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The Scarlet Letter (1990 Version)

The recent film version of The Scarlet Letter is notable more for what it adds to the original story than for what it leaves out, but overall it is a very poor reflection of the intent of the novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne and appears simply to misunderstand the meaning of the novel at key points. In many ways, the film stands as a stereotype of a long-standing belief that when a well-known novel is made by Hollywood, the first thing the filmmakers do is try to dress up the plot with a lot of sex and violence, and that is precisely what has been done here. The result is a film that is not attracting any audience at all and that satisfies no one.

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 also involved a good deal of hypocrisy and self-righteousness against which the new American society would rebel.

Hester Prynne seems at first to be a direct challenge to the Puritan view given that she has broken her marriage vows and born a child out of wedlock, and yet in the context of the novel she comes to embody the underlying principles of the Puritans more thoroughly than many in the community. Her child becomes both her torment and her joy, much...

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The Scarlet Letter (1990 Version). (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 08:02, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702446.html