Southern European beaches are usually pretty warm. Even though when I went to Cascais it wasn't particularly hot; and can be windy along the Atlantic there.
The Customs House part is a bit of a slog, but he wanted to write a frame story. I wonder too, if he was explaining to the Victorian reader why he was going to be so hard on the Puritans- so this is his explanation about the story beforehand. I thought about this when I read it this time.
I've started the main portion of the book. So far, quite readable. One thing that I noticed was Hawthorne's mention of sumptuary laws. I had heard of them, but didn't realize that they were imposed in New England. Maybe that accounts (in part) for the tradition of plain style in New England.
I think too, the Puritans were not like the Quakers. The Quakers wanted everyone to be equal, while the Puritans were into retaining hierarchy, so if you were well off, you could have red and green highly embroidered underwear (what I recently read on a website about the Puritans).
Thanks very much for the article about Rose Hawthorne Lathrop. It was really interesting. It sounds like she embodied the ideals her father wrote about, actually.
It is economic, but also social. Like if you were not of a certain class you would not be allowed to wear certain things so as not to embarrass someone who might mistake you for a gentleman or lady. The sumptuary laws go way back to the Middle Ages. It didn't matter if you had made a lot of money, if you are not a head honcho, you can't wear silver buckles on your shoes, for example. It is kind of like keeping people in their place. Quakers were different, everyone wore the same thing, no matter how rich or poor you were. They were more about equality than the Puritans.
I didn't know that. I read a nonfiction book about the beginnings of Quakerism, it was written by a Quaker- so favorably biased, but I was very impressed by their desire to help prisoners and the ideas of equality. Many of the abolitionists in the US were Quakers. I don't know what their theology is, but their social consciousness is commendable. That is too bad about the woman being executed. I knew Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were drummed out of Massachusetts for being an Antinomian and a Baptist. I guess the Puritans were easier on Antinomians and Baptists.
Hey, you're way ahead of me. I haven't progressed as quickly. Don't feel bad you didn't read it sooner. Be glad that you are reading it now. I still haven't read some of the classics and am kind of chagrined I spent so much of my reading life on books that are not that great.
I'm not as far along. I just finished chapter four- and realized I felt the same about Roger's feelings toward Hester as I did in high school. He doesn't blame her at all, he blames himself and the unknown Dimmesdale (I mean, unknown to him). His revenge is toward Dimmesdale and not Hester, which floored me when I was in high school and still impresses me.
It was cowardly of Dimmesdale not to come forward until the end. Hawthorne does a good job showing the psychological torture a minister (especially of that time) would have in bearing such a secret. I recall from attempting to read (but couldn't finish) Steven King's Under the Dome that he portrays a pastor in mental torment for misdeeds. Like Dimmesdale, he practices self-flagellation as penance.
Self flagellation is not good enough, in my opinion. He lets Hester bear it all, and even tries to get her to name him on the scaffold because he is too cowardly to do it himself.
That's true. Pitying himself and self-flagellation isn't good enough. He is a beta-male.
Lol, I don't generally think in terms of "alpha" and "beta" males. It just seemed he took the easy way out, and perhaps soothed his conscience with his self flagellation. I'm tough on Dimmesdale, I know. Perhaps I expect more from preachers.That's true. Pitying himself and self-flagellation isn't good enough. He is a beta-male.
It is interesting that Hester as the woman is portrayed as the emotionally stronger of the two. I especially liked this part in describing Hester, "She never battled with the public, but submitted uncomplainingly to its worst usage; she made no claim upon it in requital for what she suffered; she did not weigh upon its sympathies." Maybe it's cynical, but that seems like a good philosophy to adopt.
