Scarlet letter description. Nathaniel Hawthorne - The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter A novel (1850) The introductory essay to the novel tells about the author's hometown of Salem, about his ancestors - fanatical Puritans, about working in the Salem customs office and about the people he had to face there.

"Neither the front door nor the back door of the customs house leads to paradise," and service in this institution does not contribute to the flowering of good inclinations in people. One day, rummaging through papers piled in a heap in a huge room on the third floor of the customs house, the author found the manuscript of a certain Jonathan Pugh, who died eighty years ago. It turned out to be a biography of Esther Prien, who lived at the end of the 17th century. A red rag was kept with the papers, upon closer examination, the letter “A” amazingly embroidered with colored threads appeared, and when the author put it to his chest, it seemed to him that he felt a burn. Dismissed from work after the victory of the Whigs, the author returned to literary pursuits, and here the work of Mr. Pew was very useful to him.

So, Esther Prin comes out of a Boston prison with a baby in her arms. She is wearing a beautiful dress that she made for herself in prison, and on her chest is a scarlet embroidery in the form of the letter "A" - the first letter of the word Adulteress (adulteress). Everyone around condemns Esther's behavior and her defiant outfit. She is led to the marketplace to the platform, where she will have to stand until one in the afternoon under the hostile gaze of the crowd - such a punishment was passed by the court for her sin and refusal to name the father of her newborn daughter.

Standing at the pillory, Esther recalls her past life, childhood in old England, a middle-aged, hunched scientist, with whom she tied her fate. Looking around the crowd, she notices a man in the back rows, and he immediately takes possession of her thoughts. This man, like her husband, is not young, he has the penetrating gaze of an explorer and the bent back of an indefatigable worker. He asks those around him about who she is. They are surprised that he has never heard of her. But the man explains that he is not from here, he spent a long time in slavery to the pagans, and now finally some Indian brought him to Boston to get a ransom. He is told that Esther Prin is the wife of an English scientist who has decided to move to New England. He sent his wife ahead, while he stayed in Europe. In two years of living in Boston, Esther had not received a single word from him and decided that he was probably dead. The court took into account the mitigating circumstance and did not condemn the fallen woman to death, but only sentenced her to stand for three hours on the platform at the pillory and wear a badge of dishonor on her chest for the rest of her life. Everyone is outraged that she did not name the accomplice of sin. A strange Boston priest, John Wilson, persuades Esther to reveal the name of the seducer, after which the young pastor Dimsdale, whose parishioner she was, addresses her in a voice choked with excitement. But the young woman is stubbornly silent, holding the child tightly to her chest.

When Esther returns to prison, the same stranger whom she saw in the square comes to her.

In fact, this is her husband, a doctor, he now calls himself Roger Chillingworth.

First of all, he calms the crying child, then he gives medicine to Esther.

She is afraid that he will poison her, but the doctor promises not to take revenge on either the young woman or the baby. It was too arrogant of him to marry a beautiful young girl and expect her to return feelings. Esther was always honest with him and never pretended to love him. They both caused, in fact, harm to each other and now quits. Chillingworth makes her swear that she will not reveal to anyone his real name and her relationship with him. Let everyone believe that her husband is dead. He decides at all costs to find out with whom Esther has sinned, and take revenge on her lover.

After leaving prison, Esther settles in an abandoned house on the outskirts of Boston and earns a living by needlework.

She is such a skilled embroiderer that she has no end to customers. Her daughter Pearl grows up beautiful, but has an ardent, changeable disposition, so Esther is not easy with her. Pearl doesn't want to obey any rules, any laws. The scarlet letter on her mother's chest was forever engraved in her memory.

The stamp of rejection lies on the girl: she is not like other children, she does not play with them. Noticing the girl's oddities and desperate to find out who her father is, some townspeople consider the baby a devilish offspring. Esther never parted with her daughter and takes her everywhere with her. One day they come to the governor to give him a pair of ceremonial embroidered gloves. The Governor is not at home, and they are waiting for him in the garden. The Governor returns with Priests Wilson and Dimsdale.

On the way, they talked about the fact that Pearl is a child of sin, therefore, she should have been taken from her mother and transferred to other hands. When they report this to Esther, she will never agree to give up her daughter. Pastor Wilson decides to find out if Esther is raising her as a Christian. Pearl, who knows even more than her age is supposed to, becomes stubborn and, when asked who created her, replies that her mother found her in a rose bush at the prison door. The pious gentlemen are horrified: the girl is already three years old, and she does not know about God.

His knowledge of medicine and piety earned Chillingworth the respect of the people of Boston. Shortly after his arrival, he chose the Reverend Dimmesdale as his spiritual father. All parishioners highly revered the young theologian and were concerned about his health, which had deteriorated sharply in recent years. People saw in the arrival of a skilled doctor the finger of Providence and insisted that Mr. Dimsdale turn to him for help.

As a result, the young priest and the old doctor became friends, and then even settled together. Chillingworth, who stubbornly tries to reveal the secret of Esther, is increasingly falling under the power of one single feeling - revenge. Feeling the ardent nature in the young priest, he wants to penetrate into the hidden depths of his soul, and for this he stops at nothing.

Chillingworth constantly provokes Dimsdale to tell him about unrepentant sinners. He claims that the cause of Dimsdale's bodily ailment is a mental wound, and persuades the priest to reveal to him, the doctor, the cause of his suffering. Dimsdale exclaims: "Who are you to<...>stand between the sufferer and the Lord?" But one day the young priest falls asleep soundly in the armchair during the day and does not wake up even when Chillingworth enters the room.

The old man comes up to him, puts his hand on the patient's chest, unbuttons the clothes that Dimsdale never took off in the presence of a doctor. Chillingworth triumphs - "this is how Satan behaves when he is convinced that a precious human soul is lost to heaven and won to hell."

One night, Dimsdale goes to the marketplace and stands at the pillory. At dawn, Esther Prin and Pearl pass by. The priest calls to them, they rise to the platform and stand next to him. The dark sky suddenly lights up - most likely, it was a meteor.

And then they notice, not far from the platform, Chillingworth, who is looking at them intently. Dimmesdale tells Esther that he feels unspeakable horror of this man, but Esther, bound by an oath, does not reveal to him the secrets of Chillingworth.

The years go by. Pearl is seven years old. Esther's impeccable behavior and her selfless help to those in need lead to the fact that the inhabitants of the town begin to treat her with a kind of respect. Even the scarlet letter from now on seems to them a symbol not of sin, but of inner strength.

Esther decides to reveal to Dimsdale that Chillingworth is her husband. She is looking for a meeting with the priest. Finally accidentally meets him in the forest. Dimmesdale tells her how he suffers because everyone thinks he is pure and blameless, while he has stained himself with unrighteous behavior. He is surrounded by lies, emptiness. Esther reveals to him who is hiding under the name of Chillingworth. Dimsdale is furious: through the fault of Esther, he "uncovered his feeble criminal soul before the gaze of one who secretly mocked her." But he forgives Esther. Both of them believe that Chillingworth's sin is even worse than their sin: he encroached on the shrine - on the human soul. They understand: Chillingworth is plotting new intrigues. Esther suggests Dimsdale run away and start a new life. Esther arranges with the skipper of a ship sailing to Bristol that he will take on board two adults and a child.

The ship is due to sail in three days, and Dimsdale is going to give a sermon the day before. But he feels like his mind is going haywire. Chillingworth offers to help him, Dimsdale refuses. The people gather in the marketplace to hear Deemsdale preach. Esther meets the skipper of a Bristol ship in the crowd, and he informs her that Chillingworth is also sailing with them. She sees at the other end of Chillingworth Square. He smiles wickedly at her. Dimsdale delivers a brilliant sermon. The festive procession begins. Dimsdale decides to repent before the people. Chillingworth understands that this will ease the suffering of the sufferer, but the victim will now elude him, he begs not to bring disgrace to his holy dignity. Dimsdale asks Esther to help him up the platform. He stands at the pillory and repents of his sin before the people. He then rips off the priest's clothes, revealing his chest. His gaze fades, he dies, praising the Almighty.

After Dimsdale's death, Chillingworth's life became meaningless. He immediately became decrepit, and less than a year later he died. He bequeathed all his vast fortune to little Pearl. After the death of the old doctor, the woman and her daughter disappeared. And Esther's story has become a legend.

After many years, Esther returned again, voluntarily donning the emblem of shame.

She lives alone in her old house on the outskirts of Boston. Pearl, apparently, happily married, remembered her mother, wrote to her, sent gifts and wanted her to live with her. But Esther believed that redemption must come. When she died, she was buried next to Pastor Dimsdale, but their graves were at a distance from each other, as if after death the ashes of these two people should not have mixed.

"Scarlet Letter"(English) The Scarlet Letter listen)) is a magnum opus by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Published in Boston in 1850 and has since been considered one of the cornerstones of American literature. It was the first American novel to have a wide resonance in Europe. A Russian translation appeared in 1856 under the title "Red Letter".

Plot

The main character - Esther Prin - in the absence of her husband conceived and gave birth to a girl. Since it is not known whether her husband is alive, the sanctimonious townspeople subject her to a relatively light demonstrative punishment for possible adultery - she is tied to a pillory and is obliged to wear the letter “A” embroidered with scarlet threads on her clothes all her life (short for “adultery”).

The Scarlet Letter was first filmed in 1908. Among the numerous film versions of the silent film era, the 1926 film, starring Lillian Gish, stands out. The 1995 Hollywood film starred Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall. Of the masters of independent cinema, Wim Wenders turned to The Scarlet Letter.

The novel also influenced some musical groups. So, for example, the group "Curtiss A" has an album called "A Scarlet Letter". Cult bands such as Nirvana, Metallica and Mudvayne wrote compositions that are somehow related to the novel: "Old Age", "The Thorn Within", "Scarlet Letters".

Literature

• Michael J. Colacurcio. New Essays on The Scarlet Letter. CUP Archive, 1985.
• David B. Kesterson. Critical Essays on Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. G.K. Hall, 1988.
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Study Guide for The Scarlet Letter with Related Readings (Glencoe Literature Library). Woodland Hills, CA: Glencoe Mcgraw Hill, 201. ISBN 0-02-817973-0.
• 100 Forbidden Books: A Censored History of World Literature - Yekaterinburg: Ultra. Culture, 2008, ISBN 978-5-9681-0120-4

Links

• Quotes from the book "The Scarlet Letter" (Russian)
• The history of the creation of the book, a critical essay, illustrations for the novel (Russian)

Categories:

• Literary works alphabetically
• Novels in English
• American novels
• Novels of 1850
• Historical novels

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See what the "Scarlet Letter" is in other dictionaries:

- (The Scarlet Letter) USA, 1995, 135 min. Historical film, adventure film. Screen adaptation of the historical novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne about the forbidden love of a priest and a married woman in the year 1666 from the Nativity of Christ in New England. Cinema Encyclopedia

The Scarlet Letter (film, 1908) USA The Scarlet Letter (film, 1911) USA The Scarlet Letter (film, 1913) USA The Scarlet Letter (film, 1917) USA The Scarlet Letter (film, 1926) USA The Scarlet Letter (film, 1934) USA The Scarlet Letter (film, 1973) ... ... Wikipedia

The Scarlet Letter (film, 1972) Other films with the same or similar title: see The Scarlet Letter (film). Scarlet letter Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe ... Wikipedia

Other films with the same or similar title: see The Scarlet Letter (film). The Scarlet Letter Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe Genre Romance Director Wim Wenders ... Wikipedia

Nathaniel Hawthorne

© Hemiro Ltd, Russian edition, 2014

© Book Club "Family Leisure Club", translation and artwork, 2014

No part of this publication may be copied or reproduced in any form without the written permission of the publisher.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is little known to our reader, and yet he is one of the recognized masters of American literature. Hawthorne wrote several novels, as well as many mystical and romantic stories and children's stories.

The future writer was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, in the family of a sea captain. His ancestors were zealous Puritans who belonged to one of the first waves of immigrants to the American continent. They were distinguished by extreme strictness of morals, prudence and thrift. Puritans-Calvinists had a negative attitude towards festivities and entertainment, and violations of morality were considered as criminal offenses. It was the Puritan colonists who, at the end of the seventeenth century, staged the famous Salem trial of women accused of witchcraft, which ended in the mass execution of "witches". Among the judges who delivered the guilty verdict was an ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The gloomy legacy of these events weighed heavily on the future writer all his life. Since childhood, he was withdrawn and unsociable. The early death of his father doomed the family to a poor, reclusive existence. After graduating from college, Hawthorne lived in seclusion in his native Salem, working on his first works, in which the theme of guilt for old sins, including the deeds of ancestors, occupied a prominent place. After the unsuccessful publication of his first novel, he published a collection of short stories that was well received and even praised by the classics of American literature, Henry Longfellow and Edgar Allan Poe.

At the same time, Hawthorne became interested in various philosophical teachings and even joined in 1841 the commune of the Fourierist-Utopian Socialists, whose members sought to combine physical labor with spiritual culture. The commune guaranteed housing, livelihoods, free education and medical care to each member. For several months, Hawthorne worked as a simple farmer, and in the evenings participated in conversations on philosophical and moral topics, but soon became disillusioned with the ideas of the Communards and left the community.

Hawthorne was forced to go to the service of a customs officer, looking for part-time work in the literary field. He planned to publish a collection of "Old Legends", for which some stories and a general introductory essay "Customs" were already ready. For this collection, Hawthorne decided to write a "long story" or tale of life in colonial Boston. This is how the novel "The Scarlet Letter" appeared, which the writer created in less than six months. Upon publication in 1850, the novel became a bestseller and has since been considered one of the cornerstones of American literature. It was the first of the American novels, which caused a wide resonance in Europe. The Scarlet Letter is a real artistic discovery, a novel not about dry historical facts, but about tragic and exciting human destinies.

A year after the successful publication of The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne published The House of Seven Spires, a novel about the age-old feud between two American families that led to their decline. This work became the second most popular among the literary heritage of Hawthorne.

However, Hawthorne, along with fame, was attacked. The inhabitants of Salem, who retained the strict Puritan mores of their ancestors, were so enraged by the novel that Hawthorne had to take the family to Berkshire. Subsequently, he accepted the post of American consul in Liverpool and lived in Europe, where the attitude towards his work was much more democratic. Hawthorne also visited Italy, Scotland and, returning to America, found the very height of the civil war. His friend Franklin Pierce was declared a traitor, and a new book dedicated to him brought Hawthorne a lot of trouble. The last years the writer spent in complete seclusion.

The works of Nathaniel Hawthorne were so successful that already in 1855 an opera was staged based on the plot of one of his books, and in 1908 the first film was shot. Since then, his novels have been filmed many times, and the Hollywood version of The Scarlet Letter (1995) starred such famous film actors as Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall.

Captivating plot, touching love stories, vivid historical background - reading these novels will give you an unforgettable pleasure.

The Scarlet Letter came about when Nathaniel Hawthorne was forty-six and had twenty-four years of writing experience. He was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804, the son of a sea captain. In his native city, he led a modest and extremely monotonous life, creating only a few works of art, by no means alien to his gloomy contemplative temperament. The same colors and shades are wonderfully reflected in his "Twice-Told Stories" and other stories from the beginning of his first literary period. Even the days spent at Bowdin College could not break through the cloak of his unsociableness; but under this façade, his future talent for the deification of men and women developed with unimaginable precision and subtlety. For the full effect of perception, The Scarlet Letter, which says as much about the unique art of the imagination as can be gleaned from his greatest achievement, should be considered along with other works of the author. In the year of the novel's publication, he began work on The House of Seven Spires, a later work, a tragic prose about the puritanical American community as he knew it, devoid of art and joy of life, "hungry for symbols," as Emerson described it. Nathaniel Hawthorne died in Plymouth, New Hampshire on May 18, 1864.

Fanshaw, published anonymously in 1826; Stories Twice Told, Volume I, 1837; II volume, 1842; "Grandfather's Chair" (History of America for the Young), 1845; "Famous old people" (Grandfather's chair), 1841; The Tree of Liberty: Last Words from the Grandfather's Chair, 1842; "Biographical stories for children", 1842; "Mosses of the old estate", 1846; "The Scarlet Letter", 1850; "True Historical and Biographical Tales" (The Complete History of Grandpa's Chair), 1851; "The book of miracles for girls and boys", 1851; The Snow Maiden and Other Twice-Told Stories, 1851; Blythedale, 1852; "The Life of Franklin Pierce", 1852; "Tanglewood Tales" (2nd volume of the "Book of Wonders"), 1853; "Trickle from the city pump", with notes by Thelba, 1857; "The Marble Faun or the Romance of Monte Beni" (4th edition) (published in England under the title "Transfiguration"), 1860; "Our old house", 1863; Dolliver's Romance (part 1 published in Atlantic Maunsley), 1864; in 3 parts, 1876; "Pansies", fragment, Hawthorne's last literary attempt, 1864; "American Notebooks", 1868; English Notebooks, edited by Sophia Hawthorne, 1870; French and Italian notebooks, 1871; "Septimus Felton, or the Elixir of Life" (from the Atlantic Maunsley), 1872; "The Mystery of Dr. Grimshaw" with preface and notes by Julian Hawthorne, 1882.

"Tales of the White Hills, Legends of New England, Legends of the Governor's House", 1877, a collection of stories previously printed in the books "Twice-Told Stories" and "Mosses of the Old Manor", "Sketches and Studies", 1883.

Hawthorne published extensively in magazines, and most of his stories first appeared in periodicals, mainly in The Token, 1831-1838; New England Magazine, 1834, 1835; "Knickerbocker", 1837-1839; Demakretik Review, 1838-1846; Atlantic Maunsley, 1860-1872 (scenes from Dolliver's Romance, Septimus Felton, and extracts from Hawthorne's notebooks).

Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804 - 1864

The Scarlet Letter

Roman (1850)

The introductory essay to the novel tells about the author's hometown - Salem, about his ancestors - fanatic Puritans, about his work in the Salem customs office and about the people he had to deal with there. "Neither the front door nor the back door of the customs house leads to paradise," and service in this institution does not contribute to the flowering of good inclinations in people. One day, rummaging through papers piled in a heap in a huge room on the third floor of the customs house, the author found the manuscript of a certain Jonathan Pugh, who died eighty years ago. It was the biography of Esther Prien, who lived at the end of the 17th century. A red patch was kept with the papers, which, upon closer examination, turned out to be an amazingly embroidered letter "A"; when the author put it to his chest, it seemed to him that he felt a burn. Dismissed after the victory of the Whigs, the author returned to literary pursuits, for which the fruits of Mr. Pew's labors were very useful to him.

Esther Prin emerges from a Boston prison with a baby in her arms.

She is wearing a beautiful dress that she made for herself in prison, on his chest is a scarlet embroidery in the form of the letter "A" - the first letter of the word Adulteress (adulteress). Everyone condemns Esther's behavior and her provocative outfit. She is taken to the market square to the platform, where she will have to stand until one in the afternoon under the hostile gaze of the crowd - such a punishment was passed on her by the court for her sin and for refusing to name the father of her newborn daughter. Standing at the pillory, Esther recalls her past life, childhood in old England, a middle-aged, hunched scientist, with whom she tied her fate. Looking around the crowd, she notices in the back rows of a man who ....

Nathaniel Hawthorne

SCARLET LETTER

Nathaniel Hawthorne and his novel The Scarlet Letter

The author of the novel "The Scarlet Letter" Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the small American town of Salem, Massachusetts. In the distant past, this city was a stronghold of Puritan intolerance. It was here that in 1691-1692 the famous "witches' trial" took place, which entailed the execution of nineteen women on charges of witchcraft and intercourse with the devil. Hawthorne's ancestors used to play a prominent role in the theocratic community of the Puritan Salem, but then gradually his family lost its former position. Hawthorne's father, a modest sea captain, sailed on foreign ships and died in Surinam when Nathaniel was only four years old. After the death of her husband, Hawthorne's mother led a secluded life - she never dined with her family and spent all her time locked up in her room.

The childhood of the future writer, spent in spiritual isolation from his peers, determined that trait of Hawthorne's character, which he himself called "the hellish habit of loneliness." Already in childhood, he preferred secluded forest games, squirrel hunting and books with a fantastic bias to any society. The years he spent at Bowdoin College somewhat softened his isolation and made him some acquaintances in the literary and business environment. However, even after college, he is not particularly sociable. He settles back in Salem and contributes to some literary magazines. Hawthorne writes short stories and short essays (sketches) that do not yet attract the attention of the public. It is difficult for him to live financially, until, finally, friends help him get a job in the public service, a customs officer in Boston. During the same period, Hawthorne's friend Horace Bridge collected Hawthorne's previously published stories in magazines and released them secretly from his friend in the form of a collection of "Twice-Told Stories" (1837). Bridge assumed all the costs of publishing the novels and provided Hawthorne with all the income from the sale of the book.

In this edition, Hawthorne's short stories have found a rebirth, as it were, which explains the name of the collection. Collected together, the short stories showed the public Hawthorne's peculiar literary style and his enormous talent. An enthusiastic review by Longfellow further increased interest in the new author. From that moment on, Hawthorne became a famous writer. He enters literary circles, gets acquainted with the largest writer of that time, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the members of the Transcendental Club grouped around him. Hawthorne's rapprochement with Emerson was aided by his friendship with the Peabody family of Salem. The Peabody sisters - Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia - entered the history of American literature. Their house was a kind of literary salon, where such celebrities of the time as Emerson, Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Olcott and many others met. The eldest of the sisters, Elizabeth Peabody, kept a bookstore and printing house, where the books of her literary friends were printed and the central organ of the Transcendental Club, the Dial magazine, was published. Hawthorne greatly respected Elizabeth, a versatile educated woman, author of a number of literary articles and a brilliant companion, and the youngest of the sisters, Sophia, became his wife in 1842.

Hawthorne became close friends with the writers who visited the Peabody house. Their disputes and struggle of opinions could not but attract his inquisitive mind. Although he did not identify himself with the Emerson school, the ideas of the Transcendentalists had a great influence on him and were reflected in all his work.

Transcendentalism was a specifically American phenomenon. It arose from the needs of the further development of the unfinished bourgeois revolution and, despite all its ideological immaturity and sometimes naivety, reflected a noble dissatisfaction with the social relations that had developed in the United States of America.

America during these years was "a land of unlimited possibilities." The virgin lands of the new mainland, abundant in iron, coal, oil, were conquered from the indigenous owners of the country - the Indian tribes - and fell into the tenacious hands of the Yankees. English domination was successfully broken, and the main obstacle to the economic development of the country disappeared. There was no feudal aristocracy, no police-bureaucratic apparatus, no power of the Catholic clergy - in a word, those main reactionary forces that hampered bourgeois progress in the countries of the Old World. Therefore, tens of millions of immigrants - courageous and hard-working people who sought in America that happiness that they did not find in their homeland - crossed the ocean and joined the ranks of the Americans. Their inexhaustible energy became one of the main factors of progress. “With its inexhaustible natural wealth, huge deposits of coal and iron ore, with an unprecedented abundance of water power and navigable rivers, but especially with its energetic and active population ... America in less than ten years created an industry that already now competes with England with its coarser cotton products ... "Thus, America had favorable material conditions for the life of her people to become prosperous. But all the vast wealth of the country in the forests, fields and in the bowels, and even the living people who inhabited the country, became the object of unheard-of robbery, seizures and the most unrestrained exploitation.