the scarlett letter

Materie:	Appunti
Categoria:	Inglese
Download:	99
Data:	16.12.2005
Numero di pagine:	2
Formato di file:	.doc (Microsoft Word)

Hester Prynne, a woman who lived in Boston , has been condemned to wear a scarlet letter on her breast.as a sign of her guilt, for her adultery, committed because she thought that her husband had been killed by indians, In fact when she arrived in massachussets she fell in love with reverend dimmesdale and beared him a daughter, Pearl. Adultery was severely punished by the strict laws and the strict moral code of puritans. So she was kept in prison.But when her husband had been released by Indians and went to visit her, she made a promise: she would have hidden his real identity, so he could be free to change his name in Roger Chillingworth. He decided to take his revenge and, suspecting Dimmesdale, began to torment him.. In the meantime Hester and Pearl lived alone, excluded by society but she won the respect of the community being hardworking and charitable so people said that the “A” stood for “able”.dimmesdale was tornentedd by sense of guilt and became ill, he decided to reveal his sin and then he died on hester’s arms leaving her alone with the daughter. The Reverend and Hester had a common tombstone, where was written: On a field, sable,The letter A, gules.
-Puritanism was a Protestant religious reform movement, which developed from English Church at the end of 16th century. Puritans wanted to make Church pure, refusing tha authority of Roman Pope and declaring the Bible the only source of truth. Puritanism is based on the theory of predestination, so success in life was seen as a sign of predestination of salvation; the people who committed sins were seen as predestined to damnation. At first Puritans where persecuted in England, so they desired some colonies in the New world. In 1629 they received a colony in new world and used it as a refuge for persecuted Puritans. During the years they founded a lot of colonies and persecuted their dissenters, punishing and banishing who committed a sin. Puritan culture is pervaded by superstitions, especially about witches. In this period a lot of women were condemned for witchcraft. This element is evidenced in the movie inspired by “ The scalet letter” more than in the book.
-Many universal themes, such as love, sex, sin, evil, punishment, rebellion, hypocrisy, revenge and hate. These themes are connected each other, as causes and consequences:, love has a great power, it makes suffer Hester, but makes her strong. For love she doesn’t reveal Pearl’s father’s name and for the love that she has for her child she continues to work and suffer, isolated from society. Sin has different consequences for Hester and for the Reverend. Hester is punished for her sin, in fact she must wear a scarlet letter, her punishment isolates her and Pearl from the rest of society, but it makes her stronger. As concerning the Reverend, sin has punished him too, but his punishment is hidden, sin makes him hypocrite and victim of Chillingworth’s revenge. This situation brings to hate. Hate is not the conclusion of the novel, the conclusion is the tombstone of Hester and the Reverend, the contrast between death, hypocrisy, hate, which are represented by the black field, and love, which is represented by the scarlet letter.