Published in 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne‘s The Scarlet Letter describes many details of the life of a woman in a Puritan community and her conflict with their beliefs. Immoral events committed were harshly treated in those times; today these situations are dealt with up-to-date solutions. A Hollywood version of the novel was created in 1995 to visually illustrate the story but left room for comparison. Both the book and movie contain similarities and differences in point of view, plot, and symbolism.The point of view in a story is important for visualization of the plot. In the novel Hawthorne narrates the story of Hester Prynne and her sin of adultery making his point of view third person omniscient. He speaks of Hester like an outsider watching upon her life through a lucid glass window. This opposes the movie’s point of view which is told by Hester’s daughter, Pearl, with a first person limited prospect. Pearl speaks of her mother’s life and romance with her father as she has heard the tale of love and suffering. She speaks of Hester’s life from a personal standpoint, including her thoughts and feeling into the situation of which she speaks. In the movie Pearl speaks of her living in the Carolinas with her family toward the end but in the novel Hawthorne did not mention it for the reason that he was not in a first person perspective of Hester and Pearl’s lives. Comparison occurs in the plot of the film version and book of The Scarlet Letter.The theme of the story is one of the few things that stays of similarity. Hester Prynne’s tale of her unfaithful mishap of adultery with Reverend Arthur Dimesdale remains the same. However, details and scenes were added to the movie to provide more interesting information to the modern audience. Unalike from the novel, the movie concentrates mostly on the strict Puritan belief and life style rather than on Hester’s sin. We immediately are a...
