may push Dorian thus Dorean may undergo an extreme change in his personality as well as morality.

Quote: "Harry [...] I cannot help telling you things. You have a curious influence over me. If I ever did a crime, I would come and confess it to you. You would understand me" (56).

Explanation: Dorian is talking to Lord Henry and admitting to how susceptible he is to Lord Henry's will. Thus Dorian is already being manipulated by Henry, but he has no knowledge of it. He believes Harry is a person he can seek proper guidance from, and Lord Henry knows this: "You could not have helped telling me, Dorian. All through your life you will tell me everything you do" (56). 

Vocab

Doublet: a man's close fitting jacket; worn during the Renaissance

"I have watched her wandering through the forest of Arden, disguised as a pretty boy in hose and doublet"(55).

Rouge: makeup consisting  of a pink or red powder applied to the cheeks

"Rouge and esprit used to go together" (51).

chapter 3

Quote: "Yes, he would try to be to Dorian Gray, what, without knowing it, the lad was to the fpainter who had fashinged the wonderful portrait. He would seek to dominate him -had already, indeed, half done so. He would make that wonderful spirirt his own" (Wilde 40)

Explanation: The narrator is explaining how Lord Henry wants to become a very strong influence on Dorian Gray: "He would seek to dominate him" (40). And it is clear that Lord Henry does not play a good influence with anyone he comes to contact, which is clearly outlined by Basil, "Your influence would be bad" (16), and by the Dutchess, "Lord Henry, you are quite delightful, and dreadfully demoralizing" (45). This means that if Dorian Gray was to seek guidance from Lord Henry it would be disastorous and life altering.

Quote: "I would sooner come with you; ues, I feel i must come with you. Do let me. And you will promise to tak to me all the time? No one talks so wonderfully as you do" (47). -Dorian

Explanation: Dorian is speaking to Lord Henry. It seems clear that Dorian has begun to grow attatched to Lord Henry similar to the way that Lord Henry wants him to be. This means that the reader can expect a change for the worse in Dorain Gray, due in part to Lord Henry's bad influence.

Vocab:

Egad: exclamation expressing exultation or surprise

"The men were a poor lot, but egad! the women were wonderful" (37).

Capricious: determined by chance or impulse or whim reather than by necessity or reason

"But had retired from the Diplomatic Service in a capricious moment of annoyance on not being offered the embassy at Paris" (35).

Chapter 1 and 2

Quote: Hallward- "I have put into it some experession of all this curious artistic idolatry, of which, of course, I have never cared to speak to him. He knows nothin about it. He shall never know anything about it. But the world might guess it; and I will not bare my soul to their shallow, prying eyes. My heart shall never be pu under a microscope. There is too much of myself in the thing, Harry -too much of myself" (Wilde 13).

Explanation: Hallward is expressing that he does not want to unveil his new piece of Dorian Gray in the quote above, saying that "there is too much of myself in the thing" (13). He does not clearly state what part of himself is in the piece but it is eluded that he is not portraying Dorian per say but is actually protraying his love or envy for Dorian Gray for "it is not he who is revealed by the painter; it is rather the painter who, on the colored canvas, reveals himself" (7).

Quote: "He had never felt it before. Basil Hallward's compliments had seemed to hime to be merely the charming exaggerations of friendship. He had listened to them, laughed at them, forgotten them. They had not influenced his nature. Then had come Lord Henry Wotton with his strange panegyric on youth, his terrible warning of it brevity. That had stirred him at the time, and now, as he stood gazing at the shadow of his loveliness, the full reality of the descpription flashed across him. Yes, there would be a day when face would be wrinkled and wizen" (27).

Explanation: The narrator is explaining a shift in Dorian Gray, a new realization or awareness has arisen: "there would be a day when face would be wrinkled and wizen" (27). This change outlines that this character was a once a stable and partially normal character with great beauty but has now become a paranoid lunatic about his ever dying beauty. This shift results in a jealousy of the painting "whose beauty does not die... [yet] every moment that passes takes something from me" (29). This paranoia of his dying beauty and jealousy of his immortal painting may lead him to being infatuated with his painting.

Vocab:

Caprice: a sudden desire 

"The only difference between a caprice and a life long passion is that the caprice lasts a little bit longer" (26).

Panegyric: formerly expressing praise

"Then had come Lord Henry with his strange panegyric on youth" (27).

William Lai
AP American Literature- Mr. George
January 12, 2009
Essay Topic 3
How do you wash away sin?

How do you wash away your sins? This may seem to be a silly question today, but this was actually a lifelong question of the past, specifically in Puritanical society. Puritan society lacked an answer to this question due to the way their society was founded and constructed. The authors of The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter elected to answer this question through their characters’ responses to having sinned in a social order where reconciliation did not exist. Both authors use the sin of adultery as a catalyst to evoke an answer from the characters pertaining to where redemption can be found. The characters from both books obtain forgiveness from two places: forgiveness and God.
The Puritans were originally Christians from England, but they chose to leave after the creation of the Church of England. In the eyes of the Puritans, the Church of England was impure, lacking proper religious and societal rules. They left England for the stormy shores of New England, where they were free to construct their own society with their own religious beliefs. One societal and religious change the Puritans made, was to stress social and theological conformity. This conformity, enforced harsh punishment on those who did not follow the rules or normal attitudes of the Puritan community, which they believed through The Bible. Nathaniel Hawthorne clearly outlines this regimentation through the reaction of the Puritan community when Hester Prynne stands on the scaffold for the first time: “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book” (Hawthorne 48). When a person does not abide by the community's rules, they are met with contempt and ridicule, as Hester was in The Scarlet Letter. Puritan strictness and conformity were stressed to such a degree that it left them with “no ritual for the washing away of sins” (Miller 20). Those who sinned were forced to find reconciliation for their sins on their own.
In The Crucible, the main character John Proctor, tries to find redemption for his sin of lechery. He soon encounters a problem: where does redemption come from? He believed that redemption comes from others, so he first searches for forgiveness from his wife. Instead of finding forgiveness, he is met with a coldness “that could freeze beer” (20). He did not expect the harshness that he had received from his wife; “I should have roared you down when first you told me your suspicion. But I wilted, and, like a Christian, I confessed! Some dream I had must have mistaken you for God that day” (55). After confessing to his wife, he did not find reconciliation for his sin, so he again tries to seek it from others, this time the community.
John Proctor admits to the community that he committed adultery, in an attempt to end Abigail’s supposed witch hunt and to come clean with his sin, but once again it bares the opposite affect he intended. He is now thrown in jail, accused of witchcraft, and is still burdened with inner turmoil from his sin. His frustration with not being able to wash away his sin is expressed before he is arrested, “I say –say –God is dead!” (119).
John Proctor finally finds peace from his sin when Rebecca Nurse sees him sign a paper calling himself a witch. Rebecca Nurse professes her shock saying, “Why it is a lie, it is a lie; how may I damn myself?” (140). This sparks the idea that instead of seeking peace from his peers, he should be seeking it from God. When he seeks peace from God, he finds the inner peace: “There’s your first marvel […] for now I do think I see some shred of goodness in John Proctor” (144). And while Proctor goes to his death the author makes it clear that Elizabeth has fully forgiven Proctor for his sin; “He have his goodness now” (145). John Proctor found redemption from his peers and from God.
Dimmesdale, the protagonist of The Scarlet Letter, also faces the daunting task of finding redemption after committing adultery. But, he takes a different approach when he tries to find reconciliation. He seeks it from God rather than seeking it from the public. He tried to find repentance from God by abusing himself both mentally and physically. He mentally punished himself through his silence of his sin because “he loved the truth, and loathed the lie” (Hawthorne 131) yet the community loved him as a saint. Thus, he loathed his miserable self, for he was the lie that he hated so much. This self hate drove him to physically punish himself with a whip. These acts of self retribution did not satisfy him though, because he still felt inner conflict over his sin which manifested itself as a burning letter A on his chest.
Dimmesdale finds peace at the end of The Scarlet Letter when he mounts the scaffold with Hester and Pearl. There, he finally makes known to everyone in the community of his sin: “People of New England! Ye, that have loved me! –ye, that have deemed me holy! –behold me here, the one sinner of the world!” (228). After this he pulls off his shirt to reveal “what has seared his inmost heart!” (228). By doing this he finally comes clean of his sin to the public. Hawthorne shows that the community had forgiven Dimmesdale through Pearl, as she “kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her sympathies” (229). Then Dimmesdale says, “The law we broke! –the sin here so awfully revealed! –let these alone be in thy thoughts! […] He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy most of all, in my afflictions” (229). This justifies that one must seek forgiveness from God. Ergo, God and Dimmesdale’s peers forgave Dimmesdale for his sins.
Both John Proctor and Dimmesdale sought redemption for their sins by seeking forgiveness publicly from the community and privately from God. By doing so, they found peace to the turmoil over the sin they committed. But one may ask if the Puritans were so devout to God would they not say that God is the ultimate judge so redemption only comes from God, as seen in Dimmesdale’s final words, “The law we broke! –the sin here so awfully revealed! –let these alone be in thy thoughts!” (229). This is wrong because the Puritans were devout people who thought that The Bible was book of rules to live by. And in The Bible it says, “Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (Colossians 3:13). So people can find redemption from others but must equally find it from God, because “the dead were judged by their deeds” (Revelations 20:12). Both The Scarlet Letter and The Crucible, show this through Dimmesdale’s reconciliation from God and Pearl, and through John Proctor’s reconciliation from God and Elizabeth. Thus, redemption can be sought from both God and being forgiven by others.
John Proctor and Dimmesdale first tried to find peace from different things but in the end they found peace when they sought it from their peers and God. Both characters in their books sought to find forgiveness in a singular way in which they failed to find it. But, when both characters adopt a second way, they find reconciliation. Proctor first sought forgiveness from others without success, and Dimmesdale first sought forgiveness from God without success. It was not until they sought reconciliation from both other people and God were they finally released from their sins. Sin is washed away through God and the community’s forgiveness.

Chapter 23 to 24

"The law we broke! -the sin here so awfully revealed! -let these alone be in thy thoughts! I fear! I fear! It may be, that, when we forgot our God, -when we violated our reverence each for the other's soul, -it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion. God knows; and He is merciful! He hath proved his mercy, most of all , in my afflictions... Praised be His name! HIs will be done! Farewell!" -Dimmesdale (229).

Explanation: In this quote Dimmesdale summarizes his prior seven years leading to this moment and his transition to his realization when he stood on the scaffold with Hester and Pearl. He explains how he had had great fear of what was to come in the next world but he explains he came to the realization that God was a merciful being. He chooses to embrace his death with Hester and Pearl by his side, in front of the entire community to see it, leaving them for final judgement as man who "releases his burden."

"In the spiritual world, the old physician and the minister- mutual victims as they have been- may, unawares, have found their earthly stock of hatred and antipathy transmuted into golden love." (232)

Explanation: Part of the author's final conclusion of the story, the author gives a brief summary of what lesson can be taken from the physician and the minister. He says that they both contained in themselves hatred and apathy but through the events of the story (mainly events of the end) these feeling of hatred and apathy go through a metamorphosis that developes into love. So from this the reader can infer that love can blossom from even the darkest of places where hatred seems to be the dominant feeling.

Words: 

Antipathy- a feeling of intense dislike

Ex: "In the spiritual world, the old physician and the minister- mutual victims as they have been- may, unawares, have found their earthly stock of hatred and antipathy transmuted into golden love." (232) 

Escutcheon- A flat protective covering (on a door or wall etc) to prevent soiling by dirty fingers

Ex: "And on this simple slav of slate -as the curious investigator may still discern, and perplex himself with the purport- there appeared the semblance of an engraved escutcheon." (235)

winter assignment

Chapter 15
“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. A letter- the letter A...” (page 161)
Explanation: This quotes shows that Pearls recognizes the scarlet letter as an unquestionable trait of her mother. Also leads to Pearl's curiosity of what the letter may symbolize or represent.
“It is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart.” -Pearl (page 161)
Explanation: Shows that Pearl understands that there is sometype of connection between Dimmesdale and her mother but does not know what this connection is.
“Ask yonder old man whom thou hast been talking with! It may be he can tell.” -Pearl (162)
Explanation: Also shows that she understands that Chillingworth is interconnected with the reason her mother where's the scarlet letter and the Dimmesdale agony.
Chapter 16
“‘See! Now I can stretch my hand, and grasp some of it.’ As she attempted to do so, the sunshine vanished; or, to judge from the bright expression that was dancing on Pearl’s features” –Hester (166)
Symbol of light and dark is being played here showing how the light fears to touch Hester due to her darkness.
“Oh a story about the Black Man... How he haunts this forest and carries a book with him, -a big, heavy book, with iron clasps; and how this ugly Black Man offers his book and an iron pen to everbody that meets him here among the trees; and they are to write their names with their own blood. And then he sets his mark on their bossoms!” -Pearl (167)
Explanation: Bad things happen in the forrest that there are in so it maybe foreshadowing of bad events that may happen here. Black Man in this case would be the devil or doing bad things (signing your soul to the devil).
“Death was too definite an object to be wished for or avoided. To Hester’s eye, the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale exhibited no symptom of positive and vivacious suffering, except that as little Pearl had remarked, he kept his hand over his heart.” (page 170)
Explanation: In this quote we see that Mr. Dimmesdale externally does not show his suffering, but internally by putting his hand to heart.
Chapter 17
“As concerns the good which I may appear to do, I have no faith in it. It must needs be a delusion. What a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls? -or a polluted soul towards their purification? And as for the people's reverence would that it were turned to scorn and hatred!” -Dimmesdale (172).
Explanation: Here Dimmesdale reveals that the good he does is a false and that he really has no goodness in him nor does he believe in it.
Happy are thou, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in secret! Thou little knowest what aa relief it is, after the torment of a seven year's cheat, to look into an that recognizes me for what I am! Had I one friend or were it my worst enemy! -to whom, when sickened with the praises of all other men, I could betake myself, and be known as the vilest of all sinners, methinks my soul might keep itself alive thereby. Even thus much of truth would save me! But, now it is all falsehood! -all emptiness! -all death! Dimmesdale (173)
Explanation: He shows his desire to let go of his secret of being a bad person. And even wishes for something he already has, someone who already know his secret and think of him a bad person, Chillingworth. This eludes to the fact that he knows partially about chillingworth but not actually fully ware that this very event is actually happening to him.
“Such a friend as thou hast even d for, with whom to weep over thy sin, thou hast in me, the partner of it! Thou hast long had such an enemy, and dwellest with him, under the same roof.” -Hester (175)
Explanation: Tells Dimmesdale about chillingworth, drawing from Dimmesdale very wish of wanting somebody that knew that he was a sinner.
“All of the world had frowned on her, - for seven long years had it frowned upon this lonely woman, - and still she bore it all, nor ever once turned away her firm, sad eyes. Heaven likewise, had frowned upon herm and she had not died. But the frown of this pale, weak, sinful, and sorrow stricken man was what Hester could not bear, and live.” (176)
Explanation: This passage shows how Hester cares about the way Dimmesdale thinks of her; it shows how attatched she is to Dimmesdale.
“Thou shalt not go alone!” - Hester (179)
Explanation: Here Hester is talking to Dimmesdale about fleeing away from the village to escape from Chillingworth, and Dimmesdale says he is to feeble to go alone, and Hester says that he won't go alone, giving the implication that she will go with him.
Chapter 18
The tendency of her fate and fortunes had been to set her free. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared no tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, - stern and wild ones, -and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.” (180)
Explanation: Shows how Hester has gained an audacity to do things others may not dare do through the suffering that came from seven years of wearing the Scarlet Letter in public (through things like public humiliation).
“As a man who had once sinned, but who kept his conscience all alive and painfully sensitive by the fretting of an unhealed wound, he might have been supposed safer within the line of virtue than if he had never sinned at all.” (180)
Explanation: Shows how Dimmesdale did not grow stronger after sinning compared to Hester who had seven years to develop. Dimmesdale, instead had to bear his sins private so it was like a wound that never healed.
“She undid the clasp that fastened the scarlet letter, and, taking it from her bosom, threw it to a distance among the withered leaves.” (182)
Explanation: Symbol of her giving up her life of beating herself down after sinning and moving forward with her life.
Chapter 19
“Since the latter rambled from her side, another inmate had been admitted within the circle of the mother's feelings, and so modified the aspect of them all, that Pearl, the returning wanderer, could not find her wonted place, and hardly knew where she was.” (186)
Explanation: Pearl is used to being the only one in Hester's world but know with Dimmesdale “in her wonted place in Hester's sphere” she feels replaced.
“Pearl stretched out her hand, with the small forefinger extended and pointing evidently towards her mother's breast.” (188)
Explanation: Shows how accustomed she is to the way her mother was before, with the scarlet letter and bonnet on. And that maybe a sign that maybe the way she was dressed before, coincides with the way her morality is (good or bad).
Chapter 20
“It was the same town as heretofore; but the same minister returned not from the forest... His friends, no doubt, would still have insisted with him, -“Thou art thyself the man! -but the error would have been their own, not his.” (195)
Explanation: After leaving the forest, he left as a new man, not quite himself. He has changed in a way that seems to be more bad than good: “In truth, nothing short of a total change of dynasty and moral code, in that interior kingdom, was adequate to account for the impulses now communicated to unfortunate and startled minister.” (195)
Example of shift to bad person: “It was only by most careful self-control that the former could refrain from uttering certain blasphamous suggestions that rose into his mind, respecting the communion supper.” (196)
Chapter 21
“What a strange sad man is he! In the dark night time he calls us to him, and holds thy hand and mine, as when we stood with him on the scaffold yonder... But here, in the sunny day and among all the people, he knows us not; nor must we know him!”
Explanation: “Shows the secrecy, and Pearl acts like a sound voice of reason that points to how weird and suspicious this behavior is.
“Why, know you not, that this physician here -Chillingworth, he calls himself -is minded to try my cabin fare with you?” (210)
Explanation: Chillingworth knows what they are planning and tries to thwart their plan.
Chapter 22
“He seemed remote from her own sphere, and utterly beyond her reach. One glance of recognition, she had imagined, must needs pass between them... Her spirit sank with the idea that all must have been a delusion” (215).
Explanation: Shows the way that they both must act in public, that they must be secretive of their true nature, intentions. But at the same time there is an obvious change Dimmesdale that makes Hester think that what she had thought that happened a couple days before.
“Dost thou think I have been to the forest so manytimes, and have yet no skill to judge who else has been there? Yea; though no leaf of the wild garland, which they wore while they danced, be left in their hair” (217)
Explanation: This quote helps to strengthen the idea that Dimmesdale has become a bad person more over than before. And that his evilness is becoming more visible.
“With her mind harassed by the terrible perplexity in which the shipmaster's intelligence involved her, she was also subjected to another trial.” (220)
Explanation: This quote shows the anxiety and stress Hester is undergoing, as she is struggling with many conflicting thoughts of Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and those around her. And it becomes clear that this is more stressful then she believed it would be and probably harder to handle later on.