Scarlet Letter Book Vs Movie Essay
Movie directors often use the plot from a famous novel to create a movie. Director's change the plot to make it more captivating for the audience by leaving out important details or adding scenes that were not in the book. However, in the 1979 Scarlet Letter mini-series important details are similar to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter. Modernization is one way to captivate audiences. Therefore, many directors change the time period of the movie to better relate to people. However, the 1979 mini-series remained faithful to the setting and time period of Hawthorne’s original novel. The movie presented the community as strong Puritans. Their language and clothing resembled the seventh century. As expected, they had strong Puritan values and strongly ridiculed Hester
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for her sin. Hawthorne wrote, “this woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die..”(pg.39). In the mini-series, the community judged Hester for her sin, and believed she deserved punishment by death. . The Puritan communities ridicule is significant because of the effect it had on Hester and Dimmesdale. For Hester, it encouraged her to wear her sin without shame. However, the guilt caused Dimmesdale to be ill. The threat of ridicule and shunning from the Puritan church lead Dimmesdale to hide from him sin. . Gilts it over him and eventually cost him his life. Without a judgmental, strict Puritan society, Dimmesdale would not hide from his sin and punish himself physically.
The mini-series additionally kept the physical characteristics of the characters the same.
The author wrote, “she had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.” (pg. 40) The mini-series portrays Hester as having dark, abundant hair and being beautiful. The only difference is Hester's blue eyes. The mini-series also kept Chillingworth's physical attributes the same. The author wrote, “ He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged.” (pg.45). Likewise, Chillingworth was an aged, old man in the mini-series. Hawthorne used the physical characteristics of Hester and Chillingworth to foreshadow their personalities. Chillingsworth lived up to his name and appearance by seeking revenge on Dimmesdale. He proved to be a cold, old man. Hester, on the other hand, used her beauty to find favor with the magistrates. . The magistrates took pity on Hester because of her beauty. Instead of death, the court issued her a lighter punishment, the scarlet
letter.
The 1979 mini-series of the scarlet letter stayed faithful to Hawthorne’s novel. The details stayed the same throughout both the mini-series and the novel. The important details such as physical characteristics and the setting never change as the audience would expect.
for her sin. Hawthorne wrote, “this woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die..”(pg.39). In the mini-series, the community judged Hester for her sin, and believed she deserved punishment by death. . The Puritan communities ridicule is significant because of the effect it had on Hester and Dimmesdale. For Hester, it encouraged her to wear her sin without shame. However, the guilt caused Dimmesdale to be ill. The threat of ridicule and shunning from the Puritan church lead Dimmesdale to hide from him sin. . Gilts it over him and eventually cost him his life. Without a judgmental, strict Puritan society, Dimmesdale would not hide from his sin and punish himself physically.
The mini-series additionally kept the physical characteristics of the characters the same.
The author wrote, “she had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes.” (pg. 40) The mini-series portrays Hester as having dark, abundant hair and being beautiful. The only difference is Hester's blue eyes. The mini-series also kept Chillingworth's physical attributes the same. The author wrote, “ He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage, which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged.” (pg.45). Likewise, Chillingworth was an aged, old man in the mini-series. Hawthorne used the physical characteristics of Hester and Chillingworth to foreshadow their personalities. Chillingsworth lived up to his name and appearance by seeking revenge on Dimmesdale. He proved to be a cold, old man. Hester, on the other hand, used her beauty to find favor with the magistrates. . The magistrates took pity on Hester because of her beauty. Instead of death, the court issued her a lighter punishment, the scarlet
letter.
The 1979 mini-series of the scarlet letter stayed faithful to Hawthorne’s novel. The details stayed the same throughout both the mini-series and the novel. The important details such as physical characteristics and the setting never change as the audience would expect.