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The Scarlet Letter in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The following is a list of references to The Scarlet Letter in popular culture.


Contents  [hide]
1 Film
2 Literature
3 Music
4 Opera
5 Plays
6 Television
7 Other
8 References

Film[edit]
1908 film version directed by Sidney Olcott starring Gene Gauntier, Jack Conway, and Ruth Roland
1911 film version co-directed by George Loane Tucker, adapted by Herbert Brenon, and starring Lucille Young, King Baggot, Robert Z. Leonard, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Anita Hendrie
1913 film version starring Linda Arvidson and Murdock MacQuarrie
1917 film version directed by Carl Harbaugh, and starring Stuart Holmes with Kittens Reichert, presented by William Fox
1917 film version starring Werner Krauss
1922 film version adapted by Frank Miller, and starring Sybil Thorndike
1926 film version directed by Victor Sjostrom, adapted by Frances Marion, and starring Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane, Joyce Coad, James A. Marcus, Margaret Mann, Polly Moran, Dorothy Vernon, Chief Yowlachie, and Iron Eyes Cody
1934 film version directed by Robert G. Vignola and starring Colleen Moore, Henry B. Walthall, Betty Blythe, William Farnum, Alan Hale, Sr., Hardie Albright, and Shirley Jean Rickert
1973 film version by Wim Wenders
The Douglas Day Stewart script of the 1995 film version takes liberties with the original story
Tomcats (2001) features the book as a prop, where the main character uses the book to strike up a conversation with an attractive librarian girl. However in a later scene following a date between the two, he unwittingly gets shackled by her for a bizarre, unwanted, BDSM experience, where she references the book as "an excellent choice" as she holds a large paddle, marked by a large studded "A", in further reference to part of the book's plot, albeit in a raunchy depiction.
The Scarlet Letter (2004) takes its title from the novel
In Dan in Real Life (2007), the novel is being read by Dan's daughter, Jane
Easy A (2010) is loosely based on the story
Literature[edit]
Roger's Version (1986) by John Updike, set in a city resembling Boston in 1984, is loosely based on the characters and situations of The Scarlett Letter.
In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999), main character Melinda Sordino is reading the novel in her English class and compares herself to Hester Prynne.
2005: The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster (2005) involves a plot to forge an original manuscript of the novel
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan (2011) is a dystopian retelling where instead of the red letter A, the main character is dyed red for the crime of killing her unborn child, the product of an affair. Puritan culture is replaced by modern Christian fundamentalism.
In the Pretty Little Liars novels by Sara Shepard, Aria reads the novel in her English class and compares it to her father's affair.
In The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick, Pat reads the book, taking a special liking to it since Hester Prynne "Believed in Silver Linings."
Music[edit]
1957: In "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl for Me" from The Music Man, Harold Hill sings "I hope and I pray for Hester to win just one more 'A'"
1987: A Scarlet Letter album by Curtiss A takes it title from the novel
1991: In the music video for the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit, the cheerleaders have a scarlet 'A' sewn to their tops.
1996: Metallica song "The Thorn Within"
2001: Tool song "The Grudge"
2001: Jag Panzer song "The Scarlet Letter"
2003: The Distillers song "Die on a Rope"
2004: Halifax (band) song "Scarlet Letter Part 2"
2005: Casting Crowns song "Does Anybody Hear Her?"
2006: The Clipse song "Pussy" (from Hell Hath No Fury)
2006: As Blood Runs Black song "Hester Prynne"
2008: Mudvayne song "Scarlet Letters" (from The New Game)
2007: Feist's song "Past In Present"
2007: Mad Caddies song "Don't Go"
2007: Deathcore band "Hester Prynne" takes its name from the novel
2008: Taylor Swift song "Love Story"
2010: Abdominal song "The Scarlet Letter SparkTune"
2013: New Years Day song "I'm No Good"
2013: Childish Gambino song "Earth the Oldest Computer" (The A on my chest like adultery)
2014: ODESZA song "Say My Name" featuring Zyra
2014: Taylor Swift song "New Romantics."
Opera[edit]
1896: The Scarlet Letter by Walter Damrosch and George Parsons Lathrop [1]
1934: Hester Prynne by Avery Claflin [1]
1938: The Scarlet Letter by Vittorio Giannini, starring Dusolina Giannini premiered at the Vienna State Opera
1959: The Scarlet Letter by Robin Milford
2001: The Scarlet Letter co-written by Simon Gray premiered at the Fringe Festival
2008: The Scarlet Letter by Lori Laitman and David Mason [2]
Plays[edit]
1995: The Scarlet Letter by Phyllis Nagy adapts elements and themes from the novel
1999: In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks adapts elements and themes from the novel
2000: Fucking A by Suzan-Lori Parks also is inspired by the novel
2010: The Scarlet Letter by Naomi Iizuka premiered at the Intiman Playhouse
2011: The Scarlet Letter by Carol Gilligan and her son Jonathan, produced at Prime Stage Theatre
Television[edit]
1979: The Scarlet Letter PBS miniseries
1987: In the Mama's Family episode "Educating Mama", the book was the reason Thelma dropped out of school fifty years earlier, then has to read it for night school and is the only student who does.
1989: Referenced in Perfect Strangers episode "Wedding Belle Blues" (Season 4, Episode 22)
1990: Referenced in Twin Peaks The character of Audrey Horne uses the name Hester Prynne when pretending to be a prostitute while being interviewed by the owner of a brothel. The owner however responds "I read The Scarlet Letter in high school too,honey"
1993: Referenced in Roseanne episode "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" (Season 5, Episode 16)
1997: In The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror VIII", Ms. Krabappel is shown with a red "A" on her chest
2000: Popular episode "Caged" adapts elements from the novel (Season 1, Episode 14)
2004: Quoted in One Tree Hill episode "Don't Take Me For Granted"
2006: Referenced in Gilmore Girls episode "You've Been Gilmored" (Season 6, Episode 14)
2010: Episode 2 of season 2 of The Mentalist, the title of the episode is Scarlet Letter, it talks about an adultery
Other[edit]
Out Campaign, Richard Dawkins's public awareness initiative for freethought and atheism, also uses a scarlet "A" logo.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "Opera versions of Hawthorne's works, scores, librettos, and vocal recordings" ibiblio.org 5 August 2011
2.Jump up ^ "Lori Laitman's Opera The Scarlet Letter World Premiere November 2008" chicagoclassicalmusic.org 5 August 2010


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter


Characters
Hester Prynne ·
 Roger Chillingworth ·
 Arthur Dimmesdale
 

Film
The Scarlet Letter (1911) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1913) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1922) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1926) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1934) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1973) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1995)
 

Other media
The Scarlet Letter (1896 opera) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1979 TV miniseries)
 

Adaptations
The Holder of the World (1993 book) ·
 In the Blood (1999 play) ·
 Fucking A (2000 play) ·
 Easy A (2010 film)
 

Related
The Brooklyn Follies ·
 in popular culture ·
 Pink permits ·
 The Minister's Wooing ·
 Roger's Version
 

  


Categories: The Scarlet Letter
Novels in popular culture


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This page was last modified on 18 December 2014 at 12:54.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
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 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter_in_popular_culture




















The Scarlet Letter in popular culture
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

The following is a list of references to The Scarlet Letter in popular culture.


Contents  [hide]
1 Film
2 Literature
3 Music
4 Opera
5 Plays
6 Television
7 Other
8 References

Film[edit]
1908 film version directed by Sidney Olcott starring Gene Gauntier, Jack Conway, and Ruth Roland
1911 film version co-directed by George Loane Tucker, adapted by Herbert Brenon, and starring Lucille Young, King Baggot, Robert Z. Leonard, J. Farrell MacDonald, and Anita Hendrie
1913 film version starring Linda Arvidson and Murdock MacQuarrie
1917 film version directed by Carl Harbaugh, and starring Stuart Holmes with Kittens Reichert, presented by William Fox
1917 film version starring Werner Krauss
1922 film version adapted by Frank Miller, and starring Sybil Thorndike
1926 film version directed by Victor Sjostrom, adapted by Frances Marion, and starring Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane, Joyce Coad, James A. Marcus, Margaret Mann, Polly Moran, Dorothy Vernon, Chief Yowlachie, and Iron Eyes Cody
1934 film version directed by Robert G. Vignola and starring Colleen Moore, Henry B. Walthall, Betty Blythe, William Farnum, Alan Hale, Sr., Hardie Albright, and Shirley Jean Rickert
1973 film version by Wim Wenders
The Douglas Day Stewart script of the 1995 film version takes liberties with the original story
Tomcats (2001) features the book as a prop, where the main character uses the book to strike up a conversation with an attractive librarian girl. However in a later scene following a date between the two, he unwittingly gets shackled by her for a bizarre, unwanted, BDSM experience, where she references the book as "an excellent choice" as she holds a large paddle, marked by a large studded "A", in further reference to part of the book's plot, albeit in a raunchy depiction.
The Scarlet Letter (2004) takes its title from the novel
In Dan in Real Life (2007), the novel is being read by Dan's daughter, Jane
Easy A (2010) is loosely based on the story
Literature[edit]
Roger's Version (1986) by John Updike, set in a city resembling Boston in 1984, is loosely based on the characters and situations of The Scarlett Letter.
In Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999), main character Melinda Sordino is reading the novel in her English class and compares herself to Hester Prynne.
2005: The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster (2005) involves a plot to forge an original manuscript of the novel
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan (2011) is a dystopian retelling where instead of the red letter A, the main character is dyed red for the crime of killing her unborn child, the product of an affair. Puritan culture is replaced by modern Christian fundamentalism.
In the Pretty Little Liars novels by Sara Shepard, Aria reads the novel in her English class and compares it to her father's affair.
In The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick, Pat reads the book, taking a special liking to it since Hester Prynne "Believed in Silver Linings."
Music[edit]
1957: In "The Sadder-But-Wiser Girl for Me" from The Music Man, Harold Hill sings "I hope and I pray for Hester to win just one more 'A'"
1987: A Scarlet Letter album by Curtiss A takes it title from the novel
1991: In the music video for the Nirvana song Smells Like Teen Spirit, the cheerleaders have a scarlet 'A' sewn to their tops.
1996: Metallica song "The Thorn Within"
2001: Tool song "The Grudge"
2001: Jag Panzer song "The Scarlet Letter"
2003: The Distillers song "Die on a Rope"
2004: Halifax (band) song "Scarlet Letter Part 2"
2005: Casting Crowns song "Does Anybody Hear Her?"
2006: The Clipse song "Pussy" (from Hell Hath No Fury)
2006: As Blood Runs Black song "Hester Prynne"
2008: Mudvayne song "Scarlet Letters" (from The New Game)
2007: Feist's song "Past In Present"
2007: Mad Caddies song "Don't Go"
2007: Deathcore band "Hester Prynne" takes its name from the novel
2008: Taylor Swift song "Love Story"
2010: Abdominal song "The Scarlet Letter SparkTune"
2013: New Years Day song "I'm No Good"
2013: Childish Gambino song "Earth the Oldest Computer" (The A on my chest like adultery)
2014: ODESZA song "Say My Name" featuring Zyra
2014: Taylor Swift song "New Romantics."
Opera[edit]
1896: The Scarlet Letter by Walter Damrosch and George Parsons Lathrop [1]
1934: Hester Prynne by Avery Claflin [1]
1938: The Scarlet Letter by Vittorio Giannini, starring Dusolina Giannini premiered at the Vienna State Opera
1959: The Scarlet Letter by Robin Milford
2001: The Scarlet Letter co-written by Simon Gray premiered at the Fringe Festival
2008: The Scarlet Letter by Lori Laitman and David Mason [2]
Plays[edit]
1995: The Scarlet Letter by Phyllis Nagy adapts elements and themes from the novel
1999: In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks adapts elements and themes from the novel
2000: Fucking A by Suzan-Lori Parks also is inspired by the novel
2010: The Scarlet Letter by Naomi Iizuka premiered at the Intiman Playhouse
2011: The Scarlet Letter by Carol Gilligan and her son Jonathan, produced at Prime Stage Theatre
Television[edit]
1979: The Scarlet Letter PBS miniseries
1987: In the Mama's Family episode "Educating Mama", the book was the reason Thelma dropped out of school fifty years earlier, then has to read it for night school and is the only student who does.
1989: Referenced in Perfect Strangers episode "Wedding Belle Blues" (Season 4, Episode 22)
1990: Referenced in Twin Peaks The character of Audrey Horne uses the name Hester Prynne when pretending to be a prostitute while being interviewed by the owner of a brothel. The owner however responds "I read The Scarlet Letter in high school too,honey"
1993: Referenced in Roseanne episode "Wait Till Your Father Gets Home" (Season 5, Episode 16)
1997: In The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror VIII", Ms. Krabappel is shown with a red "A" on her chest
2000: Popular episode "Caged" adapts elements from the novel (Season 1, Episode 14)
2004: Quoted in One Tree Hill episode "Don't Take Me For Granted"
2006: Referenced in Gilmore Girls episode "You've Been Gilmored" (Season 6, Episode 14)
2010: Episode 2 of season 2 of The Mentalist, the title of the episode is Scarlet Letter, it talks about an adultery
Other[edit]
Out Campaign, Richard Dawkins's public awareness initiative for freethought and atheism, also uses a scarlet "A" logo.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "Opera versions of Hawthorne's works, scores, librettos, and vocal recordings" ibiblio.org 5 August 2011
2.Jump up ^ "Lori Laitman's Opera The Scarlet Letter World Premiere November 2008" chicagoclassicalmusic.org 5 August 2010


[hide]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter


Characters
Hester Prynne ·
 Roger Chillingworth ·
 Arthur Dimmesdale
 

Film
The Scarlet Letter (1911) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1913) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1922) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1926) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1934) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1973) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1995)
 

Other media
The Scarlet Letter (1896 opera) ·
 The Scarlet Letter (1979 TV miniseries)
 

Adaptations
The Holder of the World (1993 book) ·
 In the Blood (1999 play) ·
 Fucking A (2000 play) ·
 Easy A (2010 film)
 

Related
The Brooklyn Follies ·
 in popular culture ·
 Pink permits ·
 The Minister's Wooing ·
 Roger's Version
 

  


Categories: The Scarlet Letter
Novels in popular culture


Navigation menu



Create account
Log in



Article

Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















Main page
Contents
Featured content
Current events
Random article
Donate to Wikipedia
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Interaction
Help
About Wikipedia
Community portal
Recent changes
Contact page

Tools
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Permanent link
Page information
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Cite this page

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Create a book
Download as PDF
Printable version

Languages

Edit links
This page was last modified on 18 December 2014 at 12:54.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
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Powered by MediaWiki
 

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter_in_popular_culture























The Scarlet Letter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

Not to be confused with The Scarlet Letters.
For other uses, see Scarlet Letter (disambiguation).


 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (September 2014)
The Scarlet Letter
Title page for The Scarlet Letter.jpg
Title page, first edition, 1850

Author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Genre
Romantic, Historical
Publisher
Ticknor, Reed & Fields

Publication date
 1850
Pages
180
The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and is considered to be his magnum opus.[1] Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Major themes 2.1 Sin
2.2 Puritan legalism
3 Publication history
4 Critical response
5 Allusions
6 In popular culture
7 See also
8 References 8.1 Notes
8.2 Bibliography
9 External links

Plot[edit]



 In this painting, The Scarlet Letter by Hugues Merle, Hester Prynne and Pearl are in the foreground and Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth are in the background.
On June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young woman found guilty of adultery. She is required to wear a scarlet "A" ("A" is the symbol of adultery ) on her dress to shame her. She must stand on the scaffold for three hours, to be exposed to public humiliation. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses.
As Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as her long-lost husband, who has been presumed lost at sea. When the husband sees Hester's shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's adultery. He angrily exclaims that the child's father, the partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished and vows to find the man. He chooses a new name – Roger Chillingworth – to aid him in his plan.
Reverend John Wilson and the minister of Hester's church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question the woman, but she refuses to name her lover. After she returns to her prison cell, the jailer brings in Roger Chillingworth, a physician, to calm Hester and her child with his roots and herbs. Dismissing the jailer, Chillingworth first treats Pearl. He and Hester have an open conversation regarding their marriage and the fact that they were both in the wrong. Her lover, however, is another matter and he demands to know who it is; Hester refuses to divulge such information. He accepts this, stating that he will find out anyway, and forces her to hide that he is her husband. If she ever reveals him, he warns her, he will destroy the child's father. Hester agrees to Chillingworth's terms although she suspects she will regret it.
Following her release from prison, Hester settles in a cottage at the edge of town and earns a meager living with her needlework. She lives a quiet, somber life with her daughter, Pearl. She is troubled by her daughter's unusual fascination by Hester's scarlet "A". As she grows older, Pearl becomes capricious and unruly. Her conduct starts rumors, and, not surprisingly, the church members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester.
Hester, hearing rumors that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham. With him are Reverends Wilson and Dimmesdale. When Wilson questions Pearl about who created her, she states that she was not made at all, but was instead plucked from a rosebush by the prison, despite knowing the correct response. This jeopardizes her guardianship. Hester appeals to Reverend Dimmesdale in desperation, and the minister persuades the governor to let Pearl remain in Hester's care.
Because Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail, the townspeople are happy to have Chillingworth, a newly arrived physician, take up lodgings with their beloved minister. Being in such close contact with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is the result of some unconfessed guilt. He applies psychological pressure to the minister because he suspects Dimmesdale to be Pearl's father. One evening, pulling the sleeping Dimmesdale's vestment aside, Chillingworth sees a symbol that represents his shame on the minister's pale chest.
Tormented by his guilty conscience, Dimmesdale goes to the square where Hester was punished years earlier. Climbing the scaffold, he sees Hester and Pearl and calls to them to join him. He admits his guilt to them but cannot find the courage to do so publicly. Suddenly Dimmesdale sees a meteor forming what appears to be a gigantic A in the sky; simultaneously, Pearl points toward the shadowy figure of Roger Chillingworth. Hester, shocked by Dimmesdale's deterioration, decides to obtain a release from her vow of silence to her husband. When discussing this with Chillingworth, she says he must cease his obsession with revenge in order to save his own soul.
Several days later, Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, where she removes the scarlet letter from her dress and tells him of her husband and his desire for revenge. She convinces Dimmesdale to leave Boston in secret on a ship to Europe where they can start life anew. Renewed by this plan, the minister seems to gain new energy. Pearl, however, refuses to acknowledge either of them until Hester replaces her symbol of shame on her dress.
Returning to town, Dimmesdale loses heart in their plan: he has become a changed man and knows he is dying. Meanwhile, Hester is told by the captain of the ship on which she arranged passage that Chillingworth will also be a passenger.
On Election Day, Dimmesdale gives what is declared to be one of his most inspired sermons. But as the procession leaves the church, Dimmesdale stumbles and almost falls. Seeing Hester and Pearl in the crowd watching the parade, he climbs upon the scaffold and confesses his sin, dying in Hester's arms. Later, most witnesses swear that they saw a stigma in the form of a scarlet "A" upon his chest, although some deny this statement. Chillingworth, losing his will for revenge, dies shortly thereafter and leaves Pearl a substantial inheritance. It is hinted that Pearl uses this money to travel to Europe, and possibly marries there.
Several years later, Hester returns to her cottage, resumes wearing the scarlet letter, and offers solace to women in similar positions. When she dies, she is buried near the grave of Dimmesdale, and they share a simple slate tombstone with a scarlet "A".
Major themes[edit]
Sin[edit]
The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve because, in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge – specifically, in knowledge of what it means to be immoral. For Hester, the Scarlet Letter is a physical manifestation of her sin and reminder of her painful solitude. She contemplates casting it off to obtain her freedom from an oppressive society and a checkered past as well as the absence of God. Because the society excludes her, she considers the possibility that many of the traditions held up by the Puritan culture are untrue and are not designed to bring her happiness.
As for Dimmesdale, the "cheating minister", his sin gives him "sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his chest vibrate[s] in unison with theirs." His eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy.[2] The narrative of the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is quite in keeping with the oldest and most fully authorized principles in Christian thought. His "Fall" is a descent from apparent grace to his own damnation; he appears to begin in purity but he ends in corruption. The subtlety is that the minister's belief is his own cheating, convincing himself at every stage of his spiritual pilgrimage that he is saved.[3]
The rose bush, its beauty a striking contrast to all that surrounds it – as later the beautifully embroidered scarlet "A" will be held out in part as an invitation to find "some sweet moral blossom" in the ensuing, tragic tale and in part as an image that "the deep heart of nature" (perhaps God) may look more kind on the errant Hester and her child than her Puritan neighbors do. Throughout the work, the nature images contrast with the stark darkness of the Puritans and their systems.[4]
Chillingworth's misshapen body reflects (or symbolizes) the anger in his soul, which builds as the novel progresses, similar to the way Dimmesdale's illness reveals his inner turmoil. The outward man reflects the condition of the heart; an observation thought to be inspired by the deterioration of Edgar Allan Poe, whom Hawthorne "much admired".[4]
Although Pearl is a complex character, her primary function within the novel is as a symbol. Pearl herself is the embodiment of the scarlet letter, and Hester rightly clothes her in a beautiful dress of scarlet, embroidered with gold thread, just like the scarlet letter upon Hester's bosom.[2]
Puritan legalism[edit]
Another theme is the extreme legalism of the Puritans and how Hester chooses not to conform to their rules and beliefs. Hester was rejected by the villagers even though she spent her life doing what she could to help the sick and the poor. Because they rejected her, she spent her life mostly in solitude, and wouldn't go to church.
As a result, she retreats into her own mind and her own thinking. Her thoughts begin to stretch and go beyond what would be considered by the Puritans as safe or even Christian. She still sees her sin, but begins to look on it differently than the villagers ever have. She begins to believe that a person's earthly sins don't necessarily condemn them. She even goes so far as to tell Dimmesdale that their sin has been paid for by their daily penance and that their sin won't keep them from getting to heaven, however, the Puritans believed that such a sin surely condemns.
But Hester had been alienated from the Puritan society, both in her physical life and spiritual life. When Dimmesdale dies, she knows she has to move on because she can no longer conform to the Puritans' strictness. Her thinking is free from religious bounds and she has established her own different moral standards and beliefs.[2]
Publication history[edit]



 Hester Prynne at the stocks, an engraved illustration from an 1878 edition
It was long thought that Hawthorne originally planned The Scarlet Letter to be a shorter novelette which was part of a collection to be named Old Time Legends and that his publisher, James Thomas Fields, convinced him to expand the work to a full-length novel.[5] This is not true: Fields persuaded Hawthorne to publish The Scarlet Letter alone (along with the earlier-completed "Custom House" essay) but he had nothing to do with the length of the story.[6] Hawthorne's wife Sophia later challenged Fields' claims a little inexactly: "he has made the absurd boast that he was the sole cause of the Scarlet Letter being published!" She noted that her husband's friend Edwin Percy Whipple, a critic, approached Fields to consider its publication.[7] The manuscript was written at the Peter Edgerley House in Salem, Massachusetts, still standing as a private residence at 14 Mall Street. It was the last Salem home where the Hawthorne family lived.[8]
The Scarlet Letter was published as a novel in the spring of 1850 by Ticknor & Fields, beginning Hawthorne's most lucrative period.[9] When he delivered the final pages to Fields in February 1850, Hawthorne said that "some portions of the book are powerfully written" but doubted it would be popular.[10] In fact, the book was an instant best-seller[11] though, over fourteen years, it brought its author only $1,500.[9] Its initial publication brought wide protest from natives of Salem, who did not approve of how Hawthorne had depicted them in his introduction "The Custom-House". A 2,500-copy second edition of The Scarlet Letter included a preface by Hawthorne dated March 30, 1850, that stated he had decided to reprint his introduction "without the change of a word... The only remarkable features of the sketch are its frank and genuine good-humor... As to enmity, or ill-feeling of any kind, personal or political, he utterly disclaims such motives".[12]
The Scarlet Letter was also one of the first mass-produced books in America. In the mid-nineteenth century, bookbinders of home-grown literature typically hand-made their books and sold them in small quantities. The first mechanized printing of The Scarlet Letter, 2,500 volumes, sold out within ten days,[9] and was widely read and discussed to an extent not much experienced in the young country up until that time. Copies of the first edition are often sought by collectors as rare books, and may fetch up to around $18,000 USD.
Critical response[edit]
On its publication, critic Evert Augustus Duyckinck, a friend of Hawthorne's, said he preferred the author's Washington Irving-like tales. Another friend, critic Edwin Percy Whipple, objected to the novel's "morbid intensity" with dense psychological details, writing that the book "is therefore apt to become, like Hawthorne, too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of them".[13] Most literary critics praised the book but religious leaders took issue with the novel's subject matter.[14] Orestes Brownson complained that Hawthorne did not understand Christianity, confession, and remorse.[15] A review in The Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register concluded the author "perpetrates bad morals."[16]
On the other hand, 20th-century writer D. H. Lawrence said that there could be not be a more perfect work of the American imagination than The Scarlet Letter.[17] Henry James once said of the novel, "It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary; it has in the highest degree that merit which I have spoken of as the mark of Hawthorne's best things—an indefinable purity and lightness of conception...One can often return to it; it supports familiarity and has the inexhaustible charm and mystery of great works of art."[17][18]
The book's immediate and lasting success are due to the way it addresses spiritual and moral issues from a uniquely American standpoint.[citation needed] In 1850, adultery was an extremely risqué subject, but because Hawthorne had the support of the New England literary establishment, it passed easily into the realm of appropriate reading. It has been said[who?] that this work represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius, dense with terse descriptions. It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme.[19]
Allusions[edit]
The following are historical and Biblical references that appear in The Scarlet Letter.
Anne Hutchinson, mentioned in Chapter 1, The Prison Door, was a religious dissenter (1591–1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the Puritans and exiled from Boston and moved to Rhode Island.[4]
Ann Hibbins, who historically was executed for witchcraft in Boston in 1656, is depicted in The Scarlet Letter as a witch who tries to tempt Prynne to the practice of witchcraft.[20][21]
Richard Bellingham, who historically was the governor of Massachusetts and deputy governor at the time of Hibbins's execution, was depicted in The Scarlet Letter as the brother of Ann Hibbins.
Martin Luther (1483–1545) was a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
Sir Thomas Overbury and Dr. Forman were the subjects of an adultery scandal in 1615 in England. Dr. Forman was charged with trying to poison his adulterous wife and her lover. Overbury was a friend of the lover and was perhaps poisoned.
John Winthrop (1588–1649), second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
King's Chapel Burying Ground, mentioned in the final paragraph, exists; the Elizabeth Pain gravestone is traditionally considered an inspiration for the protagonists' grave.
The story of King David and Bathsheba is depicted in the tapestry in Mr. Dimmesdale's room (chapter 9). (See II Samuel 11-12 for the Biblical story.)
John Eliot, (c. 1604–1690) was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians whom some called “the apostle to the Indians." He is referred to as "the Apostle Eliot" at the beginning of Chapter 16, A Forest Walk, whom Dimmesdale has gone to visit.
In popular culture[edit]
See also: Film adaptations of The Scarlet Letter and The Scarlet Letter in popular culture
The Scarlet Letter has been adapted to numerous films, plays and operas and remains frequently referenced in modern popular culture.
See also[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal
Boston in fiction
Colonial history of the United States
Illegitimacy in fiction
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Sinner, Victim, Object, Winner | ANCHORS: JACKI LYDEN". National Public Radio (NPR). March 2, 2008, Sunday. SHOW: Weekend All Things Considered. Check date values in: |date= (help) (quote in article refers to it as his "masterwork", listen to the audio to hear it the original reference to it being his "magnum opus")
2.^ Jump up to: a b c "The Scarlet Letter". Sparknotes. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
3.Jump up ^ Davidson, E.H. 1963. Dimmesdale's Fall. The New England Quarterly 36: 358–370
4.^ Jump up to: a b c The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - CliffNotes from Yahoo!Education[dead link]
5.Jump up ^ Charvat, William. Literary Publishing in America: 1790–1850. Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1993 (first published 1959): 56. ISBN 0-87023-801-9
6.Jump up ^ Parker, Hershel. "The Germ Theory of THE SCARLET LETTER," Hawthorne Society Newsletter 11 (Spring 1985) 11-13.
7.Jump up ^ Wineapple, Brenda. Hawthorne: A Life. Random House: New York, 2003: 209–210. ISBN 0-8129-7291-0.
8.Jump up ^ Wright, John Hardy. Hawthorne's Haunts in New England. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2008: 47. ISBN 978-1-59629-425-7.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c McFarland, Philip. Hawthorne in Concord. New York: Grove Press, 2004: 136. ISBN 0-8021-1776-7
10.Jump up ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 299. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
11.Jump up ^ Cheevers, Susan (2006). American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press. Large print edition. p. 181. ISBN 0-7862-9521-X
12.Jump up ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 301. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
13.Jump up ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 301–302. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
14.Jump up ^ Schreiner, Samuel A., Jr. The Concord Quartet: Alcott, Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, and the Friendship That Freed the American Mind. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006: 158. ISBN 978-0-471-64663-1
15.Jump up ^ Crowley, J. Donald, and Orestes Brownson. Chapter 50: [Orestes Brownson], From A Review In Brownson's Quarterly Review." Nathaniel Hawthorne (0-415-15930-X) (1997): 175–179. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.
16.Jump up ^ Wineapple, Brenda. Hawthorne: A Life. Random House: New York, 2003: 217. ISBN 0-8129-7291-0.
17.^ Jump up to: a b Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 284. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
18.Jump up ^ James, Henry (1901). Hawthorne. Harper. pp. 108, 116.
19.Jump up ^ "The Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretations". Uwm.edu. 2001-10-09. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
20.Jump up ^ Schwab, Gabriele. The mirror and the killer-queen: otherness in literary language. Indiana University Press. 1996. Pg. 120.
21.Jump up ^ Hunter, Dianne, Seduction and theory: readings of gender, representation, and rhetoric. University of Illinois Press. 1989. Pgs. 186-187
Bibliography[edit]
Brodhead, Richard H. Hawthorne, Melville, and the Novel. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1973.
Brown, Gillian. "'Hawthorne, Inheritance, and Women's Property", Studies in the Novel 23.1 (Spring 1991): 107-18.
Cañadas, Ivan. "A New Source for the Title and Some Themes in The Scarlet Letter". Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 32.1 (Spring 2006): 43–51.
Korobkin, Laura Haft. "The Scarlet Letter of the Law: Hawthorne and Criminal Justice". Novel: a Forum on Fiction 30.2 (Winter 1997): 193–217.
Gartner, Matthew. "The Scarlet Letter and the Book of Esther: Scriptural Letter and Narrative Life". Studies in American Fiction 23.2 (Fall 1995): 131-51.
Newberry, Frederick. Tradition and Disinheritance in The Scarlet Letter". ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 23 (1977), 1–26; repr. in: The Scarlet Letter. W. W. Norton, 1988: pp. 231-48.
Reid, Alfred S. Sir Thomas Overbury's Vision (1616) and Other English Sources of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter. Gainesville, FL: Scholar's Facsimiles and Reprints, 1957.
Reid, Bethany. "Narrative of the Captivity and Redemption of Roger Prynne: Rereading The Scarlet Letter". Studies in the Novel 33.3 (Fall 2001): 247-67.
Ryskamp, Charles. "The New England Sources of The Scarlet Letter". American Literature 31 (1959): 257–72; repr. in: "The Scarlet Letter", 3rd edn. Norton, 1988: 191–204.
Savoy, Eric. "'Filial Duty': Reading the Patriarchal Body in 'The Custom House'". Studies in the Novel 25.4 (Winter 1993): 397–427.
Sohn, Jeonghee. Rereading Hawthorne's Romance: The Problematics of Happy Endings. American Studies Monograph Series, 26. Seoul: American Studies Institute, Seoul National University, 2001; 2002.
Stewart, Randall (Ed.) The American Notebooks of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Based upon the original Manuscripts in the Piermont Morgan Library. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1932.
Waggoner, Hyatt H. Hawthorne: A Critical Study, 3rd edn. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
External links[edit]
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Scarlet Letter

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Scarlet Letter.
Hawthorne in Salem Website Page on Hester and Pearl in The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter at Project Gutenberg
D. H. Lawrence - Studies in Classic American Literature - Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter
LibriVox Recording of The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter Review


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The Scarlet Letter
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Not to be confused with The Scarlet Letters.
For other uses, see Scarlet Letter (disambiguation).


 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (September 2014)
The Scarlet Letter
Title page for The Scarlet Letter.jpg
Title page, first edition, 1850

Author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Genre
Romantic, Historical
Publisher
Ticknor, Reed & Fields

Publication date
 1850
Pages
180
The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and is considered to be his magnum opus.[1] Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Major themes 2.1 Sin
2.2 Puritan legalism
3 Publication history
4 Critical response
5 Allusions
6 In popular culture
7 See also
8 References 8.1 Notes
8.2 Bibliography
9 External links

Plot[edit]



 In this painting, The Scarlet Letter by Hugues Merle, Hester Prynne and Pearl are in the foreground and Arthur Dimmesdale and Roger Chillingworth are in the background.
On June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young woman found guilty of adultery. She is required to wear a scarlet "A" ("A" is the symbol of adultery ) on her dress to shame her. She must stand on the scaffold for three hours, to be exposed to public humiliation. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses.
As Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as her long-lost husband, who has been presumed lost at sea. When the husband sees Hester's shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's adultery. He angrily exclaims that the child's father, the partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished and vows to find the man. He chooses a new name – Roger Chillingworth – to aid him in his plan.
Reverend John Wilson and the minister of Hester's church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question the woman, but she refuses to name her lover. After she returns to her prison cell, the jailer brings in Roger Chillingworth, a physician, to calm Hester and her child with his roots and herbs. Dismissing the jailer, Chillingworth first treats Pearl. He and Hester have an open conversation regarding their marriage and the fact that they were both in the wrong. Her lover, however, is another matter and he demands to know who it is; Hester refuses to divulge such information. He accepts this, stating that he will find out anyway, and forces her to hide that he is her husband. If she ever reveals him, he warns her, he will destroy the child's father. Hester agrees to Chillingworth's terms although she suspects she will regret it.
Following her release from prison, Hester settles in a cottage at the edge of town and earns a meager living with her needlework. She lives a quiet, somber life with her daughter, Pearl. She is troubled by her daughter's unusual fascination by Hester's scarlet "A". As she grows older, Pearl becomes capricious and unruly. Her conduct starts rumors, and, not surprisingly, the church members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester.
Hester, hearing rumors that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham. With him are Reverends Wilson and Dimmesdale. When Wilson questions Pearl about who created her, she states that she was not made at all, but was instead plucked from a rosebush by the prison, despite knowing the correct response. This jeopardizes her guardianship. Hester appeals to Reverend Dimmesdale in desperation, and the minister persuades the governor to let Pearl remain in Hester's care.
Because Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail, the townspeople are happy to have Chillingworth, a newly arrived physician, take up lodgings with their beloved minister. Being in such close contact with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is the result of some unconfessed guilt. He applies psychological pressure to the minister because he suspects Dimmesdale to be Pearl's father. One evening, pulling the sleeping Dimmesdale's vestment aside, Chillingworth sees a symbol that represents his shame on the minister's pale chest.
Tormented by his guilty conscience, Dimmesdale goes to the square where Hester was punished years earlier. Climbing the scaffold, he sees Hester and Pearl and calls to them to join him. He admits his guilt to them but cannot find the courage to do so publicly. Suddenly Dimmesdale sees a meteor forming what appears to be a gigantic A in the sky; simultaneously, Pearl points toward the shadowy figure of Roger Chillingworth. Hester, shocked by Dimmesdale's deterioration, decides to obtain a release from her vow of silence to her husband. When discussing this with Chillingworth, she says he must cease his obsession with revenge in order to save his own soul.
Several days later, Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest, where she removes the scarlet letter from her dress and tells him of her husband and his desire for revenge. She convinces Dimmesdale to leave Boston in secret on a ship to Europe where they can start life anew. Renewed by this plan, the minister seems to gain new energy. Pearl, however, refuses to acknowledge either of them until Hester replaces her symbol of shame on her dress.
Returning to town, Dimmesdale loses heart in their plan: he has become a changed man and knows he is dying. Meanwhile, Hester is told by the captain of the ship on which she arranged passage that Chillingworth will also be a passenger.
On Election Day, Dimmesdale gives what is declared to be one of his most inspired sermons. But as the procession leaves the church, Dimmesdale stumbles and almost falls. Seeing Hester and Pearl in the crowd watching the parade, he climbs upon the scaffold and confesses his sin, dying in Hester's arms. Later, most witnesses swear that they saw a stigma in the form of a scarlet "A" upon his chest, although some deny this statement. Chillingworth, losing his will for revenge, dies shortly thereafter and leaves Pearl a substantial inheritance. It is hinted that Pearl uses this money to travel to Europe, and possibly marries there.
Several years later, Hester returns to her cottage, resumes wearing the scarlet letter, and offers solace to women in similar positions. When she dies, she is buried near the grave of Dimmesdale, and they share a simple slate tombstone with a scarlet "A".
Major themes[edit]
Sin[edit]
The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve because, in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge – specifically, in knowledge of what it means to be immoral. For Hester, the Scarlet Letter is a physical manifestation of her sin and reminder of her painful solitude. She contemplates casting it off to obtain her freedom from an oppressive society and a checkered past as well as the absence of God. Because the society excludes her, she considers the possibility that many of the traditions held up by the Puritan culture are untrue and are not designed to bring her happiness.
As for Dimmesdale, the "cheating minister", his sin gives him "sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his chest vibrate[s] in unison with theirs." His eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy.[2] The narrative of the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is quite in keeping with the oldest and most fully authorized principles in Christian thought. His "Fall" is a descent from apparent grace to his own damnation; he appears to begin in purity but he ends in corruption. The subtlety is that the minister's belief is his own cheating, convincing himself at every stage of his spiritual pilgrimage that he is saved.[3]
The rose bush, its beauty a striking contrast to all that surrounds it – as later the beautifully embroidered scarlet "A" will be held out in part as an invitation to find "some sweet moral blossom" in the ensuing, tragic tale and in part as an image that "the deep heart of nature" (perhaps God) may look more kind on the errant Hester and her child than her Puritan neighbors do. Throughout the work, the nature images contrast with the stark darkness of the Puritans and their systems.[4]
Chillingworth's misshapen body reflects (or symbolizes) the anger in his soul, which builds as the novel progresses, similar to the way Dimmesdale's illness reveals his inner turmoil. The outward man reflects the condition of the heart; an observation thought to be inspired by the deterioration of Edgar Allan Poe, whom Hawthorne "much admired".[4]
Although Pearl is a complex character, her primary function within the novel is as a symbol. Pearl herself is the embodiment of the scarlet letter, and Hester rightly clothes her in a beautiful dress of scarlet, embroidered with gold thread, just like the scarlet letter upon Hester's bosom.[2]
Puritan legalism[edit]
Another theme is the extreme legalism of the Puritans and how Hester chooses not to conform to their rules and beliefs. Hester was rejected by the villagers even though she spent her life doing what she could to help the sick and the poor. Because they rejected her, she spent her life mostly in solitude, and wouldn't go to church.
As a result, she retreats into her own mind and her own thinking. Her thoughts begin to stretch and go beyond what would be considered by the Puritans as safe or even Christian. She still sees her sin, but begins to look on it differently than the villagers ever have. She begins to believe that a person's earthly sins don't necessarily condemn them. She even goes so far as to tell Dimmesdale that their sin has been paid for by their daily penance and that their sin won't keep them from getting to heaven, however, the Puritans believed that such a sin surely condemns.
But Hester had been alienated from the Puritan society, both in her physical life and spiritual life. When Dimmesdale dies, she knows she has to move on because she can no longer conform to the Puritans' strictness. Her thinking is free from religious bounds and she has established her own different moral standards and beliefs.[2]
Publication history[edit]



 Hester Prynne at the stocks, an engraved illustration from an 1878 edition
It was long thought that Hawthorne originally planned The Scarlet Letter to be a shorter novelette which was part of a collection to be named Old Time Legends and that his publisher, James Thomas Fields, convinced him to expand the work to a full-length novel.[5] This is not true: Fields persuaded Hawthorne to publish The Scarlet Letter alone (along with the earlier-completed "Custom House" essay) but he had nothing to do with the length of the story.[6] Hawthorne's wife Sophia later challenged Fields' claims a little inexactly: "he has made the absurd boast that he was the sole cause of the Scarlet Letter being published!" She noted that her husband's friend Edwin Percy Whipple, a critic, approached Fields to consider its publication.[7] The manuscript was written at the Peter Edgerley House in Salem, Massachusetts, still standing as a private residence at 14 Mall Street. It was the last Salem home where the Hawthorne family lived.[8]
The Scarlet Letter was published as a novel in the spring of 1850 by Ticknor & Fields, beginning Hawthorne's most lucrative period.[9] When he delivered the final pages to Fields in February 1850, Hawthorne said that "some portions of the book are powerfully written" but doubted it would be popular.[10] In fact, the book was an instant best-seller[11] though, over fourteen years, it brought its author only $1,500.[9] Its initial publication brought wide protest from natives of Salem, who did not approve of how Hawthorne had depicted them in his introduction "The Custom-House". A 2,500-copy second edition of The Scarlet Letter included a preface by Hawthorne dated March 30, 1850, that stated he had decided to reprint his introduction "without the change of a word... The only remarkable features of the sketch are its frank and genuine good-humor... As to enmity, or ill-feeling of any kind, personal or political, he utterly disclaims such motives".[12]
The Scarlet Letter was also one of the first mass-produced books in America. In the mid-nineteenth century, bookbinders of home-grown literature typically hand-made their books and sold them in small quantities. The first mechanized printing of The Scarlet Letter, 2,500 volumes, sold out within ten days,[9] and was widely read and discussed to an extent not much experienced in the young country up until that time. Copies of the first edition are often sought by collectors as rare books, and may fetch up to around $18,000 USD.
Critical response[edit]
On its publication, critic Evert Augustus Duyckinck, a friend of Hawthorne's, said he preferred the author's Washington Irving-like tales. Another friend, critic Edwin Percy Whipple, objected to the novel's "morbid intensity" with dense psychological details, writing that the book "is therefore apt to become, like Hawthorne, too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of them".[13] Most literary critics praised the book but religious leaders took issue with the novel's subject matter.[14] Orestes Brownson complained that Hawthorne did not understand Christianity, confession, and remorse.[15] A review in The Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register concluded the author "perpetrates bad morals."[16]
On the other hand, 20th-century writer D. H. Lawrence said that there could be not be a more perfect work of the American imagination than The Scarlet Letter.[17] Henry James once said of the novel, "It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary; it has in the highest degree that merit which I have spoken of as the mark of Hawthorne's best things—an indefinable purity and lightness of conception...One can often return to it; it supports familiarity and has the inexhaustible charm and mystery of great works of art."[17][18]
The book's immediate and lasting success are due to the way it addresses spiritual and moral issues from a uniquely American standpoint.[citation needed] In 1850, adultery was an extremely risqué subject, but because Hawthorne had the support of the New England literary establishment, it passed easily into the realm of appropriate reading. It has been said[who?] that this work represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius, dense with terse descriptions. It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme.[19]
Allusions[edit]
The following are historical and Biblical references that appear in The Scarlet Letter.
Anne Hutchinson, mentioned in Chapter 1, The Prison Door, was a religious dissenter (1591–1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the Puritans and exiled from Boston and moved to Rhode Island.[4]
Ann Hibbins, who historically was executed for witchcraft in Boston in 1656, is depicted in The Scarlet Letter as a witch who tries to tempt Prynne to the practice of witchcraft.[20][21]
Richard Bellingham, who historically was the governor of Massachusetts and deputy governor at the time of Hibbins's execution, was depicted in The Scarlet Letter as the brother of Ann Hibbins.
Martin Luther (1483–1545) was a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
Sir Thomas Overbury and Dr. Forman were the subjects of an adultery scandal in 1615 in England. Dr. Forman was charged with trying to poison his adulterous wife and her lover. Overbury was a friend of the lover and was perhaps poisoned.
John Winthrop (1588–1649), second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
King's Chapel Burying Ground, mentioned in the final paragraph, exists; the Elizabeth Pain gravestone is traditionally considered an inspiration for the protagonists' grave.
The story of King David and Bathsheba is depicted in the tapestry in Mr. Dimmesdale's room (chapter 9). (See II Samuel 11-12 for the Biblical story.)
John Eliot, (c. 1604–1690) was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians whom some called “the apostle to the Indians." He is referred to as "the Apostle Eliot" at the beginning of Chapter 16, A Forest Walk, whom Dimmesdale has gone to visit.
In popular culture[edit]
See also: Film adaptations of The Scarlet Letter and The Scarlet Letter in popular culture
The Scarlet Letter has been adapted to numerous films, plays and operas and remains frequently referenced in modern popular culture.
See also[edit]

Portal icon Novels portal
Boston in fiction
Colonial history of the United States
Illegitimacy in fiction
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "Sinner, Victim, Object, Winner | ANCHORS: JACKI LYDEN". National Public Radio (NPR). March 2, 2008, Sunday. SHOW: Weekend All Things Considered. Check date values in: |date= (help) (quote in article refers to it as his "masterwork", listen to the audio to hear it the original reference to it being his "magnum opus")
2.^ Jump up to: a b c "The Scarlet Letter". Sparknotes. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
3.Jump up ^ Davidson, E.H. 1963. Dimmesdale's Fall. The New England Quarterly 36: 358–370
4.^ Jump up to: a b c The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne - CliffNotes from Yahoo!Education[dead link]
5.Jump up ^ Charvat, William. Literary Publishing in America: 1790–1850. Amherst, MA: The University of Massachusetts Press, 1993 (first published 1959): 56. ISBN 0-87023-801-9
6.Jump up ^ Parker, Hershel. "The Germ Theory of THE SCARLET LETTER," Hawthorne Society Newsletter 11 (Spring 1985) 11-13.
7.Jump up ^ Wineapple, Brenda. Hawthorne: A Life. Random House: New York, 2003: 209–210. ISBN 0-8129-7291-0.
8.Jump up ^ Wright, John Hardy. Hawthorne's Haunts in New England. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2008: 47. ISBN 978-1-59629-425-7.
9.^ Jump up to: a b c McFarland, Philip. Hawthorne in Concord. New York: Grove Press, 2004: 136. ISBN 0-8021-1776-7
10.Jump up ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 299. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
11.Jump up ^ Cheevers, Susan (2006). American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press. Large print edition. p. 181. ISBN 0-7862-9521-X
12.Jump up ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 301. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
13.Jump up ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 301–302. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
14.Jump up ^ Schreiner, Samuel A., Jr. The Concord Quartet: Alcott, Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, and the Friendship That Freed the American Mind. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006: 158. ISBN 978-0-471-64663-1
15.Jump up ^ Crowley, J. Donald, and Orestes Brownson. Chapter 50: [Orestes Brownson], From A Review In Brownson's Quarterly Review." Nathaniel Hawthorne (0-415-15930-X) (1997): 175–179. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.
16.Jump up ^ Wineapple, Brenda. Hawthorne: A Life. Random House: New York, 2003: 217. ISBN 0-8129-7291-0.
17.^ Jump up to: a b Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 284. ISBN 0-87745-332-2
18.Jump up ^ James, Henry (1901). Hawthorne. Harper. pp. 108, 116.
19.Jump up ^ "The Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretations". Uwm.edu. 2001-10-09. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
20.Jump up ^ Schwab, Gabriele. The mirror and the killer-queen: otherness in literary language. Indiana University Press. 1996. Pg. 120.
21.Jump up ^ Hunter, Dianne, Seduction and theory: readings of gender, representation, and rhetoric. University of Illinois Press. 1989. Pgs. 186-187
Bibliography[edit]
Brodhead, Richard H. Hawthorne, Melville, and the Novel. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1973.
Brown, Gillian. "'Hawthorne, Inheritance, and Women's Property", Studies in the Novel 23.1 (Spring 1991): 107-18.
Cañadas, Ivan. "A New Source for the Title and Some Themes in The Scarlet Letter". Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 32.1 (Spring 2006): 43–51.
Korobkin, Laura Haft. "The Scarlet Letter of the Law: Hawthorne and Criminal Justice". Novel: a Forum on Fiction 30.2 (Winter 1997): 193–217.
Gartner, Matthew. "The Scarlet Letter and the Book of Esther: Scriptural Letter and Narrative Life". Studies in American Fiction 23.2 (Fall 1995): 131-51.
Newberry, Frederick. Tradition and Disinheritance in The Scarlet Letter". ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 23 (1977), 1–26; repr. in: The Scarlet Letter. W. W. Norton, 1988: pp. 231-48.
Reid, Alfred S. Sir Thomas Overbury's Vision (1616) and Other English Sources of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter. Gainesville, FL: Scholar's Facsimiles and Reprints, 1957.
Reid, Bethany. "Narrative of the Captivity and Redemption of Roger Prynne: Rereading The Scarlet Letter". Studies in the Novel 33.3 (Fall 2001): 247-67.
Ryskamp, Charles. "The New England Sources of The Scarlet Letter". American Literature 31 (1959): 257–72; repr. in: "The Scarlet Letter", 3rd edn. Norton, 1988: 191–204.
Savoy, Eric. "'Filial Duty': Reading the Patriarchal Body in 'The Custom House'". Studies in the Novel 25.4 (Winter 1993): 397–427.
Sohn, Jeonghee. Rereading Hawthorne's Romance: The Problematics of Happy Endings. American Studies Monograph Series, 26. Seoul: American Studies Institute, Seoul National University, 2001; 2002.
Stewart, Randall (Ed.) The American Notebooks of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Based upon the original Manuscripts in the Piermont Morgan Library. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1932.
Waggoner, Hyatt H. Hawthorne: A Critical Study, 3rd edn. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.
External links[edit]
 Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Scarlet Letter

 Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Scarlet Letter.
Hawthorne in Salem Website Page on Hester and Pearl in The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter at Project Gutenberg
D. H. Lawrence - Studies in Classic American Literature - Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter
LibriVox Recording of The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter Review


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The Scarlet Letter (1995 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


The Scarlet Letter
Scarletlettermovieposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Roland Joffé
Produced by
Andrew G. Vajna
Screenplay by
Douglas Day Stewart
Based on
The Scarlet Letter by
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Starring
Demi Moore
Gary Oldman
Robert Duvall
Edward Hardwicke
Music by
John Barry
Cinematography
Alex Thomson
Edited by
Thom Noble
Production
 company
Hollywood Pictures
Cinergi Pictures

Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
October 13, 1995

Running time
135 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$46 million[1]
Box office
$10,382,407[1]
The Scarlet Letter is a 1995 American film adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel of the same name. It was directed by Roland Joffé and stars Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall. This version was "freely adapted" from Hawthorne[2] and deviated from the original story. It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards at the 1995 ceremony, winning "Worst Remake or Sequel."


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Score
5 Reception
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
It is 1667 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and an uneasy truce exists between local Puritans and their neighbours, the Algonquian. Chief Metacomet (Eric Schweig) succeeds his father Massasoit as head of the latter just as a new colonist, Hester Prynne (Demi Moore) arrives overseas from England. As Hester waits for her husband - who is due to follow shortly after - she falls for a young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale (Gary Oldman). When it emerges that Roger Prynne has likely been killed by Native Americans, they become inseparable lovers.
Finding herself pregnant with Dimmesdale's child, Hester is imprisoned for her indiscretion. The minister intends to declare his sin and face execution, but Hester convinces him otherwise. Sentenced to wear a scarlet "A" for adultery, Prynne is ostracized by the public, and a drummer boy charged to follow her whenever she comes to town. Meanwhile, Hester's husband (Robert Duvall) resurfaces, having spent his absence in captivity as a prisoner of war. Learning of the scandal, he adopts the fictitious guise of "Dr. Roger Chillingworth" and begins seeking out her paramour.
The physician eventually murders a male settler leaving Hester's home and scalps him in an effort to implicate Algonquian warriors. Infuriated by this atrocity, the colonists declare war on the Indians and Roger, distraught by the severe consequences of his action, promptly commits suicide. Hester is nearly hanged with other undesirables in the ensuing outrage, but Dimmesdale saves her neck by confessing that he is the father of her child. As he takes her place on the gallows, the Algonquian attack Massachusetts Bay; both sides sustain heavy casualties. The Puritans are more concerned with concealing the conflict from England than harassing Hester any further; she finally abandons her scarlet letter and departs with Dimmesdale for Carolina.
Cast[edit]
Demi Moore as Hester Prynne
Gary Oldman as Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale
Robert Duvall as Roger Chillingworth
Edward Hardwicke as John Bellingham
Robert Prosky as Horace Stonehall
Roy Dotrice as Rev. Thomas Cheever
Joan Plowright as Harriet Hibbons
Larissa Laskin as Goody Mortimer
Amy Wright as Goody Gotwick
George Aguilar as Johnny Sassamon
Tim Woodward as Brewster Stonehall
Dana Ivey as Meredith Stonehall
Sheldon Peters Wolfchild as Moskeegee
Eric Schweig as Metacomet
Kristin Fairlie as Faith Stonehall
Sarah Campbell as Prudence Stonehall
Kennetch Charlette as Tarratine Chief
Jodhi May as Voice of Pearl
Production[edit]

Question book-new.svg
 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)



Shelburne, Nova Scotia waterfront showing grey paint finishes applied for the 1995 film.
The film was shot in British Columbia on Vancouver Island, in and around Campbell River (Beaverlodge Lands—now Rockland Road and North Island College/Timberline Secondary, Lupin Falls and Myra Falls in Strathcona Provincial Park, Little Oyster River, and White River), and in the Nova Scotia towns of Yarmouth and Shelburne in 1994. In Shelburne, the waterfront area was substantially altered to resemble a Puritan New England town in the mid-17th century. Some of the buildings on Dock Street retain the grey-tone paint finishes used for the film.
Score[edit]
Three original scores were written for this film. The first score was composed by Ennio Morricone and was quickly rejected. A second score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, but his music was set aside in lieu of the final score, composed by John Barry. Reportedly, star Demi Moore wanted a score by Barry from the start, so Morricone's and Bernstein's music were not going to be accepted, regardless of quality.
Barry's score was released on CD by Sony Records upon the film's release in 1995. A CD of Bernstein's rejected score was released by Varèse Sarabande in 2008. No recordings of Morricone's score have been released to the public.
Reception[edit]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 14% approval rating, based on 35 reviews.[3] It won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel and was nominated for Worst Actress (Moore), Worst Director, Worst Picture, Worst Screen Couple (Moore and either Duvall or Oldman), Worst Screenplay and Worst Supporting Actor (Duvall).[4] It grossed $10.3 million against a production budget of $50 million.[5]
In response to the negative criticism, and to the new ending, Demi Moore stated: "In truth, not very many people have read the book. The ultimate message of Hester Prynne would have been lost if we'd stayed with the original ending."[this quote needs a citation]
See also[edit]
The Scarlet Letter – the original novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Easy A
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "The Scarlet Letter (1995)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
2.Jump up ^ According to the opening credits
3.Jump up ^ The Scarlet Letter Movie Reviews, Pictures – Rotten Tomatoes
4.Jump up ^ The Scarlet Letter (1995) – Awards
5.Jump up ^ The Scarlet Letter – Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information – The Numbers
External links[edit]
The Scarlet Letter at the Internet Movie Database
The Scarlet Letter at Box Office Mojo
San Francisco Chronicle review
Reading Hawthorne in a gender-biased academy (refers to this film version)


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
The works of Roland Joffé



















[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter











































  


Categories: 1995 films
English-language films
1990s romantic drama films
American romantic drama films
Films directed by Roland Joffé
Films based on The Scarlet Letter
Films shot in Nova Scotia
Films shot in Vancouver
Cinergi Pictures films
Hollywood Pictures films
Film scores by John Barry (composer)








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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter_(1995_film)























The Scarlet Letter (1995 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


The Scarlet Letter
Scarletlettermovieposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Roland Joffé
Produced by
Andrew G. Vajna
Screenplay by
Douglas Day Stewart
Based on
The Scarlet Letter by
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Starring
Demi Moore
Gary Oldman
Robert Duvall
Edward Hardwicke
Music by
John Barry
Cinematography
Alex Thomson
Edited by
Thom Noble
Production
 company
Hollywood Pictures
Cinergi Pictures

Distributed by
Buena Vista Pictures
Release dates
October 13, 1995

Running time
135 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$46 million[1]
Box office
$10,382,407[1]
The Scarlet Letter is a 1995 American film adaptation of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel of the same name. It was directed by Roland Joffé and stars Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall. This version was "freely adapted" from Hawthorne[2] and deviated from the original story. It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards at the 1995 ceremony, winning "Worst Remake or Sequel."


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Score
5 Reception
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
It is 1667 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and an uneasy truce exists between local Puritans and their neighbours, the Algonquian. Chief Metacomet (Eric Schweig) succeeds his father Massasoit as head of the latter just as a new colonist, Hester Prynne (Demi Moore) arrives overseas from England. As Hester waits for her husband - who is due to follow shortly after - she falls for a young minister, Arthur Dimmesdale (Gary Oldman). When it emerges that Roger Prynne has likely been killed by Native Americans, they become inseparable lovers.
Finding herself pregnant with Dimmesdale's child, Hester is imprisoned for her indiscretion. The minister intends to declare his sin and face execution, but Hester convinces him otherwise. Sentenced to wear a scarlet "A" for adultery, Prynne is ostracized by the public, and a drummer boy charged to follow her whenever she comes to town. Meanwhile, Hester's husband (Robert Duvall) resurfaces, having spent his absence in captivity as a prisoner of war. Learning of the scandal, he adopts the fictitious guise of "Dr. Roger Chillingworth" and begins seeking out her paramour.
The physician eventually murders a male settler leaving Hester's home and scalps him in an effort to implicate Algonquian warriors. Infuriated by this atrocity, the colonists declare war on the Indians and Roger, distraught by the severe consequences of his action, promptly commits suicide. Hester is nearly hanged with other undesirables in the ensuing outrage, but Dimmesdale saves her neck by confessing that he is the father of her child. As he takes her place on the gallows, the Algonquian attack Massachusetts Bay; both sides sustain heavy casualties. The Puritans are more concerned with concealing the conflict from England than harassing Hester any further; she finally abandons her scarlet letter and departs with Dimmesdale for Carolina.
Cast[edit]
Demi Moore as Hester Prynne
Gary Oldman as Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale
Robert Duvall as Roger Chillingworth
Edward Hardwicke as John Bellingham
Robert Prosky as Horace Stonehall
Roy Dotrice as Rev. Thomas Cheever
Joan Plowright as Harriet Hibbons
Larissa Laskin as Goody Mortimer
Amy Wright as Goody Gotwick
George Aguilar as Johnny Sassamon
Tim Woodward as Brewster Stonehall
Dana Ivey as Meredith Stonehall
Sheldon Peters Wolfchild as Moskeegee
Eric Schweig as Metacomet
Kristin Fairlie as Faith Stonehall
Sarah Campbell as Prudence Stonehall
Kennetch Charlette as Tarratine Chief
Jodhi May as Voice of Pearl
Production[edit]

Question book-new.svg
 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2010)



Shelburne, Nova Scotia waterfront showing grey paint finishes applied for the 1995 film.
The film was shot in British Columbia on Vancouver Island, in and around Campbell River (Beaverlodge Lands—now Rockland Road and North Island College/Timberline Secondary, Lupin Falls and Myra Falls in Strathcona Provincial Park, Little Oyster River, and White River), and in the Nova Scotia towns of Yarmouth and Shelburne in 1994. In Shelburne, the waterfront area was substantially altered to resemble a Puritan New England town in the mid-17th century. Some of the buildings on Dock Street retain the grey-tone paint finishes used for the film.
Score[edit]
Three original scores were written for this film. The first score was composed by Ennio Morricone and was quickly rejected. A second score was composed by Elmer Bernstein, but his music was set aside in lieu of the final score, composed by John Barry. Reportedly, star Demi Moore wanted a score by Barry from the start, so Morricone's and Bernstein's music were not going to be accepted, regardless of quality.
Barry's score was released on CD by Sony Records upon the film's release in 1995. A CD of Bernstein's rejected score was released by Varèse Sarabande in 2008. No recordings of Morricone's score have been released to the public.
Reception[edit]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 14% approval rating, based on 35 reviews.[3] It won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel and was nominated for Worst Actress (Moore), Worst Director, Worst Picture, Worst Screen Couple (Moore and either Duvall or Oldman), Worst Screenplay and Worst Supporting Actor (Duvall).[4] It grossed $10.3 million against a production budget of $50 million.[5]
In response to the negative criticism, and to the new ending, Demi Moore stated: "In truth, not very many people have read the book. The ultimate message of Hester Prynne would have been lost if we'd stayed with the original ending."[this quote needs a citation]
See also[edit]
The Scarlet Letter – the original novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Easy A
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "The Scarlet Letter (1995)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
2.Jump up ^ According to the opening credits
3.Jump up ^ The Scarlet Letter Movie Reviews, Pictures – Rotten Tomatoes
4.Jump up ^ The Scarlet Letter (1995) – Awards
5.Jump up ^ The Scarlet Letter – Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information – The Numbers
External links[edit]
The Scarlet Letter at the Internet Movie Database
The Scarlet Letter at Box Office Mojo
San Francisco Chronicle review
Reading Hawthorne in a gender-biased academy (refers to this film version)


[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
The works of Roland Joffé



















[show]
v ·
 t ·
 e
 
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter











































  


Categories: 1995 films
English-language films
1990s romantic drama films
American romantic drama films
Films directed by Roland Joffé
Films based on The Scarlet Letter
Films shot in Nova Scotia
Films shot in Vancouver
Cinergi Pictures films
Hollywood Pictures films
Film scores by John Barry (composer)








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Log in



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Talk









Read

Edit

View history

















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Español
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Português
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Edit links
This page was last modified on 29 October 2014 at 01:04.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.
Privacy policy
About Wikipedia
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Contact Wikipedia
Developers
Mobile view
Wikimedia Foundation
Powered by MediaWiki
   
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scarlet_Letter_(1995_film)