Hester Prynne
Encyclopedia
Hester Prynne, the young protagonist
of Nathaniel Hawthorne
's novel The Scarlet Letter
, is a woman condemned by her Puritan
neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature."
A resident of colonial America
, Hester is sent ahead to the "New World" by her husband, who later assumes the name of Roger Chillingworth
, as he has some business to finish before he can join her. After he is involved in a shipwreck and assumed dead, Hester continues to live her life as a seamstress in the town. She looks to the local pastor Arthur Dimmesdale
for comfort; somewhere along the way passion emerges, culminating in the conception and subsequent birth of their child, Pearl. Because Hester has no husband with her, she is imprisoned, convicted of the crime of adultery
, and sentenced to be forced to wear a prominent scarlet letter 'A' for the rest of her life.
Though scorned by her fellow citizens, Hester continues to lead a relatively uneventful life. Shortly after the birth of the child and her punishment, Hester's husband reappears and compels her to tell him the name of the child's father. Hester refuses, but swears not to reveal the fact that Chillingworth is her husband to the town folk. Hester continues living her life as a seamstress, providing for herself and her child.
Novelist John Updike
said of Prynne:
One analyst wrote:
in Boston's King's Chapel Burying Ground
was the inspiration for Hester Prynne's grave. Scholar Laurie Rozakis has argued that an alternate or additional source for the story may be Hester Craford, a woman flogged for fornication
with John Wedg.
In various film adaptations of the novel, Prynne has been portrayed by actresses such as Lillian Gish
, Meg Foster
, Mary Martin
, Sybil Thorndike
, Senta Berger
and Demi Moore
. In the cult television Series Twin Peaks
the name was also adopted as a pseudonym by the character Audrey Horne
. Another literary figure using the surname Prynne is a woman who had an adulterous relations with a pastor in the novel A Month of Sundays
by John Updike
, part of his trilogy of novels based on characters in The Scarlet Letter. The deathcore
band Hester Prynne is named after the character. In the musical The Music Man
, Harold Hill refers to Hester Prynne in the song "Sadder but Wiser Girl". He sings that he wants a girl with a "touch of sin". remarking "I hope, I pray, for Hester to win just one more A".
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
's novel The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It is considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an...
, is a woman condemned by her Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature."
A resident of colonial America
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
, Hester is sent ahead to the "New World" by her husband, who later assumes the name of Roger Chillingworth
Roger Chillingworth
, originally Roger Prynne, is a fictional character in the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the story, he is the estranged husband of Hester Prynne, who reappears and proceeds to plot against Hester and Arthur Dimmesdale, and becomes an embodiment of evil, as his physical...
, as he has some business to finish before he can join her. After he is involved in a shipwreck and assumed dead, Hester continues to live her life as a seamstress in the town. She looks to the local pastor Arthur Dimmesdale
Arthur Dimmesdale
Arthur Dimmesdale is a fictional character in the 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. A Puritan minister, he has fathered an illegitimate child, Pearl, with Hester Prynne and seeks to hide the truth of his relationship with her....
for comfort; somewhere along the way passion emerges, culminating in the conception and subsequent birth of their child, Pearl. Because Hester has no husband with her, she is imprisoned, convicted of the crime of adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, and sentenced to be forced to wear a prominent scarlet letter 'A' for the rest of her life.
Though scorned by her fellow citizens, Hester continues to lead a relatively uneventful life. Shortly after the birth of the child and her punishment, Hester's husband reappears and compels her to tell him the name of the child's father. Hester refuses, but swears not to reveal the fact that Chillingworth is her husband to the town folk. Hester continues living her life as a seamstress, providing for herself and her child.
Novelist John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
said of Prynne:
She's such an arresting and slightly ambiguous figure. She's a funny mix of a truly liberated, defiantly sexual woman, but in the end a woman who accepts the penance that society imposed on her. And I don't know, I suppose she's an epitome of female predicaments. ... She is a mythic version of every woman's attempt to integrate her sexuality with societal demands.
One analyst wrote:
All the contradictions of Hester Prynne — guilt and honesty, sin and holiness, sex and chastity — make her an enduring heroine of American literature. She is flawed, complex, and above all fertile. The idea of Hester Prynne, the good woman gone bad, is a cultural meme that recurs again and again — perhaps because we as a culture are still trying to figure out who Hester really is and how we feel about her.
Inspiration and influence
According to popular tradition, the gravestone of Elizabeth PainElizabeth Pain
Elizabeth Pain was a settler in colonial Boston whose gravestone some writers and popular tradition claim was the inspiration for the grave of character Hester Prynne in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne....
in Boston's King's Chapel Burying Ground
King's Chapel Burying Ground
King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic cemetery at King's Chapel on Tremont Street in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest cemetery in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail....
was the inspiration for Hester Prynne's grave. Scholar Laurie Rozakis has argued that an alternate or additional source for the story may be Hester Craford, a woman flogged for fornication
Fornication
Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...
with John Wedg.
In various film adaptations of the novel, Prynne has been portrayed by actresses such as Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
, Meg Foster
Meg Foster
Megan "Meg" Foster is an American actress best known for her roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter, Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live .-Life and career:...
, Mary Martin
Mary Martin
Mary Virginia Martin was an American actress and singer. She originated many roles over her career including Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria in The Sound of Music. She was named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1989...
, Sybil Thorndike
Sybil Thorndike
Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
, Senta Berger
Senta Berger
Senta Berger is an Austrian film, stage and television actress, producer and author.Regarded by critics as one of the greatest actresses of the post-war period, and frequently named as one of the leading German-speaking actresses in polls, Berger has received many award nominations for her acting...
and Demi Moore
Demi Moore
Demi Guynes Kutcher , known professionally as Demi Moore, is an American actress. After minor roles in film and a role in the soap opera General Hospital, Moore established her career in films such as St...
. In the cult television Series Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is an American television serial drama created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. The series follows the investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper , of the murder of a popular teenager and homecoming queen, Laura Palmer...
the name was also adopted as a pseudonym by the character Audrey Horne
Audrey Horne
Audrey Horne is a fictional character from the television series Twin Peaks, created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. She was played by Sherilyn Fenn.Audrey is 18 years old during the action of the series...
. Another literary figure using the surname Prynne is a woman who had an adulterous relations with a pastor in the novel A Month of Sundays
A Month of Sundays
A Month of Sundays was a Canadian film anthology television miniseries which aired on CBC Television in 1981.-Premise:Each episode consisted of various films according to a theme, as hosted by Harry Brown.-Episodes:...
by John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
, part of his trilogy of novels based on characters in The Scarlet Letter. The deathcore
Deathcore
Deathcore is an extreme metal music genre that combines elements of death metal with elements of metalcore or hardcore punk, or both. It is defined by an "excessive" use of death metal riffs, blast beats and use of hardcore punk breakdowns...
band Hester Prynne is named after the character. In the musical The Music Man
The Music Man
The Music Man is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with...
, Harold Hill refers to Hester Prynne in the song "Sadder but Wiser Girl". He sings that he wants a girl with a "touch of sin". remarking "I hope, I pray, for Hester to win just one more A".
External links
- "Hester Prynne" on IMDB
- The Scarlet Letter on Project GutenbergProject GutenbergProject Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
- "Hester Prynne: Sinner, Victim, Object, Winner" on NPRNPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
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