The Scarlet Letter

Fülszöveg

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
THE SCARLET LETTER 1
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NINA BAYM
Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-
century Boston, The Scarlet Letter is a dramatic, mov-
ing depiction of social defiance and social deference,
of passion and human frailty. The adulterous entangle-
ment of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, the
birth of their child, Pearl, and the reactions of the com-
munity to the "scandal" reveal Nathaniel Hawthorne's
concern with the contrast between the private and
public self. Hester Prynne, forced to wear a symbol of
her disgrace, depends on inner strength and a cer-
tainty of spirit that allow her to survive with dignity
and courage. She emerges as the first true heroine of
American fiction, a figure of majestic resonance and
scope. Dimmesdale, trapped by the rules of society,
suppresses his passion, and in disavowing Hester and
Pearl, denies his private self. As Nina Baym points out
in her Introduction, The Scarlet Letter was... Tovább

Fülszöveg

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
THE SCARLET LETTER 1
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY NINA BAYM
Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-
century Boston, The Scarlet Letter is a dramatic, mov-
ing depiction of social defiance and social deference,
of passion and human frailty. The adulterous entangle-
ment of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, the
birth of their child, Pearl, and the reactions of the com-
munity to the "scandal" reveal Nathaniel Hawthorne's
concern with the contrast between the private and
public self. Hester Prynne, forced to wear a symbol of
her disgrace, depends on inner strength and a cer-
tainty of spirit that allow her to survive with dignity
and courage. She emerges as the first true heroine of
American fiction, a figure of majestic resonance and
scope. Dimmesdale, trapped by the rules of society,
suppresses his passion, and in disavowing Hester and
Pearl, denies his private self. As Nina Baym points out
in her Introduction, The Scarlet Letter was not written
as realistic, historical fiction. Rather, it is a "romance,"
a creation of the imagination that discloses "the truth
of the human heart."
The cover shows The Scarlet Letter by Hugues Merle, in the
Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore, Maryland. The portrait of
Nathaniel Hawthorne inside the front cover is by Charles
Osgood (1840) and is reproduced courtesy of the Essex
Institute, Salem, Massachusetts. Vissza