hours. People like Governor Bellingham try to make Hester to tell the name of the baby’s
father but she does not say anything about him and so she receives the Scarlet Letter
shown in a red A that she has to wear on her breast for the rest of her life. While she is
standing on the scaffold, her husband, Roger Chillingworth, comes into town and sees her
being punished in front of the people of Boston.
After the three hours, Hester has to go back into the prison and because now there is a
doctor in town, Roger Chillingworth is asked to see her. As soon as the door closes
behind him, he starts to check her and the baby and gives both some medicine. Then he
talks about things that happened and he says that their relationship is balanced. He means
that he married Hester, being an old man who could never be a good husband and make
her happy, and now she received a baby from another man. Hester has to promise him
that she will not tell that Roger Chillingworth is her husband and then he leaves the
prison. After days, Hester gets out of the prison but she is not allowed to live in town so
she goes into a little house out of town by the sea and lives there with her daughter Pearl.
Life is hard for Hester; she is no longer accepted in town; everybody looks at her and the
letter A, which shows what she has done. She earns some money by selling her
needlework but that is just enough to survive.
Reverend Dimmesdale lives his life and he punishes himself because of what he has
done. Roger Chillingworth follows him all the time because he wants to find out who the
father of Pearl is and he thinks it is the Reverend. Arthur’s health gets worse and so the
doctor has more reason to watch him all the time.
Hester decides to tell Arthur that Chillingworth is her husband and so she talks to her
husband to ask for permission. She tells him that his revenge is killing him.
One day, Pearl and Hester are playing in the forest and Hester sees Arthur. She walks
over to him while pearl stays back playing by herself. Hester tells Arthur the truth and
asks him to forgive her and they decide to go to Great Britain and start a new life
together. This changes the minister and he seems to start feeling better and to show that
she really wants to start over, Hester takes off the A and puts her hair down. When Pearl
sees her mother like that she screams and tells her mother to put the A back on. Arthur
goes back into town and Pearl and Hester go home.
A few days later, the Election Day is in town to find a new governor and the man who
will lead the ship to England tells her Hester Prynne that her husband Roger
Chillingworth will be on the same ship. Hester realizes that she and Arthur can never start
a new life together because he seems not even to be able to look at her in public. After the
mess, Dimmesdale goes onto the scaffold and shows the punishment on his breast to the
public and dies later.
Hester and Pearl leave Boston and Chillingworth dies. Years later Hester comes back
and dies in Boston. She is buried next to Arthur Dimmesdale and all that divides the two
graves is a stick in the ground and all that is on this stick is the red letter A.
The novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne was shown in two movies, first in and then in
1995.The movies are quite different.
The first one follows nearly exactly the novel. It actually starts by showing Nathaniel
Hawthorne at his working place when he finds a little package. In there is some piece of
nice needlework showing the letter A. This first part of the movie shows the viewer how
the author got the idea for his story. The story itself starts in front of the prison door
where Hester comes out with the baby in her arms. The movie is a little dry and does not
really show any feelings. It shows the sad end like in the novel when Dimmesdale dies
and Hester leaves Boston.
The second movie is different from the novel, and many things are added to it. It starts
with the arrival of Hester Prynne in Boston. It shows how she starts a new life in the
house at the coast out of town all by herself, which was quite unusual at this time and
shows her to be a strong woman. It also shows how the friendship of her and Arthur
Dimmesdale started and how it grows and goes on through the story. Added things are for
the example the “war” between the people of Boston and the Indians, the fact that Hester
Prynne is supposed to be hanged because of witchcraft and that Hester has a little girl
who helps her in and around the house, which is killed later in the story. The red bird,
which also had a role in the earlier movie, plays a bigger role in the later movie and also
does the fact that Mister Chillingworth lived with the Indians before he came to Boston.
Another thing is that this movie has a happy ending. When Hester is supposed to be
hanged, Arthur speaks out for her and tells the truth and he says that he should be hanged
instead of her. A few moments later when a man is about to hang Arthur, the Indians
attack the town and many people die. Arthur, Hester and Pearl survive and live together
till Arthur dies a few years later.
I personally prefer the second movie. It shows a lot more how important the friendship
of Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne really was just by showing how it all started. It
shows a lot more feelings and I think that is actually how it should be in a love story. It
also shows more about little facts and makes the whole story clear to the viewer. I like the
happy ending in the second movie. I think it shows very well how Arthur and Hester
finally won the battle against the crowd and could live together so that Pearl could get to
know her father. By not following the book in everything and adding some little things, it
makes this a good movie for people of this time.
