September

• Symbol Activity

• First draft of college essay due tomorrow- typed for self edit

• Today intro to The Scarlet Letter• Symbol actiity• HW read ch. 2

A preview

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR3BVN8ofk8

The Dude

Why do we care?• Hester Prynne is the first true heroine of

American Literature.

• Not just a sex symbol!– Whole person– Mother– Woman– Sinner– Lover and more!

Symbolic imagination

• The Romantics believed that symbols (especially those relating to nature) allowed authors to express the inexpressible—or the infinite.

• The Scarlet Letter is considered the first symbolic novel in America.

• Jot down the first ideas that come into your mind.

• Free associate• In general, what ideas do these objects

represent or symbolize to you?

What do these roses symbolize?

Pearl

Discuss images

• How might they support both stated and unstated ideas regarding the Puritans, their way of life and their idea of law?

Focus Question

1 How do the symbols help us understand Hawthorne’s attitude toward the Puritans in Chapter 1. Find examples

2 And pay attention to the SYMBOLS. • “Everything in The Scarlet Letter is a symbol”– Vienna Larch former HL2 student

Ch 1

• Read out loud• Pay attention to symbols

colors

• Sad-colored, grey,• Connotations?– Drab– Little joy– plain

Prison door

• Old, rusted, yet strong • “iron clamped oaken door”

• What does this say about the Puritans?– Harsh enforcement of the laws and the inability to

break free of them– Metaphor for the authority of the regime which

does not tolerate deviance

Rosebush

How does the reference to Anne Hutchinson reveal Hawthorne’s attitude toward Puritans?Springing, perhaps from her footsteps….

perhaps hope?

Ann Hutchingson

Anne Hutchinson

• Banished from Mass. Bay Colony in 1638 for conducting religious meetings in her home at which “erroneous opinions” were taught.

• Puritans believed that the Bible was source of God’s truth and only clergy could interpret scripture.

• Hutchinson and her followers believed people could communicate directly with God

Banished from Boston

• Anne and her husband, William, found refuge in Roger Williams colonly in Rhode Island.

• After husband dies she moved to long island.• In 1643 she and all her servants and children

save one were killed by Indians, an event regarded by some in Massachusetts as a manifestation of divine judgment.

What else do you notice in the opening that interests you?

Opening ch. 2

• How does he create suspense?– Who is going to emerge?

• What is the difference between the Puritan audience and modern readers?– Think of judgment– The Puritans have judged her already– We haven’t

Close Reading

1. What type of person is Hester Prynn?Find adjectives, actions, and descriptions of her character.

2.How does the description of the reinforce our perception of Hester?

3. How does the town-beadle’s aspect represent the Puritanic code of law?

Ch. 2 Market Place

• Why do the women pass such harsh judgment on Hester?

• Any questions on STUDY GUIDE?

Theme of chapter 2?

• Sin and Punishment

Chapter lll

• Character Description:

Ch. 3: The RecognitionTheme: Appearance/Reality

• .

Appearance/reality• How does Hawthorne introduce Chillingworth?• How is he described in the first few pages?

1 Find Snippets of description. A word or phrase or sentence that captures the essence of character.2. Line or two of dialogue that reveals more than surface appearance3. Romantic Symbol of nature or physiognomy that expresses character

4. Assign letter for his main traitGroup 1 first few paragraphs (44-45 to “what has brought

her to yonder scaffold?”)Group 2: “ Truly, friend; and methinks it must….Hearken

unto me, (top of 47)

Appearance/Reality• How does He depict Dimmesdale and Chillinworth?

1 Find Snippets of description. A word or phrase or sentence that captures the essence of character.2. Line or two of dialogue that might reveal more than surface appearance3. Romantic Symbol of nature or physiognomy that expresses character

4. Assign letter for his main trait and defend this decision with text support.

Chapter 4: The InterviewTheme: Natural law vs Civil law

• What might natural law be in this context?• What then, is civil (human) law?• Which law did Hester and Chillingworth violate?

• Why does Hester agree not to reveal Chillingworth as her husband?

• Interpret the last line of this chapter. What might if foreshadow?

Review our snippets and letter

• Is our first impression of him accurate?• What would you add?

What does the juxtaposition of the prison door and rosebush represent?

• Human law, represented by the prison door, and natural law, represented by the rosebush, often contradict each other.

• Romantics believed in nature’s sympathy toward man

• Who does nature sympathize with?– Who was in the prison (historically?)– In novel?– How are they related?

• Chapter 5: Study guide– What is the point that Hawthorne makes about an

individual’s ability to separate one’s self from one’s wrong doing?

– How does her sin connect her with others?

Chapter 6-7: Journals:• Write down • Chapter 8 we will act out. I’ll assign roles

tomorrow.

Chapter 5

• What is the point that Hawthorne makes about an individual’s ability to separate one’s self from one’s wrong doing?

• How does her sin connect her with others?

Pearl? The Governor’s Hall Ch. 7

• Comments regarding Pearl?• descriptions of Pearl?• What images are associated with her?

• There was fire in her and throughout her • Pearl’s beauty made her the very brightest

little jet of flame that ever danced upon the earth.

Governor’s Mansion

• How is the garden a symbol?P. 72…• Cabbages frew in plain sight; and a pumpkin

deposited one of its gigantic products directly beneath the hall windows as if to warn the Governor that this great lump of vegetable gold was as rich an ornament as New England earth would offer him. There were a few rose=bushes however…

• And Pear, of course wants one…

Ch. 8. p 74 “What have we here?

• Hester• Pearl • Gov. Bellingham• Mr. Wilson• Dimmesdale• Chillingworth• Mistress Hibbins• Narrator

Ch 8 Pay to ATTENTION:

• What is going on?

• Presentation and role of character(s)

• Relationships

• Symbols and motifs

• Themes

• Use of language

• Different attitudes

What strikes you as significant?

• What is ironic about the governor and his surroundings?

• What information do we learn from dialogue?• Words used today?• Attitude of men toward women?• Hester’s own attitude regarding her ability to

be a good mother.

Agenda

• Meet in groups to share ideas (5min)• Present sections of 9-10 to class. (use text

support) (5min)• Homework: Read 11-12 . After you have read,

look at your assigned passage. Read the essential question (EQ) and mark up your passage. Write your commentary on the back. Leave insight box empty for now.

Homework for Friday

• Read ch. 13- 14• Journal:• Write down Two passages from each chapter

and why they are significant.

Chapter 11

• What does Chillingworth see at the end of ch. 10?

• As a result of this, what does he resolve to do?• Find a passage that reveals the irony of

Dimmesdale’s attempt to confess to his congregation. P. 95

• P. 97: what does Hawthorne say about living a false life?

• 1. Identify the scene• 2 What do you think of

Matteson’s portrayal of the characters?

• 3. What is each character looking at? How might this signify what is on the character’s mind?

• 4. How does light and dark colors affect the overall mood?

• 5. Has the artist accomplished an effective portrayal of this scene? Why or why not?

Ch. 12 Activity

• Find 3 people with the same color paper. And Discuss the EQ. Write a key insights in the box.

• Make sure you are supporting statements with textual references.

• Move to a new group with all different colors.• Each person will explain the significance of

their passage

Hawthorne

• Wrote The Scarlet Letter between the fall of 1849 when his mother died and Feb 3, 1850 when he “repeatedly” read the conclusion to his wife.

• (FIVE MONTHS!)

Interesting fact: Used to be a Hathorne

• His great-great- grandfather was a judge at the Salem witch trials.

• Added the W to his name to avoid affiliation.• But was still afflicted with shame, nonetheless

The novel is considered a Historical Romance

• Written during the transcendentalism movement (1836-60)

• Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller,• TC Stressed the romantic tenets of mysticism,

idealism, and individualism.• God not harsh authority, but essential part of

the natural world and the individual.

I become a transparent eyeball, I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through

me; I am part and parcel of God.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hawthorne not a believer in TC

• Poked fun at his buddies, though he lived for a while at Brook farm (experimental community)

Hawthorne

“Hawthorne believed that beneath all of the societal influences in a person's life there could be found “the truth of the human heart” and through symbolism and intense character development, he aimed to shine through to the reader that inner heart. For this reason alone and the many others that exist, Nathaniel Hawthorne was a great Romantic author.”-Montana Academy Tripod

Romanticism

• Combined logic and feeling • “Reconciliation of opposites” is central idea of

the Romantics.• Role of Nature;– Healing power– Source of subject and image– Refuge from artificial constructs of civilization– Viewed as organic

A few things..

• Hawthorne explores the depths of our common nature and the truth of our own hearts.

• Interested in the problem of evil and the nature of sin.

Biblical definition of Sin

• A transgression of a religious or moral law, especially when deliberate.

• Sin is any deliberate action, attitude, or thought that goes against God. Visible acts: murder, adultery, or theft. But also…Sins of the heart: (Invisible) pride, envy, jealousy, thoughts of revenge, etc.