the Scarlet Letter
A Brief Reading Review of the Scarlet Letter
——17信管B班吴子帅 17372053
The Scarlet Lettter is a novel written by an American author Nathaniel Hawthrone in 1850.It told a story about love, revenge and the salvation among Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale and Chilingworth. The novel was a great success, and it have widely influenced the English literary circle. The story was set in the middle of 17th century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony. It was a time when capitalism was rapidly developing, so was the thoughts of liberalism and feminism.
The novel revealed and criticized the false Puritanism, the conservative law and the patriarchy. We can also feel the great conflict between the capitalism and the feudalism.
The leading character, Hester Prynne, whose husband was long-without-contact, and was considered dead, fell in love with a reverent Dimmesdale and had a baby with him. The people of the Colony thought it was a shame to all of them, so they requested her to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress, although the father of the baby was unknown to the public. However, the legal husband of Hester Prynne, Chilingworth was not dead and was determined to take revenge without suffering from the shame of being cheated by his wife. So, he concealed his identity and pressed Dimmesdale hard psychologically. And finally, Dimmesdale killed himself after admitting that he was the father of Hester Prynne ’daughter Pearl. Chilingworth also dead soon after the death of Dimmesdale, due to loosing purpose of life, and Hester Prynne and Pearl left for Europe.
The small and personal tragedy of Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale and Chilingworth reflects the big and wide tragedy of the whole society. What had happened to the characters in The Scarlet Letter also happened to other people at that time. What caused this tragedy, I think, is the conflict between the new and rising capitalism, along with the feminism it brings and the conservative patriarchal. Being a widow (though in fact she is not), Hester Prynne is free to fall in love with another man and have babies with him, in the view of the liberalists. However, such act is not acceptable by the conservatives, who was the majority at that time. So, Hester Prynne was forced to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress. This caused the tragedy of Hester Prynne. The reverent Dimmesdale cannot admit the romance with Hester Prynne, let along admitting Pearl. And he suffered a lot from feeling guilt. The guilt he felt was root in the Puritanism, I assume. It’s the false identity of being a Puritan reverent that prevents him from recognition. It also revealed the foul under the holy and pure surface of the Puritanism. As for Chilingworth, he’s a total negative role. He was a man with patriarchy. He left his wife in another continent, without contact for years, people even thought he was dead. But after he came back, all he wanted was to revenge. He even dared not to show he’s identity, just because of the shame his wife brought. The death of Dimmesdale and Chilingworth may imply that the Puritanism and the feudalism will collapse in the end.
In the Scarlet Letter, the author revealed the conflict between the advanced capitalism and the conservative Puritanism. It supported the feminism and criticized the false Puritanism and the benighted people, which was a great advance at that time. In a word, it’s a book that worth reading.
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