The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hello Books Lovers,
every now and then I throw myself into reading some classic. I had the opportunity to read Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter thanks to Sperling & Kupfer who relaunched, in stunning pickwick versions, some of the most loved classics including Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Madame Bovary and many others that I recommend you to get, both for reading that for collection, in hand they are wonderful.
Reading The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was interesting. Interesting for various reasons. For the story, which little by little progressing in reading started getting more and more sense and completeness, for the smooth writing, and also for the originality, not so much in terms of the story itself, but for how it is written. In itself it is also a very short book, it didn’t take me long to read it, sometimes I used the reading of the scarlet letter to alternate and detach myself from other readings.
Do I recommend it? Yes, but only if you like contemporary novels, first of all, then I recommend it even if you like those readings where the story is discovered little by little. With each chapter a new piece is revealed to add to the plot. The history of this book is extensive, but it can be said that almost everything revolves around this scarlet letter, a letter A sewn onto a dress. I don’t give any other details because they would be spoilers.
But with each chapter something is discovered of the meaning of this letter which is seen as a sign of evil for its meaning, worn by a woman who is in prison because she is accused of adultery. Men and women have pointed the finger at her and the real mystery is finding out who the real father of her newborn baby is.
Returning instead to talking about the edition, we all know the pickwicks, they are small and practical, therefore also perfect for traveling. Because yes, as I have faced this reading, it is not so much a story to read in itself, but to read in those moments you might need to occupy space between one thing and another.
Let’s say that the plot is on the whole what I told you, but I also leave you the official one 🙂
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Containing a number of religious and historic allusions, the book explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
Its great burden is the weight of unacknowledged sin as seen in the remorse and cowardice and suffering of the Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale. Contrasted with his concealed agony is the constant confession, conveyed by the letter, which is forced upon Hester, and has a double effect, — a healthful one, working beneficently, and making her helpful and benevolent, tolerant and thoughtful ; and an unhealthful one, which by the great emphasis placed on her transgression, the keeping her forever under its ban and isolating her from her fellows, prepares her to break away from the long repression and lapse again into sin when she plans her flight. Roger Chillingworth is an embodiment of subtle and refined revenge.
The book though corresponding in its tone and burden to some of the shorter stories, had a more startling and dramatic character, and a strangeness, which at once took hold of a larger public than any of those had attracted. Though imperfectly comprehended, and even misunderstood in some quarters, it was seen to have a new and unique quality; and Hawthorne’s reputation became national.
