The Scarlet Letter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale 

recalls 

the story of Adam and Eve because, 

in both cases, 

sin results in expulsion and suffering.

But 

it also results in knowledge. 

The Scarlet Letter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus.  Set in 17th-century Puritan Salem, Massachusetts during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.

In June 1642, in the Puritan town of Salem, a crowd gathers to witness an official punishment. A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet "A", ('A' is a symbol of adultery and affair) on her dress as a sign of shame. Furthermore, she must stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses.

The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve because, in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge – specifically, in knowledge of what it means to be immoral. For Hester, the scarlet letter functions as "her passport into regions where other women dared not tread", leading her to "speculate" about her society and herself more "boldly" than anyone else in New England.

As for Dimmesdale, the "cheating minister", his sin gives him "sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his chest vibrate[s] in unison with theirs." His eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy. The narrative of the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is quite in keeping with the oldest and most fully authorized principles in Christian thought. His "Fall" is a descent from apparent grace to his own damnation; he appears to begin in purity but he ends in corruption. The subtlety is that the minister's belief is his own cheating, convincing himself at every stage of his spiritual pilgrimage that he is saved.

The rose bush, its beauty a striking contrast to all that surrounds it – as later the beautifully embroidered scarlet "A" will be – is held out in part as an invitation to find "some sweet moral blossom" in the ensuing, tragic tale and in part as an image that "the deep heart of nature" (perhaps God) may look more kind on the errant Hester and her child than her Puritan neighbors do. Throughout the work, the nature images contrast with the stark darkness of the Puritans and their systems.

Another theme is the extreme legalism of the Puritans and how Hester chooses not to conform to their rules and beliefs. Hester was rejected by the villagers even though she spent her life doing what she could to help the sick and the poor. Because they rejected her, she spent her life mostly in solitude, and wouldn't go to church.

As a result, she retreats into her own mind and her own thinking. Her thoughts begin to stretch and go beyond what would be considered by the Puritans as safe or even Christian. She still sees her sin, but begins to look on it differently than the villagers ever have. She begins to believe that a person's earthly sins don't necessarily condemn them.

But Hester had been alienated from the Puritan society, both in her physical life and spiritual life.  Her thinking is free from religious bounds and she has established her own different moral standards and beliefs.

The book's immediate and lasting success are due to the way it addresses spiritual and moral issues from a uniquely American standpoint.   It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme.

***

Having just learned,
The Scarlett Letter recalls the story of Adam and Eve's expulsion and suffering.
Believe I'm now able seeing a similar parallel
when
comparing the story of Virgin Mary's immaculate conception to Mary's virginal conception of Jesus.

As Hester approaches the scaffold,

many of the women in the crowd 

are 

angered by her beauty and quiet dignity.

The Immaculate Conception is a dogma of the Catholic Church maintaining that from the moment when she was conceived in the womb, the Blessed Virgin Mary was kept free of original sin,  so that she was from the start filled with the sanctifying grace normally conferred in baptism.

The doctrine of the immaculate conception (Mary being conceived free from original sin) is not to be confused with her virginal conception of her son Jesus. This misunderstanding of the term immaculate conception is frequently met in the mass media. Catholics believe that Mary was not the product of a virginal conception herself but was the daughter of a human father and mother, traditionally known by the names of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne.  In 1677, the Holy See condemned the belief that Mary was virginally conceived, which had been a belief surfacing occasionally since the 4th century. The Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (when Mary was conceived free from original sin) on 8 December, exactly nine months before celebrating the Nativity of Mary. The feast of the Annunciation (which commemorates the virginal conception and the Incarnationof Jesus) is celebrated on 25 March, nine months before Christmas day.

Another misunderstanding is that, by her immaculate conception, Mary did not need a saviour. When defining the dogma in Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX explicitly affirmed that Mary was redeemed in a manner more sublime. He stated that Mary, rather than being cleansed after sin, was completely prevented from contracting Original Sin in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race. In Luke 1:47, Mary proclaims: "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour." This is referred to as Mary's pre-redemption by Christ. Since the Council of Orange II against semi-pelagianism, the Catholic Church has taught that even had man never sinned in the Garden of Eden and was sinless, he would still require God's grace to remain sinless.

***

"For the second baby and any after,

it takes nine months to be born.

The first one... 

can come at any time."

~(MY FATHER: Charles Densen Avery, MD)~

"Once you rule out the impossible;

whatever remains, however unlikely...

must be the truth."

~(Spock)~

"How poetic."

~(Bones McCoy)~

All three scenarios...

1) Adam and Eve's expulsion from The Garden of Eden

2) Mary's virginal conception of her son Jesus

3) Hester Prynne public shaming due to a child conceived through an adulterous affair

share one common theme:

upheavals following in the wakes of an unexpected (unplanned) pregnancies.


"GOD DON'T ASK NOBODIES PERMISSION!"

~(Minnie)~

Oh how I laughed, but should have cried instead, when hearing Minnie's answer.
Just wanting to pull that Jeep over right then and there and give that
POOR, POOR
woman a big hug with a kiss!

Along with her answer,
she gave me this look as if I had just asked her
a
really, really, stupid question.

Micheal Goodloo had rang my doorbell asking me if I would give him and his friend a ride to the bus stop near intersection Clairmont and Buford highway.  They had just missed it from our neighborhood.

Until I had asked her how she would answer that question,
she just sat passively there in the passenger seat next to me;
 having yet to say a word.

Had just notice the light blue jacket she was wearing had a label reading,
 JESUS SAVES:

"While you were waiting on the sidewalk 
for 
Micheal and me, 
did you happen to notice that sign in my yard?"

"Yes I did," 
Minnie answers me back.

"So...  
how would...YOU...answer that question?"

Her answer by far the best one yet.

***
So my interpretation of the
  "immaculate conception"
now becomes...
God's
 reason for having chosen Mary as victim of his rape.

So...
while
still young, still innocent, still a virgin (?)...

 Mary herself,  a supposedly planned pregnancy, must mean she was the loving daughter by loving parents who in spite of having done everything right raising her by the book...

now becoming a daughter pregnant (?) unexpectedly.

As apposed to Mary having been born without sin, the birth of Jesus would have been the extreme opposite end of the spectrum.

*** 
GOD'S 
ALMIGHTY 
IMMACULATE EJACULATION

If one able seeing God in the abstract sense as representing nothing more than the sum of all of us...
kinda makes sense as to why Jesus death would get  interpret
as
"having to died for our sins so we may live."

Having already decided to replace the word
"God" 
at the center of the trinity with
an
X (Y) ?
instead,
an attempted compromise with Christians leaving open the question
as
to who responsible for giving Jesus his "Y" chromosome;
my theory,
as to another possible reason Joseph may have taken a pregnant Mary with him to Bethlehem, becomes even stronger as well as a more likely reason putting a pregnant woman through that kind of stress.

People where just as able,
back then,
counting backwards the number of days a baby needs before being delivered.

Had Mary stayed behind,
assuming it was required of Joseph making that trip to Bethlehem,
having the baby among people familiar with her and Joseph,
instead;
sooner or later someone counting...
 becomes suspicious.

All that's needed,
setting off yet another
"mob mentality" 
trigger.

More likely than not,
 vicious!

Although Wikipedia said nothing about the standard of living Mary enjoyed while still the responsibility of her parents, when compared to rest of villagers;
my current understanding is that of them being a privileged family.

And there is no denying,
as a mob,
we do enjoy seeing a family having made us envious,
falling from grace every now and then.

 Joseph,
whether Jesus son of God or not,
had to get Mary away from familiar eyes for her protection.

Definitely believe the life story of Joseph and his contribution to the life story of Jesus and Mary grossly under appreciated.

His absence from their life story just as important as his presence.

If...
JESUS SON OF GOD,

And...
VIRGIN MARY MOTHER OF GOD,

Then...
GOD  BIGGEST MOTHER FUCKER OF THE ALL.

Then...
Joseph the parental father,
BRAVEST, MOST VIRTUOUS MAN, EVER!

Jesus only getting credit... 

for 
one bringing world's attention ...

to 
his and Mary's life story... 

willing 
ending his life... 

preferring
A BIG BANG...

STANDING BY THEIR COMBINED LIFE STORY!