Hester Prynne is the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter . She is portrayed as a woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature". [1]
A resident of Colonial America, Hester is sent ahead to the "New World" by her husband, who later assumes the name of Roger Chillingworth, as he has some business to finish before he can join her. After he is shipwrecked and captured by Native Americans and presumed dead, Hester continues to live her life as a seamstress in the town. She looks to the local pastor Arthur Dimmesdale for comfort; somewhere along the way passion emerges, culminating in the conception and subsequent birth of their child, Pearl. Because Hester has no husband with her, she is imprisoned, convicted of the crime of adultery, and sentenced to be forced to wear a prominent scarlet letter 'A' for the rest of her life.
Though scorned by her fellow citizens, Hester continues to lead a relatively uneventful life. Shortly after the birth of the child and her punishment, Hester's husband reappears and demands that she tell him the name of the child's father. Hester refuses but swears not to reveal the fact that Chillingworth is her husband to the town folk. Hester continues living her life as a seamstress, providing for herself and her child.
Novelist John Updike said of Prynne:
She's such an arresting and slightly ambiguous figure. She's a funny mix of a truly liberated, defiantly sexual woman, but in the end a woman who accepts the penance that society imposed on her. And I don't know, I suppose she's an epitome of female predicaments. ... She is a mythic version of every woman's attempt to integrate her sexuality with societal demands. [1]
One analyst wrote:
All the contradictions of Hester Prynne – guilt and honesty, sin and holiness, sex and chastity – make her an enduring heroine of American literature. She is flawed, complex, and above all fertile. The idea of Hester Prynne, the good woman gone bad, is a cultural meme that recurs again and again – perhaps because we as a culture are still trying to figure out who Hester really is and how we feel about her. [1]
According to popular tradition, the gravestone of Elizabeth Pain in Boston's King's Chapel Burying Ground was the inspiration for Hester Prynne's grave. [2] Scholar Laurie Rozakis has argued that an alternate or additional source for the story may be Hester Craford, a woman flogged for fornication with John Wedg. [3] Another story claims that Hester was modeled after Mary Bachiler Turner (fourth wife of well-known Colonial minister Stephen Bachiler) whose life in colonial Maine bore a striking resemblance to Hester's tale. [4] [5] Boewe and Murphey (1960) posit that Hester Prynne is not based on any particular person but is a composite character based on elements and aspects of the lives of women in similar circumstances in the society. [6] But Berson (2013) adds that there was no law requiring a scarlet letter. [7]
Hawthorne chose his characters' names carefully, so that symbolism could be understood by the careful reader. Her given name Hester is of Greek origin and means "star". [8] [9] The character of Hester is immersed in her community by her surname Prynne, [10] that of the famous Puritan leader and pamphleteer, William Prynne. [9]
In various film adaptations of the novel, Prynne has been portrayed by actresses such as Lillian Gish, Sommer Parker, Meg Foster, Mary Martin, Sybil Thorndike, Senta Berger, and Demi Moore. [11] In the cult television series Twin Peaks the name was also adopted as a pseudonym by the character Audrey Horne. Another literary figure using the surname Prynne is a woman who had an adulterous relationship with a pastor in the novel A Month of Sundays by John Updike, part of his trilogy of novels based on characters in The Scarlet Letter. [1] In the musical The Music Man , Harold Hill refers to Hester Prynne in the song "Sadder but Wiser Girl". He sings that he wants a girl "with a touch of sin", remarking "I hope, and I pray, for a Hester to win just one more 'A'." [12]
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter with a man to whom she is not married and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. As punishment, she must wear a scarlet letter 'A'. Containing a number of religious and historic allusions, the book explores themes of legalism, sin and guilt.
The Scarlet Letter is a 1995 American romantic historical drama film directed by Roland Joffé. Adapted from Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel of the same name, it stars Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall. The film met with overwhelmingly negative reviews. It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards, winning "Worst Remake or Sequel", and has garnered a legacy as one of the worst films ever made.
Roger Chillingworth is a fictional character and primary antagonist in the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He is an English scholar who moves to the New World after his wife, Hester Prynne.
Arthur Dimmesdale is a fictional character in the 1850 romance The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A Puritan minister, he has fathered an illegitimate child, Pearl, with Hester Prynne and considers himself unable to reveal his sin.
The Scarlet Letter is a 1973 period drama film directed by Wim Wenders, based on Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel of the same name. The West German-Spanish co-production stars Senta Berger as Hester Prynne, Lou Castel as Reverend Dimmesdale, and Hans Christian Blech as Chillingworth.
The Scarlet Letter is a 1979 miniseries based on the 1850 novel of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne: it aired on WGBH from March 3, 1979 to March 24, 1979. The series is four episodes long, 60 minutes each. Part 2 won the 1979 Emmy Award for Outstanding Video Tape Editing for a Limited Series or Special for film editors Ken Denisoff, Janet McFadden, and Tucker Wiard.
Roger's Version is a 1986 novel by American writer John Updike.
The Scarlet Letter is a 1926 American silent drama film based on the 1850 novel of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne and directed by Swedish filmmaker Victor Sjöström. Prints of the film survive in the MGM/United Artists film archives and the UCLA Film and Television Archive. The film is now considered the best film adaptation of Hawthorne's novel.
Laurie Rozakis is a writer of the Complete Idiot's books and an expert on writing, grammar, usage, test preparation, and coaching writers. She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Hofstra University in 1973; her Master of Arts from Hofstra in 1975; and her PhD from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1984.
Elizabeth Pain, sometimes spelled Elizabeth Paine or Elisabeth Payne, was a settler in colonial Boston who was brought to trial after the death of her child. She was acquitted of the murder charge but found guilty of negligence, fined, and flogged. According to some writers and by popular tradition, aspects of Pain's life and her gravestone are considered an inspiration for the life and grave of character Hester Prynne in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Fucking A is a play written by American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. It was produced by DiverseWorks and Infernal Bridegroom Productions and premiered in Houston, Texas on February 24, 2000.
The Scarlet Letter (1911) is a silent drama motion picture short starring King Baggot, Lucille Young, and William Robert Daly.
The Scarlet Letter is a 1934 American film directed by Robert G. Vignola and based on the 1850 novel of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Ann Hibbins was a woman executed for witchcraft in Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on June 19, 1656. Her death by hanging was the third for witchcraft in Boston and predated the Salem witch trials of 1692. Hibbins was later fictionalized in Nathaniel Hawthorne's famous novel The Scarlet Letter. A wealthy widow, Hibbins was the sister-in-law by marriage to Massachusetts governor Richard Bellingham. Her sentence was handed down by Governor John Endicott.
The Scarlet Letter is a 1922 British silent drama film directed by Challis Sanderson and starring Sybil Thorndike, Tony Fraser and Dick Webb. It is an adaptation of the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The Scarlet Letter is a lost 1908 silent American short film, directed by Sidney Olcott. It was based on the 1850 novel of the same name by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The screenplay was written by Gene Gauntier, who also played the character Hester Prynne. The film was produced by Kalem Company.
I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem is a French novel by Maryse Condé published in 1986. It won the French Grand Prix award for women's literature.
The Scarlet Letter is a 2008 opera by Lori Laitman to a libretto by David Mason based on the 1850 novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The opera was given a professional premiere in 2016 by Opera Colorado.
The Scarlet Letter is an American silent drama film distributed by Fox Film Corporation and based upon the 1850 eponymous novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, with some additional plot added taking place before the events of the novel. It was written and directed by Carl Harbaugh. An incomplete print of the film in 1 reel exists. The film used the novel's text to create subtitles, and in 1917 The Moving Picture World called it "as nearly flawless as it is humanly possible for it to be."
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