Oct 22, 2009

The Scarlet Letter          by Nathaniel Hawthorne

My comments:

Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in 1850, the Scarlet Letter is a romance set in the years from 1642 to 1649, when Puritans were fighting the English civil war over the ultimate meaning of England, and Puritans in the Boston of Hawthorne's story were attempting to label Hester Prynne.

Hester Prynne, worn the letter A on her chest for having committed adultery crime for years. Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale, the reverend lover, was a minister representing a great fame in local community. Roger Chillingworth, is Hester’s missing husband, who came to Boston and with intention to revenge by claiming himself a medicine businessman. And the Pearl, the daughter by Hester Prynne and dimmesdale, was a lovely but naughty child who inherited willfulness and impish features from his father. The clue of the story is the sinful love and revenge among the 3 main characters. And during the process of hiding the unaccepted love, enduring the hug agony brought by being unable to get together with lovers and abuse from others, and praying for forgiving their crime and revenge, etc., their characteristics are fully presented in the book.

The female character, Hester, is an unlucky woman who marries to an ugly and elder man who has been proved to be dead on the sea, and she has to stand the pain brought by him. However, in my eyes, she is a great woman who is brave enough to pursue and stick to her true love with strong will power. Her action reflects that she is the embodiment of wisdom and courage.

The minister, Mr. Arthur Dimmesdale, though he once retreat his love with Hester and felt guilty in order to comfort the sin in his heart, he chose to persist in true love by dating, planning of flee from this place and finally, giving a public speech by admitting that he is the lover of Hester handing in hand.

Roger Chillingworth, the one who tortures Hester and Dimmesdale, is Hester’ husband in legal, also, a criminal neglecting Hester’ beauty and feelings before coming to Europe.

As the above analysis suggest, in all, the novel is a tragic story about sin, knowledge, and the human condition at that time. Based on the society situation, the realistic contamination on people’ ideology and behaviors by the contemporary church, social systems and moral ethics have been uncovered by the author in detail.