The Scarlett Letter-Character Analysis: Arthur Dimmesdale

• Personal traits

Arthur Dimmesdale was recognized for being a good speaker and for his ability to persuade the people in town and even some of the indians to believe in God.

He had a true commitment towards his beloved Hester Prynne, and even though the circumstances were harsh at times, he remained loyal to her and took care of her needs(directly or indirectly) and waited for a long time until they were both ready to make their love public.

Reverend Dimmesdale was determined to the cause of bringing together the puritans and the indians as two communities that could share a land and their religion (he was translating the Bible into the indian language).

• Relationship with other characters

• Symbols in the movie that identify important moments for the characters

1. Hester Prynne and the "witches": In the dark romanticism, women start to notice the unfairness that they had to stand in comparison to men. In some way, he defended their rights and undestrood their condition.
2. Slavery: Noticeable with the presence of Mituba, who had been given to Hester as a "gift" when buying something at the market. She is important becasue she was the communication medium between Arthur and Hester.
3. Religion: In that time, religion was very important, it ruled the town. It was so extreme, it punished people severely for things we now consider "small facts", like arthur's and Hester's love.

• Surprising revelations

1. The first one is when he finds out that Hester was pregnant. This represents the beginning of a series of events that makes them hide their relatioship because of the consequences it could bring because of the fact that Hester, could still be married by law.
2. The second surprising revelation is when Roger Prynne arrives to the town, becoming a threat to both Arthur and Hester, because he was insisting on finding out who was Pearl's father.

• Sychological traits: Personality characteristics with examples

1. Pacient: He always waited fot Hester to take the lead and declare their love to the world.
2. Kind, humble and helpful: He was always helping everyone he could, like when he made as mediator between indians and the villagers.
3. Romantic: His attitudes towards Hester, his long love letters, his persistence in loving her.
4. Loyal: He waited for Hester to be able to love him freely for a long time, wihtout looking for love in another woman.
5. Devoted: He was a server of God and he was a defender of the Lord's will and was in charge of spreading religious teachings all around the territory including the indian communities.
6. Intellectual: He had read a lot of books and had an excellent education which helped him to be considered an authority in town.

• How do you see the elements of "Dark Romanticism" reflected in the movie?

1. Psychological effects of guilt and sin: Evident in Arthur, who carried the weight of his relationship with Hester and the daughter they both had conceived without being married, this amplified by the fact that he considered himself a liar and a hypocrite because they were hiding their reality from society.
2. Evil under social order: In the movie we can see how sin and evil work together under a mask of virtue that at the end, is as dangerous as an officially sinner town. Some examples are how the reverend maintained extra marital relations with a married woman and the oppresion fo religious extremist authorities.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• July 4, 1804

Nathaniel Hawthorne Born

Nathaniel Hathorne (he adds the "w" later) is born in Salem, Massachusetts. He is the second child of U.S. Navy captain Nathaniel Hathorne and Elizabeth Manning Hathorne.

• August 1820

The Spectator

Hawthorne writes and publishes The Spectator, a newsmagazine that he distributes to friends and family. It runs for one month.

• 1821

Starts College

Hawthorne enrolls at Bowdoin College. His friends and fellow students there include future U.S. President Franklin Pierce and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

• 1825

Graduates from College, Withdraws from World

Hawthorne graduates from Bowdoin and moves in with family back in Salem. He begins a decade-long period of intense isolation from the world. He takes his meals alone, rarely sees friends or family, and spends most of his time writing.

• 1830

The End of Nathaniel Hathorne

In October and November, Hawthorne publishes two short stories under his original name, Nathaniel Hathorne. From then on, he uses the name "Hawthorne" both personally and professionally.

• July 9, 1842

Marriage

After a three year engagement, Hawthorne marries Sophia Peabody, a painter. The couple moves to a rented house in Concord known as the Old Manse.

Mar 3, 1844

Daughter Born

Sophia gives birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Una.

• June 2, 1846

Son Born

The couple's second child, a son, is born. He is nameless for the first few months of his life until his parents agree on "Julian." In July, the family moves to Salem, and Hawthorne takes a position at the Salem Custom House. He publishes Mosses From an Old Manse, a short story collection.

• June 1849

Loses Job

Hawthorne is dismissed from Salem Custom House in a political shakeup. He is furious and declares, "I detest this town so much that I hate to go out into the streets, or to have people see me." He begins work on a novel about adultery and hypocrisy in Salem.

Jul 31, 1849

Mother Dies

Nathaniel Hawthorne's mother, Elizabeth Hathorne, dies. Hawthorne falls into a deep depression. He continues writing The Scarlet Letter.

• March 1850

The Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter is published. Despite—or perhaps because of—its scandalous themes of adultery, the book is an instant bestseller. An introductory chapter called "The Custom House" takes a swipe at his former employers. Two months after its publication, the Hawthorne family moves to Lenox, Massachusetts.

• 1851

Seven Gables and a White Whale

Hawthorne publishes The House of the Seven Gables. Herman Melville publishes Moby Dick, the novel he completed after reading Hawthorne's short story collection Mosses From an Old Manse. He dedicates the book to Hawthorne.

• May 1851

Daughter Born

The Hawthorne's third and final child, daughter Rose, is born.

• 1852

The Blithedale Romance

Hawthorne publishes the novel The Blithedale Romance, a fictionalized account of the utopian community Brook Farm. He and Sophia purchase Hillside, a home in Concord, Massachusetts previously owned by the Alcott family. The Hawthornes rename it Wayside.

• 1853

U.S. Consul

Hawthorne's old college pal Franklin Pierce takes office as President and awards Hawthorne a political appointment as U.S. Consul in Liverpool. The Hawthorne family sails to England.

• 1857

Ends Consul Position

Hawthorne loses his position as U.S. Consul after Pierce loses the Democratic nomination for re-election. He chooses to stay on in England.

• 1859

Back in the U.S.

Hawthorne sails back to the United States and resettles at The Wayside in Concord.

• 1860

The Marble Faun

Hawthorne's novel The Marble Faun is published.

• 1863

Our Old Home

Hawthorne published Our Old Home, a non-fiction account of his time in Europe. It is the last thing that he publishes.

• May 19, 1864

Death

Nathaniel Hawthorne dies in Plymouth, New Hampshire while vacationing with friend and former president Franklin Pierce. He is buried on Author's Ridge at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

The Minister's Black Veil

Reverend Hooper enters church with a mysterious black veil over his face, causing quite a stir among his parishioners. He delivers a sermon on secret sin and the things people hide in their hearts, "even forgetting the Omniscient can detect them." After the meeting, the congregation discusses the minister's veil, trying to interpret its meaning. The Reverend presents a funeral sermon and a wedding while wearing the veil, much to the dismay and disconcernment of the bride.

The entire town speaks of little else the next day. No one dare ask the minister to remove the veil or explain its presence except for his fiancee. He claims it is a sign of his sorrows and refuses to remove it. That was the last attempt to remove the veil. The veil causes children to flee and others to peep behind gravestones to get a look at his face. He becomes a highly respected minister in New England, notwithstanding the black barrier.

The Reverend Clark tries to persuade Hooper, on his death bed, to remove the veil. His reply: "Why do you tremble at me alone? Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!"

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, adulteress Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A to mark her shame. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is wracked with guilt, while her husband,Roger Chillingworth, seeks revenge. The Scarlet Letter's symbolism helps create a powerful drama inPuritan Boston: a kiss, evil, sin, nature, the scarlet letter, and the punishing scaffold. Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterpiece is a classic example of the human conflict between emotion and intellect.

Written by:Nathaniel Hawthorne

Type of Work:novel

Genres: gothic romance;psychological romance (named by Hawthorne); Gothic literature; allegory

First Published: In 1850 by Ticknor, Reed & Fields

Setting: Starts in June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston — story continues over several years.

Main Characters: Hester Prynne; Arthur Dimmesdale; Roger Chillingworth; Pearl

Major Thematic Topics: Puritan society; sin; guilt; conflict between emotions and intellect; nature of evil

Motifs: death; desires; doubling; dreams; education; fears; passion; resentment; revenge; violence

Major Symbols: the scarlet A; the punishing scaffold; a kiss; evil; sin; nature; Hawthorne's characters; light and darkness; color imagery; the settings of forest versus village

Movie Versions: The Scarlet Letter (1979); The Scarlet Letter (1995); Easy A (2010)

The three most important aspects of The Scarlet Letter:

• The scarlet A worn by Hester Prynne stands for "adulterer." Because her daughter Pearl was born more than nine months after Hester left her husband in England to come to America, her fellow Puritans know that she was impregnated by someone to whom she was not married: a sin.




• Much of the novel's introductory section, "The Custom House," is true, and is based on Hawthorne's employment in the building of that same name in Salem, Massachusetts. The part about finding a letter A made of cloth that has been wrapped in a parchment manuscript, however, is entirely fictional.




• The Scarlet Letter is a gothic romance, not a historical novel. It takes place at a recognizable place and time, the Massachusetts Bay Colony during the 17th century, but many of its details are fanciful rather than accurate. For example, the governor's house, as Hawthorne describes it, has a brilliantly decorated exterior, which would have been unlikely in Puritan Boston.

   The Scarlet Letter Movie Trailer (1995)

 

 

Easy A (2010)