Not-So Easy A

            When I first saw that The Scarlet Letter was on our reading list, I have to admit I was a little excited. Was I excited because it’s an American classic? Was I excited to delve into the challenging language of Hawthorne? Well, not exactly. I was excited because of The Scarlet Letter’s connection to one of my all-time favorite movies, Easy A.

            If you haven’t seen Easy A, I’ll give you a little plot summary (then you should go find it online ASAP). Easy A is about a typical high school girl named Olive. Like us, Olive is reading The Scarlet Letter in her English class. Unlike us, Olive lies about losing her virginity (even though she was actually just singing "Pocket Full of Sunshine" in her shower all weekend). 

          

Soon, the rumor spreads like wildfire, upsetting the conservative Christian group in her school. Eventually, Olive’s little white lie spirals into a more elaborate one. She finds herself lying on behalf of bullied students, saying that she slept with them to help them gain popularity. Her reputation goes from bad to worse. Olive embraces this initially—she even embroiders a scarlet A on her chest—but soon, things begin to go awry. Olive is left friendless, and she has hurt many of the people closest to her. In order to resolve her complicated dilemma, Olive comes clean to the entire school on a webcast.

            Although these two stories seem to have very little in common, I could definitely draw some similarities between the two. Despite their vastly different circumstances, Olive and Dimmesdale have similar justifications for lying about their transgressions. Olive genuinely believes that she is helping her bullied classmates by spreading these false claims. Likewise, Dimmesdale might see his actions as a way to protect his people. He seems to think in accordance with the Parson from the Canterbury Tales: “If gold rust, what then will iron do?” If Dimmesdale, the venerable minister, were to be revealed as corrupt, what would that mean for the general populace?

I found another interesting similarity between these two very loosely connected works in the conclusion. Much like Olive, Reverend Dimmesdale also has an important catharsis (granted, Olive doesn’t die after hers, but it’s the same idea). In his last sermon, Dimmesdale admits to his wrongdoing and deceit of the past seven years. “Is not this better…than what we dreamed of in the forest?” he asks Hester (227). Truthfulness is a final release for Dimmesdale, the only possible conclusion to his tragic story. Honesty frees him from torture, much as it releases Olive from her predicament. Once Dimmesdale owns up to his sins, Chillingworth loses all his power. To bring back the “leech” metaphor from a previous chapter, Chillingworth is basically a varmint thriving off the blood of Dimmesdale’s own guilt. “Thou hast escaped me!” he exclaims repeatedly (228). As soon as Dimmesdale confesses, Chillingworth is left without his source of life. Finally, Dimmesdale is free from his torture, “a spell was broken” (229). This refreshing truthfulness frees Pearl as well, her “errand as a messenger of anguish was all fulfilled” (229). And just like Dimmesdale, Olive is freed by her confession as well. Perhaps she finished the book and learned her lesson. 

Secrets

Reading Chapters 18-20, the one thing that really stood out for me was the brook. The brook serves as a symbol of a heart that has been overwhelmed with secrets and can no longer keep them. Hawthorne describes the brook as having “gone through so solemn an experience that it could not help but talking about it.” While in the woods, Pearl notices the babble of the brook and even wonders what it is saying. “What does this sad little brook say, mother?” The brook is where Hester and Dimmesdale openly discuss their secrets, and so the brook becomes the keeper of their secrets. In a way, the brook symbolizes Dimmesdale’s heart and how it has become so damaged by the secrets and sins that he hides from the world.  The difference between the brook and Dimmesdale is that the brook is honest and reveals the truth as it is. Hawthorne describes the brook as flowing “over a bed of fallen and drowned leaves,” having huge rocks that “covered over with gray lichens,” and even having “eddies and black depths at some point.” Dimmesdale, on the other hand, shields his secrets in his sermons to the townspeople. The Puritans, however, are unable to recognize what Dimmesdale is hiding. Therefore, the brook acts as a contrast to Dimmesdale’s heart and also portrays a barrier that exists between the recognizable and unrecognizable.

So here is a little poem I wrote about the secrets that Dimmesdale keeps:

Roots lingered underneath

glossed with grime

Unable to breathe

Unable to climb

Above the murky mess

perched a fine flower

an unwrinkled dress

an unpolluted river

But a curious fellow

saw in the flower something sly

so he dug below

and unveiled a lie

Too Good To Be True?

            As I read chapters 18 to 20, I felt that there was something amiss. All seemed well– Hester no longer bore her Scarlet A, Dimmesdale and Hester had been reunited, and they had plans for a new life. However, I feel as if Hester and Arthur have both changed drastically from when they first met each other. What caused me to think about this was their apparent change back into their old selves. Hester let down her hair and let a smile creep upon her face once more and Dimmesdale went skipping around town eventually bursting with new inspiration for a sermon. But we see Dimmesdale also being drawn back into the darker side of life as he exchanges words with the Mistress and desires to teach young children bad words. This is not the esteemed and pious Dimmesdale that was first described to us.

           Additionally, Hester has gone through tremulous times. Even though she no longer bears her scarlet A, that does not mean she is changed back to her previous self. At one point the narrator describes her as"… her passport into regions where other women dared not 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). She is strong indeed but her growth has come out of the shunning from the towns people, and such solitude and impudence does not come without any effect on someone. Hester is no longer fit to the structured and free-loving family life. It is something she has never experienced and is almost the opposite from how she has lived the past 7 years. Then there is Chillingworth. We know if he gets wind of this plan that he will do everything is his power to exact his revenge on the two since he just cannot move on with his life.

           I am having a hard time accepting that all is going to be well. Especially since Hawthorne seems to have an affection for the destructive and darker aspects of a novel. The characters in this novel have a tendency to fall into sin rather than morality. However bizarre this change of events has been it has only made me more intrigued with the outcome of the novel. Will Hester and Dimmesdale have this happily ever after?

Back to Brook

Mrs. Lemon told us the brook would flow back into our reading, so I was prepared. I was not disappointed with what the brook had to offer this time around.

The brook first made its reappearance in chapter 18 when Hester rips off that scarlet letter and neary throws it into the brook. You go girl. Things are looking up until we get to chapter 19, when the family reunion between Pearl, Hester, and Dimmesdale doesn't go quite as planned.

Hester assures Dimmesdale that Pearl will be overjoyed to see him, saying "She loves me, and will love thee" (Hawthorne 186). As is often the case with children, Pearl does the polar opposite of what her mother needs for her to do. Rather than cross the brook into the arms of her awaiting mother and father, Pearl begins to shriek and have what the Gibson family would refer to as a "total come-apart." Dimmesdale immediately the significance of the child being on the opposite bank of the brook: "I have a strange fancy, that this brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy Pearl again" (Hawthorne 187-88). This line from Dimmesdale felt very ominous, and it left me wondering if this family will ever have a happy ever after. Hester soon sees the real reason for Pearl's tantrum-- the scarlet letter. Although Hester cast off the letter and decided to breathe the free air, she realizes that "Pearl misses something which she has always seen me wear" (189). Hester puts back on her emblem of torture, and little Pearl is appeased. I can only imagine how uncomfortable this whole scene was for the dear Reverend Dimmesdale.

Although the brook comes close to sweeping away the scarlet letter along with the pain that Dimmesdale and Hester have felt for seven years, it remains as a divide between the two. Hester must cross back over the brook, from the natural world of happiness in the forest with Dimmesdale to the strict moral standards of Puritan society. Dimmesdale too has not yet escaped the clutches of Puritan society, and the happy(ish) family decides to wait a few days before boarding a ship bound for Europe.

These chapters confused left me with more than a few lingering questions. Will Hester and Dimmesdale have their happily ever after? Is Pearl human? Will Chillingworth expose Dimmesdale before he and Hester leave town? What on earth is Dimmesdale going to say in his newly written election sermon?

We'll see which way the brook decides to flow.

Improbable

         In reflecting on chapters 18-20, I decided to write a found  poem on the last few pages of chapter 18. Why? Because during this chapter I felt like I wasn’t reading the same book anymore. The happiness of the Hester and Dimmesdale was completely uncharacteristic, and it seemed as if I was reading a fairytale. This made their happy moment seem surreal and overly dramatic. In fact, this chapter was so much like a fairytale that animals were interacting with Pearl while she had flowers in her hair. “A partridge, indeed, with a brood of ten behind her, ran forward threateningly, but soon repented of her fierceness, and clucked to her young ones not to be afraid” (184). When reading these descriptions of nature and of Pearl, this was the image that immediately appeared in my mind:

Now we are left to ask just how realistic this scene was. Will Hester and Dimmesdale really get their happy ending?

I will leave us with a found poem that I created from the end of chapter 18.

Improbable 

Love must always create sunshine.

She will love thee dearly,

Pearl! Pearl!

Yonder she is,

A streak of sunshine,

A bright-apparelled vision,

Splendor.

Adorn thyself, beautiful child.

Flowers decorated her hair.

A pigeon uttered a sound.

A fox looked inquisitively.

A wolf offered his savage head.

But here the tale has surely lapsed

Into the improbable.

Roger Needs to Put the "Chill" in Chillingworth

How heavy does a secret lay on a man's soul? That seems to be the real question, as we encounter both Chillingworth and Dimmesdale in these chapters. Both are being turned into something else as they sequester their secrets from the world. Does a guilty conscience or a hidden part of you really change your outward appearance?

From Dimmesdale's entrance into the forest, we can see that he is not the man he used to be. Hester describes him as, "haggard and feeble, and [betraying] a nervous despondency in his air..." (Hawthorne 170). He seems to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, but is it his Reverend-ly duties or the power of the secret he holds that causes this change? It reminds me of a part of Egyptian mythology: in the Underworld, judgment is determined by the weight of your heart. The more bad things you have done, the heavier your heart is. If your heart is heavier than what sits on the other side of the scale, the Feather of Truth, then a monster of the Egyptian afterlife named Ammit eats your heart and you are doomed to the Egyptian equivalent of purgatory forever. No wonder Dimmesdale seems so terrified and weak--if he believed in that Egyptian afterlife, he would dread his judgment day for fear Ammit would eat his heart.

Now, Roger Chillingworth. This is where it gets interesting. At the beginning, he doesn't seem like a super sinful guy. I get it, while you were away, your wife cheated on you (in her defense, she thought you were dead, but I digress). But as the chapters roll on with Chillingworth, he is revealed as a bad person. He is even described as morphing into a figure of the devil himself, he is so eaten up with hate inside. He holds two secrets: that he is actually Hester's husband, and that Dimmesdale is the man Hester had the affair with. Chillingworth is so eaten up with hatred and these secrets that he doesn't even seem human anymore. Every time we see him, his anger gets worse and worse until he becomes the epitome of darkness in this small Puritan town. And one of these secrets isn't even his! Still, he continues to hide it, and for what purpose? To torture his wife and her lover even more than he already has. Relax, Chillingworth. You're only burying yourself under the weight of sins in your soul. But he believes it is what was in root all along, not a choice he is making. If he can't let go of this anger and need for revenge, it will eat at him until he goes full monster, or disappears all together.

So the answer to the question is: heavy. Very heavy.

The Dark Forest

I have a confession. If I'm being honest, Nathaniel Hawthorne trips me up sometimes. The language, the seemingly never-ending descriptions. But hey, you do you, Nate (whether I understand or not). Despite my frustration and having to read certain passages twice, I attempted to make some sense of it.

In chapters 14-17, I took note of Hawthorne's intentionality in using nature as a dominant force. Despite standing in stark contrast to Puritan society, nature provides us with an important understanding of deeper meanings and underlying issues in the novel. Nature seems to express the mood of each scene and the emotions of the characters. For example, in chapter 16 Hester enters into the nearby forest with her daughter, Pearl. The child explains that the sunshine runs from her mother, and this noted observation is oddly similar to the townspeople's attitudes and actions regarding Hester and her "unforgivable sin." Throughout literature and The Scarlet Letter in particular, light often symbolizes truth. Thus, we are lead to believe Hester finds the forest so familiar and strangely comforting because she is avoiding or hiding the truth altogether - whether it is from Dimmesdale or herself. While the dark forest symbolizes the sinful wickedness of Hester's past, Pearl - the light of Hester's life - mirrors innocence by catching a sliver of light upon her small frame. Along with this idea, the forest permits sin and earthly troubles to blossom, and this same idea reflects Hester's new, yet aged mood.

As nature is both unpredictable and ever-changing, the forest gives Hester a newness of life upon discussing her consecrated love affair with Dimmesdale. It seems to me that despite such unpredictability, nature proves to be a place of acceptance for Hester - a feeling she has not been exposed to for quite some time. Seeing as the forest is secluded from the rigidity of Puritan society, Hester and Dimmesdale are finally able to have the chat they should have had a long time ago. Like maybe when Hester's pregnancy wasn't national news. They discuss plans to flee to Europe as a family. I know. Even the demon-child is invited to tag along with the "once lovers." (Quick side note. Since when were Hester and Dimmesdale a thing again? Hope that goes well for the squad.)

Essentially, nature is a manifestation of the wide array of feelings our friends like Hester and Dimmesdale experience and their associated moods. After all, the forest is home to the Black Man, but it is also a place of utter liberation for Hester. The forest represents a natural world while the village in which it encloses emphasizes strict law. One of the reasons why I appreciate Hawthorne so much is his ability to change the meaning of a previous idea or setting. Nature has the ability to mean anything and everything - especially for Hester, a woman who has face quite the whirlwind of experiences and oppression throughout her own life. Shoutout to Nathaniel.

I'll leave my fellow readers with a found poem from last night's reading. The poem expresses the darker role nature plays within the novel, a slight glimpse into the character's (primarily Hester but a dash of Pearl too) thoughts regarding nature, and the overall setting. So here it goes.

Onward into the mystery of the primeval forest
Stood so black and dense,
Chill and sombre,
A gray expanse of cloud
Slightly stirred by a breeze.
A gleam of flickering sunshine
Seen along the path.
The sunshine does not love you.
Let me run and catch it.
The sunshine vanished.
Thou meetest him at midnight.
Here in the dark wood.
Scenes shadowed as heavily with gloom.
But she danced and sparkled,
Putting aside the branches.
Through the trees,
Some very mournful mystery had departed
In the intense seclusion of the forest.
Relieved from the gray twilight,
The clouded sky,
And the heavy foliage.
His pathway through life was haunted,
Chill as death.
No golden light had ever been so precious
As the gloom of this dark forest.

Leaving Decay in His Wake

The opening of chapter fifteen really stuck with me. We often get some great character description, as strong as the scene with Hester first stepping forth to face public humiliation, or that scene with Dimmesdale shrieking in the middle of the night in the woods. Here, we get a dark illustration of Mr. Chillingworth. There have been paragraphs depicting his fiendish look, but I feel like this passage completes the picture.  (DISCLAIMER: I skipped around a bit and took the most poetic parts, so it's not a completely direct quotation).


So Roger Chillingworth--
a deformed old figure,
with a face that haunted men's memories longer than they liked--
went stooping away along the earth.
                     His gray beard almost touched the ground,
                                   As he crept onward.

The woman looked on with half-fantastic curiosity
To see whether the tender grass of early spring
Would not be blighted beneath him, and show the wavering track of his footsteps,
Sere and brown, across its cheerful verdure.
                   Would the earth greet him with poisonous shrubs,
                                    Called to light by his evil purpose?

Or might it suffice him
That every wholesome growth
Should be converted into something deleterious and malignant at his touch?
Did the sun,
              Which shone so brightly everywhere else,
                                 Really fall upon him?

And whither was he now going?
Would not suddenly sink into the earth,
Leaving a barren and blasted spot
Where the evils within him
              Would grow deadly nightshade, dogwood, henbane,
                               And whatever else vegetable wickedness the climate could produce?

Or would he spread bat's wings and flee away,
Looking so much the uglier the higher he rose towards heaven?



One final note: I just find it so entertaining that Chillingworth is described as a leech and a bat. A very vile man. Which raises the question in my mind "Why does Hawthorne pose Dimmesdale and Hester, the ones who have committed a terrible misdeed, as highly regarded characters while Chillingworth, a man who has done nothing against the law, is associated with malice and cruelty?

Creepy Chillingworth and Hester's Blame

Chillingworth's creepy appearance in Chapter 14 set up the events that followed. First off, Chillingworth is described as having transformed into a devil. Hawthorne writes, "this unhappy person had effected such a transformation, by developing himself, for seven years, to the constant analysis of a heart full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment thence, and adding fuel to those fiery tortures which he analyzed and gloated over" (Hawthorne 153). So basically Chillingworth has a devil-like self that has emerged over the past seven years. And of course, Hester sees the evilness in his heart, and believes her sin led him to his change of character. Chillingworth reminds me of a manipulative old man (like the one from ahs).

To add to Hester's personal blame of driving Chillingworth to sin, when she learns that she no longer has to wear the 'A' on her chest, she says that she doesn't want to take it off. The letter did inflict torture upon Hester, right? Maybe Hester has come to terms with the symbol, as she has become stronger the longer she has worn it. Also, Pearl keeps pretending that she has an 'A' on her chest, but Hester refuses to tell her the meaning behind it. She connects the letter to Dimmesdale, as he continues to put his hand over his heart. Will Pearl figure out Hester and Dimmesdale's relationship herself?

Also, what was up with that conversation between Hester and Dimmesdale? They both meet in the forest which becomes their escape from the public. Dimmesdale proceeds to tell Hester that he has found no peace and feels guilty about their relationship. Hester then tells Dimmesdale the truth: that Chillingworth is her husband and that he knows about their relationship and is planning to expose it. Dimmesdale is shocked, and says he can't forgive Hester, but he ultimately does.  Dimmesdale continues to feel sorry for himself, telling Hester that he feels so much guilt, is sinful, has lost his soul, and is powerless. I imagine Dimmesdale as being a sullen, weak, and nervous man, who can't hold his emotions together.

When he piles his feelings on Hester, she comforts him, taking the blame. She says, "thou shalt leave it all behind thee!...Begin all anew!...The future is full of trial and success...Exchange this false life for a true one" (178-179). Hester feels like she is the reason for Dimmesdale's guilt, but I disagree. Dimmesdale played just as big of a part in their relationship as Hester did, and shouldn't be acting so emotional.

By the end of Chapter 17 Hester suggests that they travel back to Europe...together. Dimmesdale says he can't leave Massachusetts, but I wonder if he just doesn't want to raise suspicion about himself. But wouldn't their escape just create even more scandal, and allow Hester to be completely removed from society's ranks?

These chapters left me with many questions and I wonder what will happen next.  Will Hester and Dimmesdale really leave for Europe? Will Chillingworth expose Dimmesdale to the public? How and when will Pearl finally understand that Dimmesdale is her father?

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Who or Whom? The Office Version.

I just had to include the who vs. whom debate from the Office, since we talked about this grammar confusion today. 

And of course, just some other moments that represent our feelings toward the stresses of the semester: 

Good luck my friends.  

Who Do We Revere?

In chapters 9-13, there are several references made to the large following Mr. Dimmesdale has acquired. While commenting on the Reverend's declining health, the narrator even comments, "Some declared, that, if Mr. Dimmesdale were really going to die, it was cause enough, that the world was not worthy to be any longer trodden by his feet," (Hawthorne 79). Later, the reader discovers the immense shame Mr. Dimmesdale harbors for his actions, providing the reader with a pretty ironic duality to decipher. He guards a secret for which he is ashamed - one that would destroy his livelihood, his reputation, and first and foremost, his sense of purpose. Yet the masses adore him. 

Considering this tangled situation, I began to reflect upon secrets. It has always fascinated me who people choose to revere. Although we are young, wild, and  free (theoretically, that is), we seem to be searching for role models. We're looking for them, we're trying to become them, and we're praying those few we do covet do not disappoint. With that being said,  how can any of us go about choosing "role models" when we are only allowed to see a certain facet of a person? In Mr. Dimmesdale's case, the Reverend is a seemingly Godly man who made a mistake. Everyday since, he hates that mistake, repents, and suffers in order to receive the forgiveness of the Lord but more importantly, the forgiveness of himself. Yes, we cannot know the true motives of other people, but maybe we are absolutely just too hard on one another. Maybe the problem lies in the fact that we do not know the dark inner workings of others and thus feel comfortable in our naivety to assume that malicious intent is the exception. 

In class, we have briefly discussed the concept that we see what we want to see. The people of Boston look to Mr. Dimmesdale as their chief spiritual guide, and while he seems sickly, they do not consider the possibility that his spirit and conscious are what is being ailed. Much like Mr. Dimmesdale, we all harbor demons. The difference lies in the fact that when our own secrets are uncovered, they are often forgiven. Our role models, on the other hand, are expected to be just that - role models. Thus, we are devastated when they disappoint us because we have seen what we want to see and often have no understanding of the person they truly are. We hypocritically condemn those that we revere and often expect the worst from those whom we have not. 

So who do you look up to, and are you sure you know why?

Satan's Emissary (a.k.a. Chillingworth)

After reading, I found the character descriptions in chapter 9 very interesting. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are both described in great detail and their perceptions and images change throughout the chapter. Because Chillingworth gave me the creeps since he first entered the novel, I decided to do a found poem from the end of chapter 9 on him.

Satan's Emissary

Roger Chillingworth was ugly and evil.
The fire in his laboratory
was fed with infernal fuel,
and his visage was sooty.
Reverend
Arthur Dimmesdale: especial sanctity, the Christian world
was haunted by Satan-- old Roger Chillingworth,
the diabolical agent.
Mortal agony, gloom, and terror
in the depths of the battle.
The victory anything but secure!

Invevitable

     I wrote a found poem from a passage at the beginning of chapter 5 because I found the descriptive language to be really intriguing. Hester's feelings of present trials and on-coming doom are described in great detail. While the reader more than likely has not experienced anything near what Hester is going through in the chapter, the powerful descriptions in the passage make her experience become more of a reality for the reader.

Inevitable

Inevitable
Her prison door thrown open,
She came into the sunlight with a sick and morbid heart.
The scarlet letter on her chest,
She would become the general symbol of
women's frailty and sinful passion.
The young and pure would be taught to look at her:
Daughter of honorable parents,
Mother of a babe,
Who had once been innocent--
With the scarlet letter flaming on her chest,
As the reality of sin.

Needles and Haikus

As I was reading the chapters, I was fascinated at the fact that Hester has a brilliant talent for needlework. I actually found it quite ironic that she creates such beautiful pieces, yet she is seen as such a piece of trash. So, in honor of her, I thought I would give Hester a little boost of self confidence.

Needles

Show them your work
Stitch by stitch.
Pitching the needle
right through the fabric
the way
their stares
pierce your body.

How every stitch
brings together a masterpiece
of broken materials.
Like you,
piecing it all
back together.

Your talent
so divine.
Defies their code
of a simple lifestyle.

A beautiful outcast
you are.


Finally, last class we discussed the value of a Haiku and how it debatably has none. I decided to write a haiku in honor of our struggle:

The Scarlet Letter
A tragic book we must read
Very Puritan

Poem on Pearl

Looking back through chapters 5-8, I began rereading what I underlined. Much of it reflected upon Pearl, so I took quotes from the book and put them into a poem describing Pearl.



Pearl

the figure, the body, the reality of sin.
her mother's only treasure!
wild, desperate, defiant,
flightiness of temper,
swayed by her own impulses.
An imp of evil,
emblem and product of sin.
sprite-like intelligence,
a demon offspring,
the elf-child.
Her mother's happiness,
her mother's torture.

Seven Deadly Letters

Seven Deadly Letters

A is for adultery which initials Hester’s life

L is for the loneliness caused by this strife

O is for outcast where she lives with her shame

C is for cruelty that these puritans ordain

P is for pearl—her mother’s only treasure!

M is for mercy for her singular pleasure

W is the wild of this strange elf-child
The seven deadly sins now seem rather mild

Found Poem (Chapter 5 of The Scarlet Letter)

I wrote created this found poem from Chapter Five to capture what I think to be the essence of it. In my opinion, it is a powerful illustration of the life of isolation Hester is being forced to live. As I read this chapter, I highlighted key words and formatted them into the following poem:


the scarlet letter

                         condemned her.

(Woman's frailty and sinful passion may seem marvelous, irresistible, and inevitable)

She hid
   
             did not flee.

In this little, lonesome dwelling, a mystic shadow of suspicion

With a strange, contagious

                                           FEAR characterized sin.

She stood apart
 
                         a martyr.

The insidious whispers

were

red-hot with infernal fire.



I staggered the lines of my poem to mimic the sense of Hester's disconnect from Boston in this chapter. Even though the people still let her embroider for them, they see her as a pariah and treat her as such. In writing this poem, I found that paying attention to Hawthorne's diction can reveal much about his tone towards the Puritans and towards Hester. You definitely see sympathy for Hester and ridicule of the Puritans for perpetuating nonsensical, extremist Christian beliefs. Based on Hawthorne's characterizations, who do you think he believes is the real "sinner" here?

I hope you liked this poem and remember: pay attention to the words!

Epilogue from Isabella

O, would that the Duke had never from here gone,
The dispute of this week's past never begun.
But to know and mourn mine dear brother's death,
Then find him in breath and cheeks of rose again.
Mine heart hast surged blood more rapidly
Than the rushing water off the cataracts.
And for the Duke's proposal,
Methinks it alike to the request of Angelo,
Though I know comes from a place of goodness.
To change my course of life and be a wife?
Nevermore to devote myself to God above,
And to this man, whom I am not sure I do love.
The jewels, title, ceremonies I do not want
But my brother's company with a new appreciation.
Though this dear Duke hast altered mine life,
Am I to give up what I love and be his wife?
Measure for measure, death for death,
I find a new gratitude for mine own sweet breath.

Some Thoughts from Provost

Alas, the hand of judgement has fallen upon the good people of Vienna.

Angelo’s harsh rule has come to an end—as such his freedom from the lady Mariana—
and the Duke’s position upon the throne at once restored,
with a question of marriage to sweet Isabella,

her devotion to the sisterhood challenged once more.     

Let us come to remember this day in the history of Vienna—

today, in which love flourished,

 justice prevailed,

and a man was brought back from the dead.

Alas, a happy ending for all—

such mercy shown on the part of the Duke

in sparing the lives of his faithful subjects—

even he who dare slander the Duke’s name so.

If anyone ever doubted the integrity of our fair Duke,

surely today’s events have proven him a fool.

With our gracious ruler back in his rightful place,

Surely

peaceful times have settled upon these lands. 

Epilogue by Mariana

Oh sweet Angelo, thou art my only
For I hadst no other in my family.
Look on this woman stripped and condemned!
Lend me your love, and all my life to come
I'll lend you all my love to do the service of our marriage.
Dear, why dost thou not understand?
Do thy service of husband, for I have done mine.
Only my Lord knows the things I would do
To get thee to face me, to make love to me.
There hadst been times when I think
Isabel haunts thou heart.
Is it true my Angelo?
Why thou art not answer me?
I weep on thou bed and still thou ignore.
I fall to my knees and still thou ignore.
To save our wedlock I can not try more.

Angelo's Epilogue

Oh, as I weep, my wife sleeps next to me,
All peaceful 'cuz she knows not what she means.
I cry for her, for me, for life ill-spent.
No mercy was taken on my lost part.
Justice was once the reign of my whole life.
Betrayed, it no longer trusts me at all.
I fell to wants with some unbridled lust...
Oh, why, dear Isabel, did you choose me?
Bewitched by her I lost my sense of sin,
Which made me a cuckold to my own self.
And now I'm wed to one I lost sight of
Mariana, love you I cannot do.
You remind me of pasts I wish to leave
I find no beauty in your mocking kiss...
Alas! The greatest wound a man can bear
Is always one nobody else can see.

Claudio Epilogue

Precious Juliet, It is finally our day of wed.

I have been to hell and back by Angelo’s hand.

Seen the dark dust of the unlighted path

But I do doth remember your shimmering eyes

Desiring me to stay.

Those around us hath been engaged

But without everlasting love like ours.

Thou will now have tales to tell our children

Of our treacherous Vienna.

From friars to dukes to lords to executioners

All with our feeble fate in their mighty hands.

I beseech thou to thank dearest Isabella

For placing my name back in esteem

Although she did but pick her soul

Over my moral life. So who is to thank?

Just luck or was it fate you say?

I bid you adieu until  our bachelor visages

Meet for one last time.

Lucio's Last Hurrah

Doth thou kid’st me?

I cannot believe that of all

The abundant lies and treachery,

I am the only one

forced to pay the price.

Why dost thou punish me?

I who only tried to help Isabella,

I who never blackmailed a young

Maid into joining me in bed.

Claudio goes free only

By God’s grace.

Though the Duke nearly

Let a man die to preserve his cover,

He to goes unpunished.

Even young Isabella’s prayers

Free lecherous Angelo

From the claws of death.

Alas, there is no one to save me

From my foreboding fate.

Not only will I will be forced
to marry a punk,

But I will also be
whipped for my so-called
'crimes'.

What have I done to

Deserve such injustice?

Isabella's Epilogue

Praise be to God
for He whom this day we should thank
in utter harmony.
My brother, sweet Claudio musn't fear any longer.
Today's woes become yesterday's memories.
Duke, though I honor your request for marriage
my heart is eternally committed
to the Lord.
My place, the nunnery, is not suit for marriage
and yes-- this place must be my home.
Do not take offense, dear friend
I owe you my life
but will not surrender my faith.
Angelo,
the Lord has decided your fate.
Corruption and sin will not be tolerated
but I forgive
and if you do beg
the Lord will forgive.
Today, the day of reckoning,
Shall forever be.
Oh-- Bless!

An Epilogue...Mariana Style

Upon sacred wedlock we make our peace,
With heads maintained and hearts appeased.
Vienna corrupt and vile doth please
Wandering souls over which Mistress Overdone sees.
Go now beyond our garden of deeds
Shout to the gates that just law will furthermore entreat
An execution, a hanging, a visit to the Duke,
who forevermore will lie with a nun now subdued.
Go to the Duke and make ye thou petition known.
You wish to marry a nun lacking vows
Keep ye your chastity, let the Duke thus order it so.
He seems to be a man of God, a man of what God
I seem not know.
Speaking of God, what happened to Friar Peter?
After all, we probably never will know.
Now I make haste to my garden alone
Where music awaits to sooth my many woes.
Angelo, Angelo, so sweet a word discerned
from prideful lust to subtle heed
he takes my soul exposed.

Claudio's Epilogue

Claudio:

Oh what shall become of Vienna,
As the Duke has unmasked himself, 
And tested our city and all it's strife?
Poor Isabella hath lived her nightmare, 
As she put faith in the false Friar.
My dear sister will have to test her virtue, 
But I know she shall choose herself over the Duke's proposal, 
Since she chose herself over my eternal damnation.
Angelo hath been sent to death, like me, 
but was freed with mercy, 
and sent into an involuntary marriage to Mariana. 
I await the birth of my child, and life with Juliet, 
Yet wonder how I shall be able to live a life of trust,
In a city full of strumpets, hypocrisy, 
Where our lord is full of slander and conceit,
And religion and prostitution are of closest friends.
It seems as if I shall be welcomed in such society,
As my crimes of passion were so slight
Compared to those of whom abused their power, 
and strengthened the wicked ignominy of our state, 
accusing those who committed the same crimes as he. 

Isabella's Epilogue

Isabella:

How shall I proceed on this path paved before me?

The world at present laughs at my surprise,

For Angelo hath repented, and Claudio still lives.

Oh, how the Duke must delight in our confusion,

And take pleasure in the shock he has caused us all!

The Duke, most recently, hath proposed marriage to me.

Was I not meant to serve our Father with my virtue?

Is my chastity not meant to prevail? Surely not,

Else I would not have evaded the forceful grip of Angelo,

Only to stand once again in the face of this choice.

The Duke declared what is his is mine, but yet

He did say what is mine is his. Doth he imply

That my soul, untainted at present, is to be forever entwined

With his? Oh, but the Duke hath left me with many

Debts to pay him. Could marriage to this man really be so wrong?

For this life laid before me might have been my destiny all along. 

Lucio's Epilogue

Alas the Duke hath returned to us all
as Christ on the Third Day,
Saving Claudio from an eternal rest.
Mariana and Angelo in wedded vows tied,
and poor Lucio in bed with a prostitute lie...fie, fie, fie.
The Duke doth request the hand of fair Isabella,
though I doubt the chaste nun will comply.
For how can Isabel hold her vow of asceticism and enjoy the spoils of Vienna?
Is the Duke of stronger morals than the lustful Angelo?
Methinks not.
Another pretty tale of the Duke I'll have now to tell,
of him who seems and is not the same.
For there exists a fine line betwixt seeming and being
and the Duke hath traipsed across it.
And here lieth Vienna, no worse or better than she was one week prior,
For the absence of the Duke hath done no good or harm.
Her corruption will continue its spread as blood pervades a stream,
Little by little, until all that is pure hath been stained crimson.

Isabella's Epilogue

Gracious Duke,
I am afraid I cannot give consent to marry you.
My only fitting place, I fear, is in the nunnery.
I do beseech your grace to pardon me,
But I cannot find it in my heart to wed with you,
Or any man at all.
I am shocked by your proposal,
And though I flooded with joy in regard to my brother’s life,
I cannot take your hand in marriage.
I have always envisioned my life in a convent –
A life of restriction and perpetual maidenhood.
My life I should hope to devote to my God;
Surely you should not obstruct my pursuit of utter morality.
Therefore, I implore you, do not make us wed.
I am incapable of this tender love. 
If you cannot pardon me for my bold refusal,
I am quite ready to die a martyr’s death.
Rather I should die a maid than give up my virtue
To an undesired life.

Provost's Epilogue

PROVOST    Three weeks has it been since I saw the face of Claudio

Sitting in despondence within that cell.

Vienna has seen the most turbulent of times

With the duke returned and requested the hand

Of the maid whose chastity was saved.

I had judged the girl proud enough to immediately refuse,

Yet in hesitation she called for a friar to come and advise her.

Not a second after the words urging her to marry the Duke

Had dropped from his lips did she devote herself completely to the man.

Though Lucio and Angelo cried out the misery of matrimony,

The pain of being joined in a bond of unreciprocated love,

Forced to bear the undesired affection of another;

She would not listen. Her heart was locked

As soon as the friar had uttered the deed favorable in the eyes of God.

A kindness for a kindness, he said, is a fitting end.

Woe be to the girl, who took the words of a friar

As though they were the writ of God; those words came from a man

governed by God,  not the governor Himself.

Indeed, until the day these men and women cease to trust

The judgment of other instead of the judgment of their own,

They will be ruled by tragedy, seemers, and hearts of stone.

Lucio's Epilogue

Lucio:

Through these trials of Vienna, we have come to know ourselves.

The duke hath solved the errs of this town

by the wicked hand of his substitute,

and Angelo and Mariana hath joined as one.

Though to fair Isabel the duke offered his hand,

she remains in her life of habit.

Her dear brother and his beloved live free of fear of retribution

by the fierce hand of the law

and are content to bring their child into a world of just and fair love.

For all tales that the tapster Pompey spun,

none so true as his transformation from unlawful bawd to lawful hangman,

from crime in itself to crime released.

The strumpets and the friars walk side by side

and I myself will carry on in this vein

of knowing these streets as well as mine own self

for they will welcome me as an old friend

and carry on with the sweet songs of calumny

that shall sing me asleep ere long.

Mariana's Epilogue

Mariana:
My dearest Angelo,
Pray you learn from what hath been taught in this corrupted place.
Vienna hath mocked our souls and virtue too.
The thought of death dost leave quite a mark on thee,
Though I hath freed you from death's wretched sting.
But forget not what hath led you to this place.
Five years hath past since thou denied me -
Since my proportions sank in the sea alongside my dear brother's ship.
Oh how I resent this truth but forgiveth thee all the same!
Angelo, pray we marry,
For we hath overcome the most vile of events...the most wicked of deeds.
Remember not the past but look forward.
No more shall you look upon the face of any other.
Isabella no longer shall be engaged in such wicked trickery.
She hath brought you such sweet sorrow and warped your precious mind.
Oh how we will learn to live two souls in one!
Despite the forgiveness I have so graciously bestowed on thee,
I forget not how I hath always been second best in the mind of thee.
But now liveth we in such sweet company.

Isabella's Epilogue

Isabella:

Sweet Claudio, it cannot be 

that your life should be spared

but only by the good graces of our father above

and the judgment of our duke.

I pray you a long and happy life and marriage.

Good duke, you know I am set to be a nun,

yet upon discovering the facilities and lifestyle

I find I seek not a life in the habit.

You are a most just man,

skilled in the art of justice

and abounding in mercy still.

I will marry you

and make an honest character of us both.

As for that Angelo

whom I did most detest,

I do forgive. 

Mariana, I would that you have the life you dreamed of.

Now, let's make haste my merciful Duke

for we shall wed tonight.

Claudio's Epilogue

Claudio:

To death’s door I have come and gone,

But now I am pardoned and have a baby to come.

My dear Isabel, too, has gone from heaven to hell and back

And that most wicked Angelo, who has died by his own virtues,

Is now married, pardoned, and set free as well.

The Duke, who by hiding created this mess,

Clothed himself in unwarranted trust

And set all back aright, to his view at least.

Isabella must now marry with no choice.

Her maidenhood, that she put above her own brother’s life,

Is naught to the whims of the puppeteer-Duke.

A measure for measure was placed on Angelo’s life to mine, and too on

The purity of Isabella for the soil of the Duke

The unhappiness of Angelo for the love of Mariana

The wisdom of Escalus for this unwholesome accident

So here is lain before us the city of Vienna

Ruled by a man with a self-centered agenda

A city of punks, slanderers, and the beguiled

Oh, what kind of future is in store for my child?

A Gray Play

In the spirit of Halloween, I'll begin with a little tidbit on death. The Duke, under the disguise of a friar, gave quite a lovely speech about death as he tries to persuade Claudio to accept his fate. He says that death is inevitable and life is so miserable anyway, so he's better off with the fate he has. Claudio seems to believe the friar-duke and finds comfort in believing his argument: "To sue to live, I find I seek to die,/ and seeking death, find life: let it come on." (3.1.43-44)

And then Isabella comes in, Claudio learns of Angelo's ultimatum, and we get some typical Shakespearean action. The friar-duke has a long complicated plan that the characters believe is foolproof which can only mean that everything will turn out disastrously. 

However, I want to go back to the offer Angelo has given Isabella. There are pros and cons for each character, and I just need to sort them out. 

First, Isabella. If she sleeps with Angelo, she can no longer become a nun and her immortal soul is forever stained with the sin of the deed. In refusing the offer, is she being selfish? Or would a sin that saves a brother's life really become a virtue as Claudio says? 

Second, Claudio. He has committed a crime according to the law of Vienna and is sentenced to die. Is his sentence just? Claudio and Juliet seemed committed to each other, but were keeping their engagement secret so that Juliet's dowry could increase. He presses Isabella to consider Angelo's offer, as it is his one chance at life. How much love is involved here, and how much greed?

Finally, Angelo. As far as we know, he led a perfectly moral life up till this point and at first was upholding the law without wavering. However, he falls in "love" (which seems more like lust) with Isabella and says that to save her brother, she has to break the law with him. What kind of moral and just character would give those kinds of conditions?

Overall, I think that there is a lot of "seeming" going on. Isabella is seems to be a selfless nun at first, but can be viewed as selfish in regards to her attitude towards saving her brother's life. Claudio seems to be loving towards Juliet, but that love diminishes as we learn that they were keeping their relationship a secret for the sake of money. And Angelo seems to be the most virtuous man ever only to want to break the very law he is publicly upholding. 

Each character tries to be good. I think that's what makes this play so hard: there is no defined antagonist and no defined protagonist, and morality is hazy in this play. Here, there is no black or white. We as the readers are simply left with a big GRAY muddle of immorality and virtue.

Death, Despair, & Destruction. Thanks Shakespeare.

I just need to get this out there. During that entire David Tennant scene, I felt extremely uncomfortable, and I had no idea why. For some reason, David Tennant rubbed me the wrong way, and a little Googling later made me realize just why I find him so creepy....

IT'S BARTY CROUCH JR. FROM HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE.

It's a small world. 

Now that I've gotten Angelo/Barty Crouch Jr. out of the way, let's get back to what's important. Since Halloween is right around the corner, I think it's only fitting that we discuss death. Obviously. 

The subject of death is pretty prevalent in Act 3, from the Duke's pep talk in the opening of Scene 1 to Claudio's pretty graphic explanation of his fear of dying. This Scene felt like a flashback to the days of Hamlet: a lot of death, despair, and destruction as Wendelin van Draanen would put it. Claudio laments on the looming prospect of death: "Ay but to die and go we know not where,/ To lie in cold obstruction and to rot" (3.3.118-19). He notes the single most frightening part of death: its uncertainty. There's only a few things we as humans know to be true. We all were born, and one day we all must die. But what we don't know is what happens after the fact. No one's been to the other side of death and back to give us all a synopsis of what goes down. There's simply no way to know. It's made clear through Claudio's speech that he has not yet come to terms with facing this uncertainty. He even says "The weariest and most loathed worldly life...is a paradise/ To what we fear of death" (3.1.129, 131-32). Wow. This contrasts with what the Duke, oops, **Friar** had to say to Claudio about meeting his end. The Duke/Friar seems to suggest that to live in an evil world is worse than greeting death with open arms, saying "Yet in this life/ Lie hid moe thousand deaths; yet death we fear/ That makes these odds all even" (3.1.39-41). Although this is an interesting thought, Claudio and I are not convinced. After reflecting on all these lovely thoughts, Claudio seems to have an abrupt change of heart. He's actually not okay with dying so Isabella can keep her purity.

Luckily, the Duke/Friar steps in to keep this situation from getting more uncomfortable than it already is. And, of course, he has a master plan. He's just going to send in Angelo's ex-fiance to sleep with him instead of Isabella. It'll be dark, the Duke says. Angelo will never notice, he says. Allllllriiiiiight. Needless to say that once again, I'm not convinced that everything is going to work out. I hope Shakespeare has something especially clever up his sleeve.

Before I sign off I would like to apologize for the slightly dismal tone of this blog post. It's just been that kind of day. 

Goodnight and good luck to you all.

We have some hypocrites on our hands...

    I'm just going to be blunt here and say that the hypocrisy in this play is getting me very frustrated. I'm beginning to see why critics say Measure for Measure is a "problem play." The characters are full of contradictions, and Shakespeare leaves me with so many questions after each scene.

     It is hard to draw conclusions and see the character's reasoning for their actions through the first few scenes because we don't have a prologue. I am still wondering why the Duke is stepping down, and why he appointed Angelo--it just doesn't make sense. In Act 1 Scene 3 the Duke says he can't balance his personal character and his public duties, reasoning his resignation. This is questionable to me. He says that he had trouble enforcing the law in Vienna, as chaos ruled over authority. If he had trouble enforcing the laws and eventually gave up, then how could it have affected his character? If we had a prologue, we may have been able to understand why he is making such sudden decisions. We also learn that the Duke appoints Angelo because he holds high morals, is trustworthy, and is talented.  If these are the reasons the Duke says he chose Angelo to rule, then how come he want's to investigate his true nature by disguising himself as a friar? It's pretty ironic that the Duke want's to see Angelo's true character while concealing himself in the process.

     While the Duke is ironic, I think Angelo is the biggest hypocrite of them all. In Act 1, the Duke compares Angelo to gold coins, as coins were seen as "fine," angelic, and genuine. But by Act 2, it was obvious that Angelo is none of these things. When Angelo meets Isabella, he is unmoved by her begging of him to have mercy on Claudio. He believes that instilling the law will prevent "future evils" (98), but as Isabella talks to him, he responds in an arrogant tone, suggesting that the power has gone to his head. What frustrated me the most, however, was that Angelo is attracted to Isabella. But it's what he is attracted to that is the most maddening: her virtue. He states, "Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary / And pitch our evils there? Dost thou desire her foully for those things / That make her good?" (175-76, 178-179). Angelo is saying that he is attracted to Isabella's chastity. He desires her dignity, but ultimately wants to destroy it. This makes Angelo evil in my view, because destroying her virtue would destroy her life as a nun. And, does Angelo realize that if he had relations with Isabella, that he would be hypocritical in how he is dealing with the relationship between Claudio and Juliet?

    I guess the comparison of Angelo to an angel-like gold coin is ironic. As he showed in Act 2, he lacks morals and is evil-spited. Will Angelo's annoyingly hypocritical and evil nature be revealed?

I guess we'll have to wait and see, but I can't promise anything.