I was thinking of maybe writing about hypocrisy in the Scarlet Letter; more specifically, how hypocrites are doomed to exposure and the psychosomatic effects of that hypocrisy, and the link between the body and mind and how one reflects the other. Dimmesdale is probably the best example of this; although he never really explicitly confesses to his sins, the signs of them begin to appear outwardly through his hand on his heart and the mysterious symbol on his chest. This also occurs with Chillingworth. Although he starts out slightly disfigured, he becomes more and more grotesque and ugly as the story goes on and he is consumed by his need for revenge. He's also a hypocrite because he goes under the guise of a doctor trying to help Dimmesdale, but he's really trying to torture him and prolong his suffering, which shows in Chillingworth's increasing disfigurement. Hester also reveals her inner feelings outwardly. The scarlet letter is a form of this; as the young wife says at the beginning, she feels every stitch of the scarlet letter in her heart as well. But as well as this, her inner feelings of rebellion and nonconformity and the overturn of society are revealed in the forest when she throws away her cap and the scarlet letter. But in society when she is ostracized and judged by the public, it is revealed in her appearance, which seems almost dead. Pearl also could be an example of this: she is exactly the same on the inside and outside without hypocrisy.
I don't really know though; I was also considering writing about sunshine.
I don't really know though; I was also considering writing about sunshine.
I think that you have a good idea. I dont see any specific quotes in this description, so I hope that you have some. Try not to overwhelm your reader with too many "big" words, they might get lost. But other that that, good start!
ReplyDeleteDon't go with sunshine--I think you're better off looking at this 'strange sympathy between body and soul'--which, as you rightly point out, is the physical manifestation of the effects of hypocrisy (the way in which the inner must, sooner or later, be revealed in the outer). Dimmesdale has his 'psychosomatic' scarlet letter on his chest; Chillingworth becomes even more ugly, and even Hester, there in the forest, lets her hair down, and lets the reader see her true womanhood which she's been hiding all along.
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