The Scarlet Letter

Annotations for The Scarlet Letter pages 3 to 142.


“In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, in the days of old King Derby, was a bustling wharf, --but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses, and exhibits few or no symptoms of commercial life, except, perhaps, a bark or brig, half-way down its melancholy length, discharging hides; or, nearer at hand, a Nova Scotia schooner, pitching out her cargo of firewood,--at the head, I say, of this dilapidate wharf, which the tide often overflows, and along which, at the base and in the rear of the row of buildings, the track of many languid years is seen in a border of unthrifty grass…” (p. 4)

I find it really good how he shows us examples that relate to his own past, to give us a clearer example of what he is trying to say. I also find it really odd how his sentences can be so long and still make sense and can just go on and on and on. It’s like when the sentence, you think, stops; he continues the sentence with more details and more in-depth explanations. He also has a really good way of stringing multiple sentences and putting them together into one big sentence.



“…I must be content to call affection” (p. 9)

I find it weird how he can be so blunt with emotions such as this. He can be so specific with so little words, and on the other hand, he can also use sentences of extreme length and still have it be functional. His pure straightforward attitude towards his comment makes it striking all by itself. The way he can just say it without even holding back is shocking to me.



“The boy, also in due time, passed from the forecastle to the cabin, spent a tempestuous manhood, and returned from his world-wanderings, to grow old, and die, and mingle his dust with the natal earth.” (p. 11)

This is surprising, because of the dark mood he sets, and the straightforward aspect and look that the author puts on life. He uses a somewhat depressing tune, and sets the mood to a gloomy feel. This shows that the story will also be sad in mood, sense he is speaking with such negativity towards life even before the story in the introduction.



“It might be difficult—and it was so—to conceive how he should exist hereafter, so earthly and sensuous did he seem; but surely his existence here, admitting that it was to terminate with his last breath, had been not unkindly given; with no higher moral responsibilities than the beasts of the field, but with a larger scope of enjoyment than theirs, and with all their blessed immunity from the dreariness and duskiness of age.” (p. 19)

I find it really amazing how Nathaniel Hawthorne, even while just explaining simple concepts, can be so elaborate in pointing out his views and opinions on it certain things in a straight-forward but still subtle way. He writes really descriptively and effectively uses metaphors and such to enhance his writing. He has a really nice way of explaining his ideas using very colorful vocabulary.



“Nature,--except it were human nature,-the nature that is developed in earth and sky, was, in one sense, hidden from me…” (p. 27)

This simile really caught my attention because it’s so beautiful. The statement is really deep, if you think about it, and you can see that he means a lot from just those simple words. The repetition of the word nature also caught my eye, because normally, in writing, when you repeat a word several times, it means that the writer wants to emphasize that the word, or words, is important.



“After my fellowship of toil and impracticable schemes with the dreamy brethren of Brook Farm; after living for three years within the subtle influence of an intellect like Emerson’s; after those wild, free days on the Assabeth, indulging fantastic speculations, beside our fire of fallen boughs, with Ellery Channing, after talking with Thoreau about pine-trees and Indian relics, in his hermitage at Walden; after growing fastidious by sympathy with the classic refinement of Hilliard’s culture; after becoming imbued with poetic sentiment at Longfellow’s hearth-stone,--it was time, at length, that I should exercise other faculties of my nature, and nourish myself with food for which I had hitherto had little appetite.” (p. 27)

I find it completely shocking that he can use sentences of that incredible length, fill it with complicated words, and still have it be grammatically correct all at the same time. His vocabulary is so complicated and deep, that I have a very hard time of understanding him. His sentences are of extreme length and detail. His writing surpasses a lot of what I have seen throughout my previous years in school.



“Now it was that the lucubration’s of my ancient predecessor, Mr. Surveyor Pue, came into play. Rusty through long idleness, some little space was requisite before my intellectual machinery could be brought to work upon the tale, with an effect in any degree satisfactory.” (p. 46)

His use of words and metaphors and similes are at such a high level that I keep finding situations in which I have to constantly concentrate to even have the slightest idea of what he is talking about. I find it really hard to understand the book, and have to be constantly looking up words in the dictionary.



“…With it’s delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom…” (p. 50)

It’s surprising that Nathanial Hawthorne would put something beautiful and colorful (the rose bush), next to something dark, sad, and gloomy (the jail). This sets a really dark atmosphere for the story, and shows that the rest of the story will be as ironic and sad.



“The door of the jail being flung open from within, there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and grisly presence of the town-beadle…” (p. 54

The descriptive words he uses, such as “flung” and “grim and grisly” really catch my attention. Using those words, he can succeed in describing something simply and effectively. In other areas of the book, he also uses words like this, in many different shapes and forms. He manages to stay away from “normal” adjectives, and goes towards those that are more indirect and more metaphorical.



“He was small ins stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in h is features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself…” (p. 62)

His excellent ability in describing things never ceases to amaze me. He describes settings, and in this case, people, so well, that I can actually see the features that he is describing. He makes it as though I am actually there and looking at the person.



“While this passed, Hester Prynne had been standing on her pedestal, still with a fixed gaze towards the stranger; so fixed a gaze, that, at moments of intense absorption, all other objects in the visible world seemed to vanish, leaving only him and her.” (p. 65-67)

This really got me a feeling that he was building suspense, and I felt suspense also. He really effectively uses words to show how fixed their gazes are at each other, and causes feelings of anxiousness in the reader, just like how Hester must have felt at the very moment. He uses the words “stranger”, and “intense absorption” in a creative way to put an image into the reader’s head of what is actively going on in the story.




“I will not speak!” answered Hester, turning pale as death, but responding to this voice, which she too surely recognized. “And my child must seek a heavenly Father; she shall never know an earthly one!” (p. 71)

This really makes me anxious on how Hester could just refuse to give the men an answer. She is willing to put a lot, maybe even her total humiliation (her scarlet letter) onto the line into protecting her daughter. This probably shows, either she doesn’t want her daughter to grow up being miserable, or she knows something that she isn’t willing to tell anyone. This hints that the story may be a lot deeper then what is just seen from the surface.



“Thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any” (p. 77)

This really shocked me because she just said that, even though they got married, she never fell in love with him, and never even faked that she did. So this makes me wonder why they got married in the first place. I also think why would he marry her if he probably knew it wouldn’t work out in the end.



“…they branded it afresh into Hester’s soul…” (p. 89)

I found that really sad and I could actually feel the emotional distress that Hester must’ve been feeling. The word “branded” really gave a clear description of how people treated Hester, and I could relate to that. The statement alone got me thinking a lot about truly how Hester must’ve been feeling, and just how easily people form stereotypes of her.



“O Father in Heaven,--if Thou art still my Father,--what is this being which I have brought into the world!” (p. 99)

This shows how bitter and sad Hester is towards this whole situation. It shows that she is really depressed because of all that is happening to her. She is actually so sad, that she would actually speak this way, and question God (who I assume is the “Father” whom she is speaking about) and even question God’s power with the phrase “if Thou art still my Father”. This shows she’s truly distressed, and stressed out from the other people around her.



“Yea, forsooth” (p. 107)

That word is really strange to me, “forsooth”. I think it’s archaic. At first glance I thought it was even an insult. Looking it up in the dictionary didn’t really help. The definition it gave was vague. “Often used ironically”. I don’t know. I think I should ask Mrs. Bosch about this one…



“’I am mother’s child,’ answered the scarlet vision, ‘and my name is Pearl!’” (p. 113)

When she said this she seemed proud to be the daughter of Hester, even though everyone doesn’t like her, or her mother. She also seems to not care what anybody says of her. She seems that she likes to help her mother, and doesn’t want her to be sad, even though she acts so mischievous at times.



“In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it.” (p. 109)

This made me think of how everyone would never see Hester for what she really was, but instead, only see the letter that she wore. This means that she is thought of only from her stereotypes, and never from what she truly is. Her real self is always “hidden” behind her scarlet letter.



“Were it God’s will.” (p. 125)

This makes me think that whatever the puritans do, they can always justify it by saying that God wants them to do it. Whenever they get questioned, they could just say God wills it, or something like that. This would technically give them a way to get out of any defiance from anybody, using God as a workaround.



“… Warm love of souls… all of which invaluable gold was perhaps no better than rubbish to the seeker.” (p. 134)

I thought that this would be the only part in the story that had a warm feeling, but I realized I was wrong when I read the “rubbish to the seeker” part. I found it funny how I got “tricked” by the book. This shows that the entire book was really depressing, and I’m constantly looking for a happy spot in the book.



-Kelson Fung, October 15, 2007




Annotations for Scarlet Letter, Pages 140-220


“It mattered little, for his object, whether celestial, or from what other region.” (p. 145)

This quote’s dialogue seems very good in explaining just how little it mattered, no matter how important it was. The word “celestial” particularly caught my eye because it’s not a word that is used often. It gives me the image of something magical, and something really important, so to say even if it were celestial, it still wouldn’t matter, really surprises me, almost in an ironic sense.



“… buried close to their young pastor’s holy grave.” (p. 148)

I wonder how it could be “holy” and still a something as dark as a grave at the same time. I think that it’s because he’s a pastor, and a pastor is something religious, and so making him holy. This in turn makes it so that when he dies, his grave is holy, although this is just an inference in my behalf. I’m not sure if it really is because he was a pastor, or even what a pastor really is, but I think it has something to do with what I think it is.



“He had spoken the very truth, and transformed it into the veriest falsehood.” (p. 150)

This is really ironic, as well as confusing. How can he speak the very truth, and yet still be telling it in a very false way? I know how some people can tell the truth, but somehow change it, or leave out certain words and stuff to change the certain meaning, but I’m really confused on how he can turn the total truth into a total lie. This also proves that he’s really intelligent, to be smart enough to do something like this.



“Carried away by the grotesque horror of this picture…” (p. 157)

Nathanial Hawthorne’s amazing ability to use blunt and striking words never cease to amaze me. His use of grotesque was the absolute perfect way you could use that world, by describing on how the Reverend and the minister was feeling at the time. He really gave me an image in my head on how they Reverend and the minister looked—shocked, and scared, and walking away slowly with dropped jaws.



“There was witchcraft in little Pearl’s eyes…” (p. 160)

This part in the book completely surprised me. Although this was really to be expected, the part where he (Nathanial) said that it was witchcraft that was in her eyes, and not something else, really took me off guard. I know how bad witchcraft was to the puritans of that age, and this shows to me that Pearl is starting to become, slowly, very evil. This shows that she is up to absolutely no good, and if let to go about in her ways, she will eventually cause some really big trouble.



“The letter was the symbol of her calling” (p. 168)

This really makes me wonder, what exactly IS her calling. Could it be the adultery she had (maybe) committed, or could it be something else? I think this just means that, it’s a symbol of what she had already once done, and not a symbol of what she does, or likes doing, but just of what she is, and will forever be because of that one time she had done it. Just makes me wonder a lot, just from the overall vagueness of the sentence.



“… Roger Chillingsworth as on that night, abased by sin, and half maddened by the ignominy, that was still new, when they had talked together in the prison-chamber.” (p. 173)

This, in it’s own little way, shows that he has somewhat of a conscience, and feels remorse for past crimes, otherwise he wouldn’t feel shamed or maddened by the “ignominy” for his sins. This also shows he’s not ENTIRELY evil, or bad, but just part of him is.



“”Ever and anon, too, there came a glare of red light out of his eyes…” (p. 176-177)

This really scared me because it seems like he suddenly snapped inside his head. It seems he all of a sudden went completely insane from the pressure or something, and just snapped and can’t take it anymore. It seems he’s about to do something completely drastic, and makes every all of a sudden still, and bent according to his will.



“… what does this scarlet letter mean…?” (p. 186)

This shows that Pearl never really knew why her mother had the letter on her chest, nor what it signified that her mother had done to earn the letter to be placed onto her. This also shows that she will maybe do something drastic after she finds out, or become angry at either her mother or society, and will maybe do something to plot revenge. Once she gains the knowledge of exactly why her mother has the letter and what the letter signifies, she might be burdened with that knowledge.



“Didst thou ever meet the Black Man, mother?” (p 193)

This hints that Pearl had heard the story of Cain, and possibly even the story of Hester, but she is not aware that that is which the stories are about. She might not be aware that the stories are really about her and Cain, so she asks her so with such happiness and playfulness. This also shows that although Pearl knows more then is really expected, she does not know enough to do anything harsh or reckless.



“Heaven would show mercy.” (p. 205)

This shows that Hester is really religious, and believes that heaven is good, even after all that it has caused her with the scarlet letter. This shows that the puritan beliefs and the culture around her really effect the way she thinks. This is almost ironic, because she is believing in something that has hurt her and caused her pain emotional and mentally over the years.



“Thou wilt love her dearly” (p. 215)

This shows that Hester really cares about Pearl and wants the best for her. This also proves that Hester will love Pearl no matter what happens. She just wants her to lead a normal, comfortable life, not unlike most other parents do for their children, even though her situation is much different from the average parent’s.



-Kelson Fung, October, 22