If you listen closely you can hear English teachers still screaming to the memories of the 1995 version of The Scarlet Letter that starred Demi Moore. When first announced the movie had high hopes with a big name director in Roland Joffe and a very talented cast including Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall, but somehow the movie could not have missed the adaptation more.
The comparisons between the novel and the film are few and far between. Whereas there is an actual scarlet letter attached to Hester Prynne’s dress as punishment for her having a baby out of wedlock, the film does connect with the novel. The movie also covers the overpowering guilt of Prynne’s lover, Reverend Dimmesdale and the revenge that was planned by her husband, …show more content…
For example, the relationship between Dimmesdale and Hester occurs before the novel begins. In the beginning of The Scarlett Letter, Hester had already given birth to Pearl and is being punished for her “crime.” The movie version shows how Dimmesdale and Hester meet, fall in love and have their affair. We read in the novel how Hester grins and bares her punishment and goes on with life the best she can because a true Puritan female had no other options. In the movie, Hester insists that she had done nothing wrong and that her community was nothing but a bunch of stuffed shirts. She eventually ditches the “A” brand at the end of the movie and runs off with the Reverend Dimmesdale to live happily ever after as a progressive female. In contrast, the novel ends with Hester still wearing her letter and comforting and aiding other citizens scorned by her Puritanical town. The book tells the reader that Chillingworth dies of natural causes, but the book shows him hanging himself in shame. Dimmesdale reveals that he is the father of Pearl in front of the entire town, falls ill and dies in Hester’s arms. The movie shows an overdramatized scene where Dimmesdale admits to being the father and offers his life in place of Hester’s. He is about to be killed when the Native Americans attack and the little family are able to escape to Charleston. Lastly, the novel is told by an unknown narrator, but the movie is
The comparisons between the novel and the film are few and far between. Whereas there is an actual scarlet letter attached to Hester Prynne’s dress as punishment for her having a baby out of wedlock, the film does connect with the novel. The movie also covers the overpowering guilt of Prynne’s lover, Reverend Dimmesdale and the revenge that was planned by her husband, …show more content…
For example, the relationship between Dimmesdale and Hester occurs before the novel begins. In the beginning of The Scarlett Letter, Hester had already given birth to Pearl and is being punished for her “crime.” The movie version shows how Dimmesdale and Hester meet, fall in love and have their affair. We read in the novel how Hester grins and bares her punishment and goes on with life the best she can because a true Puritan female had no other options. In the movie, Hester insists that she had done nothing wrong and that her community was nothing but a bunch of stuffed shirts. She eventually ditches the “A” brand at the end of the movie and runs off with the Reverend Dimmesdale to live happily ever after as a progressive female. In contrast, the novel ends with Hester still wearing her letter and comforting and aiding other citizens scorned by her Puritanical town. The book tells the reader that Chillingworth dies of natural causes, but the book shows him hanging himself in shame. Dimmesdale reveals that he is the father of Pearl in front of the entire town, falls ill and dies in Hester’s arms. The movie shows an overdramatized scene where Dimmesdale admits to being the father and offers his life in place of Hester’s. He is about to be killed when the Native Americans attack and the little family are able to escape to Charleston. Lastly, the novel is told by an unknown narrator, but the movie is