BOOK REPORT

PREFACE

I bought The book The Scarlet Letter when I was still a junior middle school student. I forget the reason I chose the book from the bookshop. But at that time, it was really difficult for me to read it. So the result is that I put it aside for several years.

Several month ago, I was so surprised to find it. But a lot of pages have missed. In order to have a complete understanding of both the novel and the author, I decided to buy a new one. Fortunately, I got it soon. Later, I do think it is a novel worth reading and appreciating.

The book really shocks me a lot. The protagonist Hester, she was a really a heroine at that time. This was not because she has done something special to his country or the people, but because in my opinion she was the very embodiment of lofty moral. On the surface, Hester was found the guilty of adultery. The author was really talented. He has expressed his ideas and dissatisfaction to the society by moulding an excellent role in his book. The cruelity of the society, the deception of religion, the hypocrisy of moral, all of them were conveyed vividly in the book. It is really worthy being appreciated.

 

 

ABSTRACT

As we know that The Scarlet Letter is one of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s  most famous novels, and it has made him known all around the world. Hester Prynne is the protagonist of this novel. I firmly believe that anyone who have read this novel will be impressed by Hester. She is convicted of adultery by a court of Puritan judges. What’s worse, she is forced to wear a scarlet letter on her breast because of her sin of adultrey. On the surface, Hester is guilty, for to some extent, she betrays her husband. But this is not what the author really wants to convey.

As far as I am concerned, Hester is a female who is both obedient and rebellious. On the one hand, as a puritan, she wants to get God’s salvation. On the other hand, she is contradictory in her inner heart. She wants to break some of the Puritan doctrines to protect her beloved ones. She is not willing to confess to other’s who is Pearl’s father, even when she is convicted the guilty of adultery. She herself brings Pearl up independently. Yes, she is brave enough to confront all difficulties she meets in life.

 

Key words: guilty, scarlet letter, Puritan thoughts, obedient, rebellious, etc.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nathaniel Hawthorne ( 1804-1864 ) was born in Salem, Massachusetts. He was an American novelist and short story writer. He belongs to the group of the famous anti-transcendentalism.

Hawthorne’s father was a sea captain. He died when the boy was only four years old. He and his two sisters lived in almost complete isolation from their mother. In a few years Hawthorne left Salem and entered Bowdoin College, in Maine. Among his college friends were Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce who became fourteenth President of the United States.

Later, he returned to Salem. For nearly twelve years, he lived in solitude in this idle town. He gathered his material by observing and listening to others. He listened to all the talks that was filled with New England lore, legend, and superstition. He made annual excursions into Vermont and New Hampshire and absorbed hints for many stories on these jaunts. He also read the annals and chronicles of the Puritan world. After a few years, he began pouring them out.

For a time in the 1830s, Hawthorne edited a magazine in Boston, and afterward, he worked at the customs office. Then he lived for a few months in 1841 at Brook Farm, one of the famous New England experiments in communal living, where some of the region’s most remarkable, if somewhat impractical, people gathered. Hawthorne was essentially of a solitary nature, and group life was not for him, but the experience provided a material for his later novel The Blithedale Romance (1852). In 1841 he married Sophia Peabody, of a prominent Salem family. For some three years Hawthorne and Sophia lived in the house called the Old Manse, in Concord. It was there that he wrote the splendid stories in the volume called Mosses from an Old Manse (1846).

He was Surveyor of the Port of Salem for three years, until a change od administration liberated him to write The Scarlet Letter. When his college Franklin became President, he appointed Hawthorne to a consular position in Liverpool. Hawthorne eventually went on to Rome, where he found the inspiration for his novel The Marble Faun (1860).

Much of Hawthorne’s works center on New England. Many writings feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspitation. His fiction works are considered part of Romantic movement. His themes often concentrate on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity.

 

 

PLOT SUMMARY

The story tells us a story of the protagonist called Hester. To some extent it is a story of tragedy because of the final fate of the main characters in the story.

On a summer morning in Boston, Massachusetts Colony, a group of people gathered outside the jail in Prison Lane. Later, the woman with a scarlet letter wearing on her breast and her child in her arms appeared. She was the very protagonist Hester Prynne. She was convicted of the guilty of adultery by a court of stern Puritan judges. When she appeared, it was whispered in the gathering that she had been spared the penalty of death or branding only through the intercession of Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, into whose church she had brought her scandalous sin.

Hester was the daughter of an ancient house of decayed fortune. When she was young, her father married her to husband who had great repue as a scholar. Two years before, her husband sent his wife to Massachusetts Colony. Hester, a young, attractive widow, had quietly in Boston until the time of her disgrace.

The ministers of the town asked her to name the man who with herself was equally guilty. Her pastor, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale exhorted her. Still Hester refused to name the father of her child, and she led back to the prison after her period of public shamed had ended.

Roger Chillingworth was the stranger who appeared all of a sudden from the forest while Hester stood on the scaffold that morning, and she knew him as her husband, the scholar Prynne. He also wanted to know the name of the child’s father. But Hester refused, either. He told Hester that he would stayed in Boston to practice medicine and he sweared that he would devoted himself to discovering the man. He wanted to revenge the man that had dishonoured him.

After Hester’s imprisonment was over, she lived with her child, Pearl, in a small house far away. She still worn the scarlet letter on her breast.

Several years later, Pearl had grown up to become a capricous child. At the moment then, there was a movement among the strict church members to take the child away from her. But Dimmesdale saved the situation by a persuasive speech. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale lived in the same house. Consequently, the physician gradually came to know Dimmesdale’s innermost feelings. Slowly, Chillingworth became sure that Dimmesdale was Pearl’s father. And he wanted very much to take his revenge against Dimmesdale.

One night, Dimmesdale went to the pillory where Hester had stood. Hester and Pearl were also there. At that time, Dimmesdale acknowledged that he was the father of Pearl. Everything was witnessed and heard by Chillingworth. And Hester was so astonishe by Dimmesdale’s behavior. All that she wanted to do now was to plead with Chillingworth to be merciful to his victim. But Chillingworth was a cruel man and he wouldn’t give up his revenge.

Hester and Dimmesdale had no chioce but took the chioce to leave the colony together in secret four days later to take passage in a ship then in the harbor and return to the Old World. They were to leave after the Election Sermon.

On the Election Sermon day morning, the captain informed Hester that Roger Chillingworth would go with him. Hester turned away and went with Pearl to listen to Dimmesdale’s sermon. But Dimmesdale admitted his guilt to the watching people. Then, because of the tiredness both mentally and physically out of his endurance, Dimmesdale died in the platform suddenly.

Chillingworth, no longer able to wreak his vengeance on Dimmesdale, died within the year. People finally forgave Hester’s guilt because of her diligence and kindness. But on the other hand, her beautiful years had also been exausted in the process of waiting. Fortunately, Pearl grew up healthily and later married to a noble family, achiving a happy ending of her life.

 

 

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

There are four major characters in the novel The Scarlet Letter. They are Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth and Pearl. Hester is the leading role in the novel. Throught the book, we can find that she is a woman of independence mind and she is very brave. Although she has accepted the punishment assigned her under the control of the Puritan doctrines, she still behaves strong. Dimmesdale is a man torn by a guilty conscience, but he has no enough courage to confess his fault. Chillingworth gradually destroys himself under his inner thoughts of taking revenge towards Hester and Dimmesdale. Pearl is an implish, innocent and unearthly girl.

Hester

 

 

 

 

Hester is the protagonist in the story. She is a woman described as young, beautiful and elegant. She is the daughter of an ancient house of decayed fortune. Although she comes from a impoverished family, we can define her as a really lady because of her pride behaviors presentsin her later life. For example, from the beginning scene until when she dies, she always wears the scarlet A.

We know that when she was young, she was sent to marry her husband, who had great reputation as a scholar. Later we gradually come to know that he is the very Roger Chillingworth. Later, Hester was sent to Massachusetts by her husband, where she came across Arthur Dimmesdale and had a child called Pearl – a pretty little girl.

Hester is an extrordinary brave woman, as far as I am concerned. She never surrenders to her fate easily. When she was charged with guilty of adultery by a court of stern Puritan judges and was forced to wear a scarlet letter on her breast, she still refused to tell others who is her child’s father. Thus in her inner mind, she wants to combat with the Puritan doctrines which confine people to a narrow wide of their lives. But at that time, the Puritan thoughts had a dominant influence on people. Although Pearl’s father Arthur Dimmesdale stands in front of her, she never changes her mind and keeps the secret. She is a eligible mother. She brings up Pearl a beautiful girl and tries her best to support their life.

She encourages Arthur Dimmesdale that they go together to another place in order to protect him from Chillingworth’s revenge after all the secrets are revealed. Though they did not succeed.

To some extent, she is a contradictory character. The author sets her to show his dissatisfaction with the Puritan doctrines and government, which is vividly presents in the character of “Hester”.

 

Dimmesdale

 

 

 

He is an eloquent minister, a devoted servant of God. There is no doubt that he is passionate in his religion and effective in the pulpit. But on the other hand, he dares not confess his guilty in public, leaving Hester alone to undertake all the punishment. From the private point of view, he is somehow a gloomy and selfish man, for he hasn’t took the responsibility for Hester and Pearl which he ought to.

When Hester tells him Chillingworth is her husband, he is not brave to face tha fact and sinks down on the ground, throwing his burden on Hester. He never thinks of what kind of pain and torment Hester has put up with.

Dimmesdale’s sin is a concealed one, which is different from Hester’s. The sin exsit in his inner heart and causes him increasing torment of conscience. But we know in the novel, Dimmesdale eventually confess to the public his guilty. But in order to gather the courage to do so, he has injured both mentally physically, which is totally  out of his endurance, Dimmesdale died in the platform suddenly. Maybe that is the price for him.

I just wonder why Dimmesdale could conceal his sin for such a long time? Even when he is able to confess it, he has reached the end of his life? In my opinion, it is the Puritan doctrines that causes him to escape from his responsibilities. Dimmesdale is such a reverent servant of God that there is no doubt that he can continue to do God’s work as a minister if he just keeps silent. But on the other hand, he wants to have the affection with Hester in public. While, he dares not. Thus, we can find that he is a really a contradictory character. Although Dimmesdale a devoted servant of God and an Evangelist, he cannot make himself totally transcended. Lust and impulse never disappear in his inner heart. They even become stronger after years of asceticism. When he is on the way to the town after the date with Hester, his behavior of impulse at the moment of seeing a girl really makes me confused. But what he does is to pretend to avoid seeing her and goes away. Actually, he can walk to her and say “hello” to her. But his highly developed asceticism stops him.

As a matter of fact, Dimmesdale suffers from torment of both social morality and his inner heart love. He has no choice but to bear all these sufferings. Another aspect is that he has no way to release and what he can do is to enter his ending door in his prison of torment.

 

 

 

Chillingworth

 

 

 

 

Just as I mentioned in the beginning, Chillingworth gradually destroys himself under his inner thoughts of taking revenge towards Hester and Dimmesdale.

When Chillingworth first appears, he is hideous, partly because of his strange mixture of “civilized and savage costume”. But the problem is that even when he is better dressed, he is far from attractive. He is a thin and small man. He is Hester’s husband, but we can learn from the novel that he just cannot get the love from Hester. The marriage between them totally arranged by the parents. Two years after he sents Hester to Boston, Massachusetts Colony, he learns that Hester has betrayed her. At that moment, his love to Hester changes into strong hate. In spite of the condemnation of morality and conscience, he takes revenge on Hester and Dimmesdale, which results in the distort of his personality.

At the begining, Chillingworth is considered as a scholar with plenty of knowledge. He wants very much Hester’s love. But when his hope brokes, the lust of taking revenge absolutely controls him. What he has in his mind is that he would do everything he can to torment his wife who betrays his, as well as her lover. Even at that time, his soul happiness comes from their sufferings.

When Hester begs the old physician to be merciful to Dimmesdale’s victim. But Chillingworth is inexorable; he will not forge his revenge on the man who has wronged him. Yes, he is determined to do so.

However, from another point of view, what Chillingworth wants do is just protect his marriage. To some extent, we can say that his wife betrays him. But the more important is that he just don’t know what is the correct method. In the conclusion part, when Hawhorne speaks of Chillingworth’s withering up and shriveling away, he makes it plain that the old physician’s fate is the most horrible of the three, because his sin is the blackest. As far as I am concerned, Chillingworth is a tragic character. He wants to revenge on his wife and lover who betrays him, at the meantime, he himself torments a lot in the process both mentally and physically. Finally, being no longer able to wreak his vengeance on Dimmesdale, he died within a year after Chillingworth died.

 

 

Pearl

 

 

 

 

Pearl is Hester’s daughter. She fuctions mainly as a symbol. She is quite young during most of the events of the story. We get can the conclusion from the fac that when Dimmesdale dies, she is only seven years old. Pearl owns a rich and luxuriant beauty. And we learn further that she has a perfect shape; she is vigor and has a natural dexterity.

She is intelligent, imaginative, determined and obstinate. And Pearl makes people constantly aware of her mother’s scarlet letterof the society that produces it. From an early age, she fixates on the emblem. Pearl’s innocent, or perhaps intuitive, comments about the letter raise crucial questions about its meaning. Similarily, she inquires about the relationship between the people around her, of whom the most important is her relationship between Dimmesdale. Once her father’s identity is revealed, Pearl is no longer needed in this symbolic capacity. At Dimmesdale’s death, she becomes fully “human”, leaving behind her otherworldliness and her preternatural vision.

 

 

CONCLUSION

To be honest, I think the novel would be very boring to read at the first sight of it. While, later I gradually come to know that the story is really worthy to be read and appreciated.

After reading the novel, I have formed an impression of the main characters in the novel. The four characters are so vividly portrayed, Hester, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth and Pearl that the impression of them are still in my mind now. I want to say that Hawthorne is really good at characterization.

I am convinced that lots of people would be very curious about the content of the novel when see the title “ The Scarlet Letter”. We are familiar with the novels which are usually named after the name of a person who is the leading role in the story, or a palce where the story takes place for most of the time. But “ The Scarlet Letter” serves as the name of the novel. And at the beginning of the novel, we know what “the scarlet letter” means. It is the symbol of Hester’s guilty. And it is also “the scarlet letter” that connects the four principal characters in the novel. “The scarlet letter” has a great effect on their lives.

Despite the title, it is obviously not a story about adultery, or even really about sin. It tells more about men’s soul than about their actions. The best way to appreciate the characters and their fuctions in the novel is to study their relationship to the central sin and the manner in which that sin lays bare their souls. From another point of view, the novel is the expression of the author to convey his discontent to the society. The deception of religion and the hypocrisy of moral are all the contents of his story. Through describing the life of the four characters of his story, what he wants to convey has vividly presented behind the story. Hester has to wear the “the scarlet letter” all the time because of her “adultery”. She is a strong and brave woman, she always refuses to tell the public who is Pearl’s father, though Dimmesdale stands close to him.

Probably I haven’t had a full understanding of the novel. But what I have grasped is the general idea the author wants to convey. There are still some details of the story that I cannot understand very well. Later during my life of futher study, it is quite necessary for me to read the novel once again, maybe more times.