Chapter Eighteen
Entry Forty-Two
(in addition to entry Forty-One)
"The scarlet letter was 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."Hester's punishment made her see the world with different eyes, she created her own freedom in her thoughts. Persons who never felt such an isolation would never be able to see the world as she does. Hester looks at Boston in an aerial view since she was never included in it.
In my opinion this quotation explains what the book is all about. Hester learns to forgive herself because it was the onl way to survive for her. All the other persons still have to come to this knowledge. As long you are not in peace with yourself you won't find peace in the world. This doesn't mean that you are free from making mistakes but you can deal with them because you know that it is OK. Everyone is allowed to make mistakes and even fail as long as they know how to forgive and to learn from them.
Entries 41 and 42: Public vs. Private Sin. So because Hester is forced to show her sin, it becomes a passport that becomes her freedom because she is forced to experience things that most people don't and this through this she is able to forgive herself? Dimmesdale on the other hand...
ReplyDeleteThis entry contains a possible thesis statement for your essay: The main idea in Scarlet Letter is that people must learn how to forgive. (both themselves and other?)