The Scarlet Letter Movie Vs Book

Hawthorne, in lines 63 to 66, compares Dimmesdale to a poor pilgrim, ready to faint anytime soon, who sees a glimpse of “human affection and sympathy, a new life . . . in exchange for the heavy doom which he was now expiating.” The metaphor here perfectly summarizes what Dimmesdale felt when he saw Hester Prynne. He, the tormented pilgrim, desperately longs for a new life upon seeing Hester, the human affection and a true life. Another metaphor Hawthorne uses is seen in lines 67 to 77, associating Dimmesdale’s soul to a citadel with a ruined wall because of a “breach which guilt has once made into the human soul.” This extended metaphor of the effects of sin and the brokenness and vulnerability of Dimmesdale further expounds on how Dimmesdale’s fragile mental state could only further

The novel The Scarlet Letter and the film Chicago have many similarities and differences. Within time the values of a person have changed and not in all cases do things get serious. Time periods have changed and now adultery is not as serious as it used to be. In the 1850’s and 1920’s nothing was easy to get away with at all.

I pose a simple response, why must Dimmesdale die? Why couldn't he and Hester escape to happiness after Dimmesdale has revealed all? Quite a few people would claim that great art is inherently depressing; they characterize happiness as too vulgar, too convenient, and too unrealistic. For this work, such persons would cite the tragic end as driving home Hester's nature, the nature of human paradox, human depression, the “human condition.” There exists a disease amongst much of the literary community, and much of the philosophical/theological one (epitomized in the very Puritan society described), that the “human condition” means suffering, and that, whether the result of original sin, Freudian dichotomy, or simple tradition, sin defines “human nature”. Personally, I find this conclusion, which Hawthorne echoes (with some reluctance), hollow and depressing. Many would call happy endings a cop-out which fails to reflect reality, but I find the tragic ending just a cop-out from further discussion of the

The third most important scene, which has a great impact in The Scarlet Letter is when Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the forest and talk about making plans to run away from Boston and live together. Dimmesdale is getting very weak from his own guilt and Hester thinks it is best for them to just go away from everything. Also Dimmesdale is noticing that Pearl is starting to resemble him and people will soon start finding out. Hester shows a change in character when she decides to take off her scarlet letter, throw it across the forest, and take off her head cap to let down her beautiful hair once more. It has not been since the beginning of the novel since Hester has had her hair down and showing her beauty on the scaffold. Meanwhile, Pearl is getting upset and throwing a fit towards Hester because she does not recognize her mother without her hair up and the Scarlet Letter, since it has been there her whole life. She refuses to do anything her mother says until she puts the scarlet letter back onto her bosom. “Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into

Throughout the novel of the Scarlet letter, Hawthorne expresses many themes such as guilt, isolation, and pride all within the characters. Although, many of the same characters share the same themes with each other. In my opinion, Dimmesdale, clearly shows the most guilt within himself about Hester. He constantly struggles with the fact that he’s the father of her child, and what gravely sin he has committed. With his battle of himself, including his cowardice, he punishes himself over his guilty consciences about Hester. He battles with the fact that he is a known Reverend and high up in the community: and knows that people will leave, punish, and lose all respect for him. Going back to his guilt with himself, he severely punishes himself as shown in chapter 11.

Dimmesdale longs to confess his sin, but he cannot bring himself to do it. Dimmesdale has visions and delusions and begins to think falsely about the world. Dimmesdale feels as if there is a scarlet letter on his chest. When Dimmesdale brings himself to the platform where Hester was punished, Hester and Pearl join him. Pearl asks him if he will stand with them on the platform and he tells her on judgement day that he will. After time passes, people begin to think differently about Hester and the scarlet letter. They now consider the letter to be a sign of her strength. When Hester meets again with Roger Chillingworth she tells him that she must reveal the secret for the good of Mr. Dimmesdale. Hester wants Chillingworth to stop the evil practices

   While allegory is an explicit and tempting reading of Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, I see in this novel also the potential of a psychological reading, interpreting it as a search for one’s own self. Both Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne goes through this process and finally succeeded in finding the duality of one's personality, and the impossibility of complementing the split between individual and community identity. However, they were compelled to take different paths on this journey, and they react quite differently when they finally arrive at the conclusion of this search.

...ye that have loved me!—ye that have deemed me holy!—behold me here, the one sinner of the world! At last!—at last!" (p.239) At this moment Dimmesdale falls to the ground and there he dies having finally cleared his conscience. Dimmesdale is a character that changes quite a bit in the novel; perhaps even more than Prynne. He is also persecuted and tempted. He also must find a way to live day to day with an enormous guilt that leads to his death. It is a tremendous oversight to not see that he truly is a protagonist in "The Scarlet Letter" and to not see that he is just as important of a character as Hester Prynne.

These two characters in The Scarlet Letter are prime instances in illustrating the sorrow and frailty of humanity. Hawthorne is able to construct this “tale of human frailty and sorrow” through the examples of Hester and Dimmesdale, which show that allow human, by nature, cannot resist temptations, and this inability to resist enticements leads to natural

Hawthorne starts the beginning of the story by putting Hester through a sense of isolation when she is sent off by her husband to live in Boston who will join her later although it takes longer than planned. While there, she commits adultery with the minister. “Hester may have violated the seventh commandment, but she emerges as a free spirit who has integrated her sexual life into her being and now Dimmesdale notwithstanding, lives a rather Christ-like life in public.” (Erdirich 5) Unlike Dimmesdale, who keeps his identity as her lover a secret, Hester has to walk around with the guilt of their child and a scarlet

Demi Moore's portrayal of Hester in the movie The Scarlet Letter proved her worth as a feminist actress, which led her to other, more modern female empowerment roles ranging from Striptease to GI Jane.  But in the moviemakers 'attempt to give the story what they might think is a little modern flavor, they barbarously misconstrued the theme, and thus the importance, of a timeless story.  In the novel, there can be little doubt that Hester is a strong person, but the movie made her out to be a martyr for women's rights.  The female empowerment theme of the movie also inevitably led to the characterization of Christians and their ethics as tyrannical and oppressive because the feminist

In the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Dimmesdale announces many ideas throughout the chapters. He involves his regret, remorse, and other feeling he obtains throughout the story in a various amounts of quotations. Hawthorne illustrates Dimmesdale as a a very independant person who tries to accomplish many things but comes across many obstacles like Hester’s disobedience, the persona perceived of him by the townspeople, and the guilt he carries with him all throughout the story. In chapter 17 of the novel Hester and Dimmesdale encounter each other after seven years of of separation. Dimmesdale implies “What can a ruined soul, like mine, effect towards the redemption of other souls- or a polluted soul, towards their purification?”

Hester states that she knows she committed a sin and it makes her stronger during the story, but Dimmesdale hides the fact and keeps to himself, which makes him weaker, later on, dying after a speech. Hester begins to acknowledge that the scarlet letter is predicted to mean ‘Able’, which makes her stronger as a woman and towards other people. Dimmesdale whips himself and buries the fact that he has sinned, causing him to become weaker later on. The theme of the novel shows the different ways to handle things that affect lives, and sets an example of other people who want to learn how to confess and recognize their own sins or

I am a junior at Francis W. Parker in Chicago and I am writing to you today to discuss your production of “The Scarlet Letter”. In my American Literature class, we have just read “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. After completely finishing the book, we decided to watch the final scenes of your film version. After watching a few minutes of your film, I already have a lot of questions to ask you regarding why you decided to change the events of the story. My first question to you is, why did you decide to have Roger Chillingworth kill himself? In the book, Chillingworth does not hang himself and dies a natural death. What did you think suicide would bring to the movie? Hester, Pearl, and Chillingworth all had a connection and by having Chillingworth kill himself, that connection quickly

Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, behaves in an unforgivable, yet understandable manner. When Hester Prynne is in prison for having an affair, proven by the resulting child, Dimmesdale does not confess to his sin nor stand with Hester during her shameful punishment. Throughout the novel, Dimmesdale is being torn apart by the gnawing guilt growing inside of him while Hester is constantly a scornful object in the public’s eye.