The Scarlet Letter (1990 Version)

The Puritan era in American history left a rich and complex legacy that continues to this day. The Puritan ethic included a provision regarding hard work as a way of life and as proof of dedication to God that has been seen as one of the primary reasons for American business success, and the term is still used today to refer to the work ethic which infuses manufacturing, business, and other sectors in the American economy. The other arm of Puritanism that had great power was a form of asceticism and prudishness supposedly embodied in the New England idea of "banned in Boston," for instance. The legacy of Puritanism also crated a good deal of guilt over sins real and imagined, and the excesses of the Puritans, seen in the Salem witch trials, would become an important literary theme in writers like Nathaniel Hawthorne. Puritanism

. . .
e different as well, though the filmmakers seem to think they have only made minor changes. In the novel, the three scaffold scenes are key and indicate the slowly growing ability of Dimmesdale to face his sin and expiate it through confession. His delay takes a terrible toll on him, of course, ending with the fleeting glimpse of what may be a stigmata of a scarlet A on his chest. The strain on his is terrible and leads to his death. For the filmmakers, though, a modern sensibility has to be instilled, and no one dies from guilt, from sin, or specifically from a sin of the flesh. The movie veers toward a "happy" ending that makes no sense at all and that would never be possible in the sort of society Hawthorne depicted and that indeed the society of New England in the Puritan era was. The film is thus true neither to literature nor to history. The lovers indeed cavort in private and in a river as if they had no shame at all about what they were doing, and yet this is impossible given the consequences and given their upbringing in Puritan society. Indeed, it makes a mockery of the religiosity of Dimmesdale. The character of Hester is changed the most from the novel to the film. The film begins with her arrival in America
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hester Prynne, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Hawthorne Hester's, England Puritan, Hawthorne Chillingworth's, Scarlet Letter, Hester Chillingworth, Hawthorne Puritanism, Chillingworth Hester, scarlet letter, , sin sin, nathaniel hawthorne, puritan era, sin committed, hester prynne, original story, puritan society,
Approximate Word count = 1466
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

More Essays on The Scarlet Letter (1990 Version)