Scarlet letter ch 13-15

How does this statement of Chillingworth's made during his first conversation with Hester in the prison, accord with the statement in number 6 above? "I might have foreseen all this. I might have known that, as I came out of the vast and dismal forest, and entered this settlement of Christian men, the very first object to meet my eyes would be thyself. Hester Prynne, standing up, a statue of ignominy, before the people. Nay, from the moment when we came down the old church steps together, a married pair, I might have beheld the balefire of that scarlet letter blazing at the end of our path!"

Chillingworth is angry that his marriage to Hester ended up in her having a baby with Dimmesdale. He is angry that when he returned from living in the forest, Chillingworth found his wife in a position of shame. This made it impossible for him to claim Hester as his wife.

What do you think Chillingworth means in the following passage? "Peace, Hester, peace!", replied the old man, with gloomy sternness. "It is not granted me to pardon. I have no such power as thou tellest me of. My old faith, long forgotten, comes back to me, and explains all that we do, and all we suffer. By thy first step awry thou dist plant the germ of evil; but since that moment, it has all been a dark necessity. Ye that have wronged me are not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion; neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a fiend's office from his hands. It is our fate."

Chillingworth is saying he is not God to forgive. We suffer by our decisions. He says he is not bad for seeking revenge for Hester having a baby with Dimmesdale. He said revenge was the result of them having a baby.

The second to the last paragraph of chapter consists of this statement:``the scarlet letter had not done its office." What do you think Hawthrone means by that statement?

Hawthrone means the scarlet letter "A" was supposed to cause shame for Hester and her deed. Instead, the meaning of the scarlet letter "A" has changed to the people. The scarlet letter A stopped meaning adultary and shame. It now came to mean the word "Able" because Hester has so many talents and she also helps people in need.

.What change in Chillingworth's appearance does Hester notice when she stops to speak to him?

He has gone from being a calm man to a man who is out for revenge. She noticed a red light glare in his eyes as if the devil was in him.

What do you think Hester means when , as Pearl begs to know the meaning of the scarlet letter, she thinks to herself, "No! If this be the price of child's sympathy, I cannot pay it"?

Hester doesn't want Pearl to feel the pain of Hester sin of adultery.

Briefly summarize the reasons why Hester is now better able to cope with Chillingworth than she was in her prison chamber seven years ago.

Hester is better able to cope with Chillingworth because she is no longer ashamed of the scarlet letter A. she has accepted her punishment.

Hester and Chillingworth each pity the other. For what does he say he pities Hester and for what does Hester pity him?

Hester pity Chillingworth because he went from being a good person to a bad person. Chillingworth pity Hester because he has destroyed her good nature.

Where, according to Chillingworth, when does Hester take her first step astray?

Hester takes the first step astray when she had a child from Dimmesdale.

what is the link that binds Hester to Dimmesdale?

Pearl is the link between Hester and Dimmesdale.

How much time has passed since Hester first stood with the infant on the scaffold?

Seven years have passed since Hester first stood on the scaffold with the infant.

.What gesture of the Reverend Dimmesdale's does Pearl repeatedly associate with her mother's scarlet letter?

The gesture that Reverend Dimmesdale does is always puts his hand over his chest.

After a time, because of Hester's charity and good works, many refused to interpret the scarlet A by original meaning. What do these people say the a stand for?

The people say the A stands for "able" instead of adulterer.

"It lies not in the pleasure if the magistrates to take off this badge," Hester tells Chillingworth. " Were I worthy to be quit of it, it would fall away of its nature, or be transformed into something that should speak a different purport." Has the latter possibility- that the scarlet letter would have a wholly different meaning - already happened? Cite evidence from the book to support your opinion.

The scarlet letter meaning has changed through the book for Hester and others. The scarlet letter was meant to shame Hester for her adultery and people wanted her dead. Then Hester started doing charity work for the poor and making clothes for the townspeople. People started to look at the meaning of the A to stand for "Able". Hester looked at the scarlet letter now as a way to show she takes responsibility for her actions. "The Scarlet letter burned on Hester bosom. Here was another ruin, the responsibility of which came partly home to her" (Hawthorne, pg 123).

After describing the extent to which Hester's feminine beauty has vanished in seven years. "She who has once been a woman, and ceased to be so, might at any moment become a woman again if there were only magic touch to effect the transfiguration. We shall see whether Hester Parynne were ever afterwards so touched and transfigured." What future development in the novel do you think this last sentence might foreshadow?

The sentence means that Hester once felt like a woman. She had a husband figure in her life and she had a child. Since the husband figure was in hiding and would not let the town people know who he really was, Hester did not feel like a woman. She felt bad from being in trouble for having a child with no husband figure for the town to see. The sentence foreshadows that Reverend Dimmesdale might come back and be a family with Hester and her child. This would make Hester feel like a woman again.

Near the end of the chapter, in the paragraph beginning " Indeed, the same dark question often rose into her mind ...," Hawthorne paints a pessimistic picture of the role women in puritan society. Does Hawthorne strike you as an advocate of women's rights. In your opinion, have enough changes occurred so that today women are " allowed to assume what seems a fair and suitable position?

The writer Hawthorne writes about the role of women in the story, The Scarlet Letter. Women had no power or rights and had to do what men wanted them to do. There seemed no hope for a woman to be free to do what she wanted. Today, women have more rights. Women can go to school and have jobs. Women can have children and not be married. Women would not be punished like Hester was punished. Women have more rights today.

Does Chillingworth try to persuade Hester not to reveal his identity to Dimmesdale?

Yes, Chillingworth tries to persuade Hester in not reveal his true identity