From the Bookshelf of Retro Chapter Chicks …

The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Start date: May 1, 2016

Finish date: May 31, 2016

Discussion leader: Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Jenn Ƹ̴Ӂ̴Ʒ Schu

Why we're reading this: Our Members' Choice for May, a high school reading list classic.…more
[close] Our Members' Choice for May, a high school reading list classic.

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Dec 23, 2021 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, beautiful-cover, unhauled, historical, paperback-own, 2-stars, rcc-winter-challenge-2021

I didn’t understand a damn thing they said, well, mostly. I think I liked the movie with Demo Moore. And I think I liked the manga. I can’t remember 🤔

15 likes · Like · see review

Apr 05, 2014 Celia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 1001-challenge, wholesale, kindle-list, gilmore, 100-must-read, finding-smfuller

This book was a high school must read which I read about 50 years ago. I really wanted to read it again and glad that I did. Hawthorne has a 19th century mode of writing (obviously), but I actually understood him. The interactions between Chillworth, Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are something to behold. This is a moral tale. If you sin, you are going to suffer for it until you confess. In Hester's case, confessing was not an option; she was caught red-handed!! She and Pearl are the characters w ...more

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Aug 14, 2013 Book Concierge rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction, movie, psychology, audio, classic, religion, library, concierge, strong-women, literature

Audio Book read by Anne Wauters

This classic of American literature is an exploration of guilt, hypocrisy, revenge, and atonement. Full of psychological nuance and forcing the reader to weigh the merits of various arguments as to whose sin is worse and what punishment is appropriate. The ethical dilemmas presented are still debated today.

Hester Prynne is a beautiful young woman who has been ostracized and outcast by her 17th-century Puritan community in Massachusetts for the unforgiveable sin of Audio Book read by Anne Wauters

This classic of American literature is an exploration of guilt, hypocrisy, revenge, and atonement. Full of psychological nuance and forcing the reader to weigh the merits of various arguments as to whose sin is worse and what punishment is appropriate. The ethical dilemmas presented are still debated today.

Hester Prynne is a beautiful young woman who has been ostracized and outcast by her 17th-century Puritan community in Massachusetts for the unforgiveable sin of adultery. Her husband has been missing (and presumed dead) for several years and now she has a child, but she refuses to name Pearl’s father. She is forced to wear a scarlet ”A” on her breast, marking her as an adulteress and giving the community permission to scorn and ridicule her. But Hester holds her head high, lives quietly away from town with her child, and performs good works for those who are less fortunate even than she. The two men in her life however are continually present.

SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

Her husband has returned in disguise and stays incognito, calling himself Roger Chillingsworth so that he can punish the man who wronged him – the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.

Hester’s sin is the most obvious, and her punishment has become an iconic symbol of public outrage. But she, at least, owns up to her transgression, and remains in the community, wearing the scarlet letter almost proudly. Dimmesdale proves himself a weak, if tortured, man who fasts and prays but cannot bring himself to confess and share the blame that is rightly his. More than once he publicly urges Hester to name the child’s father, hoping that she will save him from himself and the hypocrisy he feels “forced” to live. Chillingsworth is a vengeful troll, hiding behind his adopted persona as a “learned physician” he probes and needles Dimmesdale, providing a far worse torture than any punishment the community might have imposed.

The playaway portable audio version was read by Anne Wauters. I really did not like her performance and her voice was irritating to my ears. I almost lowered the rating, but in this case I didn’t think the book should be penalized for a poor audio performance.
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