The Many Scarlet Letters

Interact with a timeline of the adaptations of The Scarlet Letter throughout history.

One of the many adaptations is a song, "The Scarlet Letters" by the group Mudvayne.

A second adaptation is that of the opera that has sense been adapted into a rock opera with songs such as ShAme!

Over time the face of Hawthorne's character, Hester Prynne, has changed and modernized, though the 'A' always remains emblazoned on her chest in some form.

There have been dozens of adaptations of the 'The Scarlet Letter' and there will likely be dozens to come. This site will focus on the original text as well as three greatly different adaptations of Hawthorne's work; the 1934 film, the film 'Easy A', and the recent novel 'When She Woke'. All adaptations stay true to the themes of the isolated and shunned woman, yet they manage to drastically change the plot in their appropriation of the original novel. This will focus on how time changes the plot and ideals of the work, yet keeps the story alive in popular culture. 

The novel, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850, is one of the most famous classics in American literature. It is continually taught in high schools across the country and is known by almost every generation. The story is set in puritan Boston. It focuses on the character of Hester Prynne, a woman whose husband is still in England while she was sent ahead to America, has given birth to an illegitimate daughter. Since she has been away from her husband for over nine months the town knows that the child is a product of adultery. To save the reputation of the minister, her lover and the child's father, she takes all of the blame for her crime and is forced to wear a red 'A' on her chest so that everyone knows of her sins. In the end the minister's quilt is so overwhelming that he dies with an 'A' carved into his chest and Hester and her daughter Pearl remain alive, yet seem to escape the constant scorn of the town when they leave, though Hester returns later until she dies in the town. This novel represented many of the ideals of the time and the devotion to God and purity. It is a story of guilt, mercy, and devotion. 

The first adaptation that this website will examine is the film that came out in 1934. It was the first film adaptation that was not a silent film. It closely followed the original text. Because of the early year in which it was made it had the same themes of purity and devotion to God. As in the novel, though Hester is the one to "do wrong" she is still the protagonist and the audience identifies with her character. The movie has become famous for its representation of the story and its fidelity to the original text. The film is still shown in classes as a proper adaptation of the story and keeps to the plot. The full film is available to watch online. 

Between the publication of the novel, the 1934 film, and now, there have been many adaptations of 'The Scarlet Letter'. All adaptations follow the book with different levels of accuracy and fidelity. The 1995 adaptation, though a famous motion picture, has been criticized because of its lack of loyalty to the original text and its major Hollywood ending. In 2010 the movie 'Easy A' came out as a new form of adaptation of the novel. 'Easy A' is set in modern day and follows the life of high schooler, Olive Penderghast. Olive is a good girl who goes unnoticed in her high school. In her English class she is studying 'The Scarlet Letter'. Because of a few bad choices and a fast texting school a rumor quickly spreads that Olive is sleeping around. The rumor only grows when unpopular males around the school give her gift cards so that she will say she did something with them. The religious student group on campus starts on a brigade against Olive and things spiral out of control from there. Because of her increasing bad reputation and the attention, both negative and positive, that it gets her, Olive begins sewing a red 'A' onto all of her clothes. 

Teacher: Listen, whatever this little act is about, I just...I'm curious.
Olive: I really think you should consider giving me extra credit for going the extra mile. I'm really attempting to understand this puritanical ostracism Hawthorne wrote about.
Teacher: You are one of the few that read it. If I read one more paper from one of your classmates who talks about how hot she is in the bathtub, her fake British accent or, is she still married to Ashton Kutcher, I'm gonna kill myself.
Olive: Why don't people just watch the original movie like I did?
Teacher: I know you read the book
Olive: I did.
-EasyA

Olive's character, in a video post, describes the plot of 'The Scarlet Letter' with the expectation that the audience (her classmates) have not read the original text on their own. EasyA summary.

One of the most recent adaptations of Hawthorne's work is a novel written by Hillary Jordon, titled 'When She Woke'. This work is more of an appropriation of the original than it was an adaptation of the text. The premise of the book is the same, Hannah Payne (Hester Prynne) is a good and decent human until she has an affair with Aidan Dale, a preacher at a mega-church in Texas. She of course gets pregnant with his child. The set up of this book is almost exactly the same as the original text, but it quickly begins to change. Instead of having the child and baring her shame in public, Hannah tries to get an abortion, which in this futuristic Christian run world is illegal. She is caught and, like Hester, refuses to give up the name of her lover, knowing that his reputation will be ruined. In this version, however, instead of a red 'A' on her clothing, Hannah's skin is permanently dyed red so that she can never hide from her crime. The story takes a huge turn as Hannah goes on an adventure to escape this oppressive America and her red skin and from there on almost completely detaches itself from 'The Scarlet Letter' leaving no fidelity between the two texts. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne's book remains one of the most famous of all time. These many adaptation prove just how many times a text can be modified and changed overtime. Though many of the versions today bare little resemblance to the original, the theme continues on and the fame of the first text is well known. Often in forms of adaptation and appropriation the source text is lost because of the fame of the newer adaptations, however this is not the case with 'The Scarlet Letter'. The understanding and reuse of this novel is prevalent and the books reference in popular culture is still a major one. The importance and intensity of the red branding remains in almost every adaptation, as if branding each new version as Hawthorne's work.