Where does chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter take place?
BostonSummary: Chapter 3: The Recognition He then turns to a stranger in the crowd and asks about Hester's crime and punishment, explaining that he has been held captive by Native Americans and has just arrived in Boston.
What is Chapter 3 about in The Scarlet Letter?
Inquiring, the man learns of Hester's history, her crime (adultery), and her sentence: to stand on the scaffold for three hours and to wear the symbolic letter A for the rest of her life. The stranger also learns that Hester refuses to name the man with whom she had the sexual affair.
What is the setting of chapter in Scarlet Letter?
Lesson Summary Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, first published in 1850, tells the story of Hester Prynne and her punishment after committing adultery in her Puritan community. The novel is set in Boston, with its first chapter ("The Prison Door") establishing the setting and context for the rest of the novel.
What is Chapter 3 called in The Scarlet Letter?
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Chapter 3: “The Recognition”," The Scarlet Letter, Lit2Go Edition, (1850), accessed July 27, 2022, https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/127/the-scarlet-letter/2268/chapter-3-the-recognition/.
Who is Hester Prynne's lover?
Arthur DimmesdaleHester Prynne is also the object of a cruel and shadowy love triangle between herself, her minister lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, and her husband, now called Roger Chillingworth.
Who is the father of Hester's baby?
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale In a moment of weakness, he and Hester became lovers. Although he will not confess it publicly, he is the father of her child.
What is the setting of Chapter 2 in The Scarlet Letter?
Summary: Chapter 2: The Market-Place As the crowd watches, Hester Prynne, a young woman holding an infant, emerges from the prison door and makes her way to a scaffold (a raised platform), where she is to be publicly condemned.
What is the setting of The Scarlet Letter in Chapter 1?
In this first chapter, Hawthorne sets the scene of the novel — Boston of the seventeenth century. It is June, and a throng of drably dressed Puritans stands before a weather-beaten wooden prison.
Is The Scarlet Letter A true story?
Originally published in 1850, The Scarlet Letter is a novel of historical fiction set in the puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649. It was one of the first mass-produced books in America.
Who is to blame in the scarlet letter?
The one person in this messy triangle who seems to escape the feeling of guilt is Chillingworth—but he gets plenty of blame. By the end of The Scarlet Letter, both Hester and Dimmesdale agree that Chillingworth is the real villain in this situation.
What does Dimmesdale look like?
Dimmesdale, the personification of "human frailty and sorrow," is young, pale, and physically delicate. He has large, melancholy eyes and a tremulous mouth, suggesting great sensitivity.
Why doesn't Hester tell who the father is?
She will not reveal Pearl's father to protect Reverend Dimmesdale's reputation, as he is the minister of the church. She does not reveal that Chillingworth is really her husband because she has promised him that she will not.
What chapter do we find out Dimmesdale is the father?
The first clue that Reverend Dimmesdale is Pearl's father is revealed in Chapter III, The Recognition, when Hester is asked to name the father of her illegitimate child, Pearl. When Hester refuses to name the man, Reverend Dimmesdale clutches his chest and murmurs, “Wondrous strength and generosity of a woman's heart!
Why was Hester not sentenced to death for her adultery?
Why wasn't Hester sentenced to death for her adultery? The leaders felt that it was worse to live in shame for the rest of her life. They also would not sentence her to death before birth and kill the child.
What sin is Hester guilty of committing?
Hester Prynne's guilt is the result of her committing adultery, which has a significant effect on her life. Hester is publicly seen with the scarlet letter when she first emerges out of the cold dark prison.
Why does Hester refuse to name her lover?
Why does Hester refuse to reveal her partner's sin? Hester wants to protect Dimmesdale because she know that it would be much worse for Dimmesdale than it would be for her.
Why is Hester a living sermon?
The town has made Hester into a “living sermon,” as Chillingworth puts it, because she is stripped of her humanity and made to serve the needs of the community. Her punishment is expressed in violent terms. Reverend Wilson relates an argument he had with Dimmesdale about whether to force Hester to confess in public. Dimmesdale spoke of such an action in terms of a rape, arguing that “it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her to lay open her heart’s secrets in such broad daylight, and in presence of so great a multitude.”
What does the narrator tell us about the ignorant men?
The narrator tells us that these ignorant men “had no right” to “meddle with a question of human guilt, passion and anguish.”. Dimmesdale, on the other hand, seems to know something of the human heart. He is compassionate toward Hester and is able to convince Bellingham and Wilson to spare her any harsher punishment.
What did Dimmesdale say about rape?
Dimmesdale spoke of such an action in terms of a rape, arguing that “it were wronging the very nature of woman to force her to lay open her heart’s secrets in such broad daylight, and in presence of so great a multitude.”. The men who sit in judgment of Hester are not only hypocritical but also ignorant.
What does Hester say about her child?
Hester says that her child will seek a heavenly father and will never know an earthly one. Reverend Wilson then steps in and delivers a condemnatory sermon on sin, frequently referring to Hester’s scarlet letter, which seems to the crowd to glow and burn. Hester bears the sermon patiently, hushing Pearl when she begins to scream. At the conclusion of the sermon, Hester is led back into the prison.
Why does Hester refuse to drink Chillingworth's potion?
Chillingworth has promised the jailer that he can make Hester more “amenable to just authority,” and he now offers her a cup of medicine. Hester knows his true identity—his gaze makes her shudder —and she initially refuses to drink his potion. She thinks that Chillingworth might be poisoning her, but he assures her that he wants her to live so that he can have his revenge. In the candid conversation that follows, he chastises himself for thinking that he, a misshapen bookworm, could keep a beautiful wife like Hester happy.
What does Hester see in the crowd?
In the crowd that surrounds the scaffold, Hester suddenly spots her husband, who sent her to America but never fulfilled his promise to follow her. Though he is dressed in a strange combination of traditional European clothing and Native American dress, she is struck by his wise countenance and recognizes his slightly deformed shoulders.
Why does Chillingworth chastise himself?
In the candid conversation that follows, he chastises himself for thinking that he, a misshapen bookworm, could keep a beautiful wife like Hester happy.
What does Hester preach about?
When Hester refuses to reveal the name of the baby's father, the first clergyman to speak delivers a sermon on the horrors of sin, focusing particularly on that symbolized by the scarlet letter. Though aware of the crowd's condemnation, Hester glazes over, unmoved by the sermon, and is eventually taken back to prison.
What is Hawthorne's simile?
One example is found in the way horror washes over Chillingworth's facial features "like a snake gliding softly over them." Another is in the description of the one of the clergyman: "He looked like the darkly engraved portraits which we see prefixed to old volumes of sermons…" Hawthorne's simile likens the clergyman to a stately, elderly theologian whose outdated opinions are irrelevant and self-important.
What does Hawthorne's portrayal of Chillingworth emphasize?
Hawthorne’s portrayal of Chillingworth emphasizes his physical deformity. More important, Chillingworth’s misshapen body reflects (or symbolizes) the evil in his soul, which builds as the novel progresses. In this chapter, Hawthorne provides hints of just how obsessed Chillingworth will become with punishing Dimmesdale.
What is the meaning of Dimmesdale's speech to Hester?
Dimmesdale’s one-paragraph speech to Hester reveals more about his character than any description of his physical body and nervous habits that Hawthorne provides. Knowing that he was Hester’s sexual partner and is Pearl’s father, the speech that he gives is ripe with double meanings. On one level, he gives a public chastisement of Hester for not naming her lover; on another level, he makes a personal plea to her to name him as her lover and Pearl’s father because he is too morally weak to do so himself. Ironically, what is initially intended to be a speech about Hester becomes more a commentary about his own sinful behavior.
What does the man learn about Hester?
Inquiring, the man learns of Hester’s history, her crime (adultery), and her sentence: to stand on the scaffold for three hours and to wear the symbolic letter A for the rest of her life. The stranger also learns that Hester refuses to name ...
What does Hester preach about?
He delivers a sermon on sin, frequently referring to Hester's Scarlet Letter
Where is Hester lead back to?
Hester is lead back to the Prison
What does the letter A mean in the book?
The letter "A" stands for "adultery," but so far, the narrator shares no information about her deeds. She is escorted to the scaffold, right in front of the church, were her punishment will be executed. A man standing behind her back exclaims her name, Hester Prynne, so loudly that everyone hears it and remembers it.
What is the first chapter of The New Colony?
10-12. Chapter 1 opens with description of one wooden building made of oak with iron spikes. Founders of the new colony decided to turn a portion of its lot it into cemetery, and another portion into a prison. Overgrown weed that surrounds the building contribute to its gloominess, with only one rose bush defying wilderness around it.
What would happen if Hester's shoulder was not higher than the other?
If it was not for his shoulder, which is higher than the other, Hester would not have noticed him. He is staring at her, like the rest of the crowd. Interested in her case, he asks a random viewer to explain what is the ordeal all about, and a townsman unreservedly shares Hester's life story.
What Led to Chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter?
Hester Prynne, a resident of Boston in Massachusetts colony, has been found guilty of adultery. She will not reveal the name of the baby's father. As part of her punishment, she must stand on a platform for the town to come shame her. She also must embroider an 'A' for adultery on her dress. Hester angers the townspeople by not appearing shamed as she stands on the platform, holding her infant daughter Pearl. Also, she has made the 'A' on her dress very elaborate, embellished, and rich. It is in contrast to the dark, severe, plain clothing of the Puritans of Boston. Unbeknownst to the Puritans, Hester has a husband from whom she has been separated for a long while. As she stands on the platform, she thinks of her life before Boston and she thinks of her husband. The narrator notes the contrast of the rose by the prison door to the depressing presentation of the town and the contrast of Hester with the Puritans.
What does Hester see in the crowd?
She recognizes him and he makes a gesture to silence her. She looks away, squeezing Pearl so tightly that the baby cries out. Hester is horrified to see this stranger, standing in the crowd and witnessing her shaming. The stranger is equally shocked and horrified at seeing Hester not just being shamed, but holding an infant.
What is the story of Hester?
He is told that Hester had arrived from England, the wife of an academic who had remained in Amsterdam (the Puritans had been alternately kicked out of England, welcomed in Holland , and then kicked out of Holland before many settled in the colonies of America). She lived for two years in Boston before turning to sin, the man tells the stranger. Then the stranger asks who the baby's father is, and the townsman tells him that Hester will not say and that perhaps her husband should come from Europe and ask her himself. The man also expresses disappointment that Hester did not receive the maximum punishment under law--execution. The stranger suggests that perhaps this punishment is better, because now she is a living sermon against sin.
