Thrice Told Tales: The Scarlet Letter

The Webverse is always ranting about something, and recently the biggest to-do happened when the CEO of a company and the Chief People Officer at that same company were caught on the kiss-cam at a Coldplay concert. Their shame prompted them to try to hide. The CEO is married (perhaps not for much longer). The wrath of memes was swift, harsh, and hilarious. The CEO resigned from his position before the week was done.

I thought we were past such things. I thought the Sexual Revolution of the 1960s freed us to pursue our desires without consequence. And yet, the consequences continue. Not just on a personal level or in a family, but locally, in communities – and sometimes on a national scale. (Think of the ramifications of a president, a cigar, and a blue dress.)

Some think Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter is quaint and out of date, but its themes of adultery, shame, and ostracization continue to loom large in our culture.

Perhaps it’s been a while since you read this classic, so let me give a plot summary:

Set in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 1640s (the book was published in 1850), the novel opens with Hester Prynne on a scaffold in the town square awaiting her punishment on the charge of adultery. The evidence against her is fairly solid. Hester and her husband, Roger, had lived in England until Roger sent Hester ahead to the New World. That had been more than two years earlier, and now Hester has a newborn baby girl. Obviously, it’s not her husband’s child.

Her punishment: to wear a scarlet letter “A” on clothing for the rest of her life. She is asked to reveal the identity of the father of her child, Pearl, but she refuses.

We learn that the father of the child was the local minister, Arthur Dimmesdale, and she doesn’t want him to face the disgrace and ruin that would come if the truth was known. Hester remains in the community, shunned by many, and earns a living as a seamstress.

The novel takes a dark turn when Hester’s husband arrives, taking the alias of “Roger Chillingworth.” He is determined to learn and reveal the identity of his wife’s lover, the father of Pearl.

Eventually, the Reverend Dimmesdale’s health declines. Before he dies, he climbs to the platform below the scaffold and confesses his sin. He dies in Hester’s arms. Some claim to see a stigmata on Dimmesdale’s chest in the shape of the letter “A.” Hester returns to her cottage to live a quiet life with Pearl.

There have been quite a number of filmed adaptations of this tale, but this is “Thrice Told Tales,” so I’ll narrow the selections to three. That means we won’t be looking at the 1926 silent version (with Lillian Gish, which is pretty good) or Wim Wenders’ television version from 1973. These are our three:

The Scarlet Letter (1934)

This version was directed by Robert G. Vignola and starred Colleen Moore as Hester, Hardie Albright as Dimmesdale, and Henry Walthall as Chillingworth. And no, I hadn’t ever heard of any of these people before either. But they did make a fairly decent version of this story, “From Nataniel Hawthorene’s Immortal Classic,” the title card reads. In just an hour and ten minutes, the story is told simply and clearly, even as the Hays Code was taking effect. Some elements of the story might not have passed the code if the story hadn’t been a well-known classic.

I did recognize one member of the cast: Alan Hale. Yes, Little John from The Adventures of Robin Hood and quite a few other Warner Brothers classics (and father of the Skipper of Gilligan’s Island). Screenwriters Leonard Fields and David Silverstein believed what the story really needed was some comic relief, so Hale was cast as Bartholomew Hockings and William Kent was cast as Sampson Goodfellow, and they provide the laughs Hawthorne somehow neglected to include. Especially the bit where they worry about whether one must marry a woman if one has seen her “nethergarments.” (Said nethergarments were recently washed and drying on a chair in the living room when the men called on a widow.)

The film portrays the pain that Hester feels as an exile from the community. Pearl’s treatment is even harder for Hester to bear – other children sense her vulnerability, teasing her, throwing rocks, and pushing her in the mud. Hester tries to defend her daughter, but another mother blames Pearl for the ruckus. Finally, the Reverend Dimmesdale defends the child, but even he refers to the child as “a blessing and a punishment.” (Cora Sue Collins, who played Pearl, just passed away in April of this year at the age of 98.)

As in the novel, Dimmesdale tells Hester he wants to confess, but she urges him not to for the good of his ministry. Hypocrisy is the only way to go, I guess. But when he dies (as he does in the book), we see the “A” that seems to have been dug in his chest by his own hand.

I found one of the most powerful aspects of the film to be a title card at the beginning of the film:

“This is more than the story of a woman -- it is a portrait of the Puritan period of American life. Though to us, the customs seem grim and the punishments hard, they were a necessity of the times and helped shape the destiny of a nation.”

This perspective of history has been lost to many in our day. Like Hawthorne before them, these filmmakers tried to present a story that was true to its time, recognizing that people in different times and circumstances may deal with things differently than we do in our time. They suggest that these people may have had very good reasons for their choices. That kind of maturity seems to be beyond the grasp of many departments of History and Literature in today’s universities. It’s also beyond the grasp of those who made the 1995 adaptation of the tale.

The Scarlet Letter (1995)

This is a remarkably bad film, and what makes it worse is that such talented people were involved.

Roland Joffe, the director, was also the director of The Mission and The Killing Fields (he must really like titles that start with that definite article). Douglas Day Stewart wrote An Officer and a Gentleman (but he also wrote The Blue Lagoon and The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, so maybe the studio should have been wary). There are few actors better than Gary Oldman (as Dimmesdale) and Robert Duvall (as Chillingworth). Demi Moore? That’s another matter. One knows the two hours and fifteen minutes are going to be a long sit when she begins to attempt an English accent.

This film has many, many problems. It was nominated for seven Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Actress (Moore), Worst Supporting Actor (Duvall), Worst Couple, and Worst Screenplay. It “won” for Worst Remake or Sequel. (It surely could have taken home more awards if it hadn’t been competing against Showgirls.)

The film is narrated by Pearl as an adult. The story begins chronologically much earlier than the novel or other screen adaptations. It starts with Hester arriving in the New World, explaining that her husband sent her ahead. When Hester is greeted as “Mistress Prynne,” she insists, “I prefer to be called Hester,” and shocks everyone by choosing to live in her own home while she waits for her husband.

The change in time frame allows us to see more of Hester and Arthur’s relationship, and believe me, this is not a good thing. Hester first spies Arthur as he skinny dips on her property. She does not turn away. Shortly after, he rescues her when her wagon is stuck in the mud as she drives to town for Sunday worship. Hester’s startled to discover – at church – that she’d been peeping at the Reverend’s naughty bits.

His sermon is on “The Power of Love,” and I certainly think Huey Lewis preached it better. Still, Hester is impressed.

“I enjoyed your sermon. It is rare for a young man to speak with such passion,” she tells him. (One assumes she’s heard that doddering old men are famously passionate.)

Hester has brought a bathing tub to her new home (“What does she think she is, French?” a local gossip asks). In a demonstration of Turnabout is Fair Play, Hester/Demi bathes and is spied upon by her young, black, mute maidservant. Hester is thinking about the Reverend as she bathes. So there’s nudity and voyeurism for everyone.

Eventually, Hester and Arthur confess their love for each other.

Arthur: “God help me, I love you.”

Hester: “Was I alive before I met you?”

They both proclaim how they must not see each other; it would be madness.

Then we are subjected to the longest, most overwrought lovemaking scenes ever released under the Touchstone (yes, that’s a Disney subsidiary) label. Their lovemaking is observed by the servant and a strange red bird (it looks like a painted canary) that makes several, surely symbolic, appearances throughout the film.

Hester also gets in trouble for the heretical idea of talking directly with God, though prayer as a central part of life was a fairly standard part of Puritan theology.

Then Hester is pregnant, and the film finally catches up with where all the other versions begin.

A woman, the wife of one of the town leaders, comes up with the idea of Hester being marked with the scarlet letter. Isn’t that always the way? Those women. So mean to one another.

For a short time, the film follows the novel. For a very short time.

Roger arrives, in disguise, after being a captive of the Indians following a shipwreck. He tries to discover who his wife’s lover may be. When Arthur reveals he is the father, the plot takes a distinct turn. He is about to be hanged by the townspeople, but the Native Americans, whom he has visited and helped, come to his rescue. He had proved himself to be a friend of the Algonquian tribe, having worked on an Algonquian translation of Scripture.

After the attack, Hester, Arthur, and Pearl escape to the safety of the Carolinas.

This drastic change in the plot is reminiscent of Quentin Tarantino's changes to the course of history in Inglourious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. But QT did those things with a self-awareness and a wink at the audience. In this version of The Scarlet Letter, one gets a feeling that the filmmakers were trying to fix the yucky backward notions of Hawthorne and the Puritans.

It should also be noted that this film doesn’t just deal with the issues of how society deals with sexual morality. It takes on a lot of other BIG ISSUES: Slavery, Women’s Rights, Colonialism, the Treatment of Native Americans, Mental Illness, Rape, Religious Bigotry, and, um, Bathing. And it doesn’t deal with any of these well.

In the final line of narration, Pearl says, “Who is to say what is a sin in God’s eyes?”

The Bible is pretty clear about a number of things God considers sinful, including, you know, adultery, so…

Easy A (2010)

Technically, this isn’t an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter, but the novel is central to the story.

Emma Stone plays Olive, a bright high school girl, not very popular in her school. (Because, you know, everyone at the average high school shuns girls who look like Emma Stone.) Olive is the first-person narrator of the film, telling her story online. Though she is a virgin, a rumor starts that she spent a wild weekend with a college sophomore. For some reason, this news spreads rapidly on that new-fangled social media and via txt mssgs. Another student, Marianne (Amanda Bynes), the president of the Christian Club, is greatly disturbed by this.

It just so happens that Olive’s English class is studying The Scarlet Letter. Olive helpfully reminds the audience of the plot of the novel, with the aid of clips from the 1934 adaptation.

Thomas Hayden Church plays Mr. Griffith, Olive’s English teacher. Mr. Griffith compliments Olive on being a student who has read the book. He bemoans the students who write about the bathtub scene and the rescue by the Indians.

After some hand-wringing, Olive decides to start using her unearned reputation to her advantage. She has a gay friend, Brandon, who’s bullied by other students. Olive comes to his aid by staging a phony sex scene behind closed doors at a party so people will think he’s straight.

And Olive begins to own her new reputation. She comes to school wearing a bustier and high heels. For a literary touch, she makes a letter ‘A’ she can wear as an accessory.

Other boys begin to ask Olive to pretend to… um… be friendly with them. And they pay her with gift cards. But the girls at school shun Olive, even her best friend. The guidance counselor (Lisa Kudrow as the English teacher’s wife) calls Olive into the office and offers her contraceptives. Olive starts to feel the weight of ostracization, and more serious consequences accompany her tarnished reputation.

This is a comedy, rather than a tragedy, but the film reminds us that even in our age of “Sexual Liberation,” our sexual choices have consequences and costs.

At the end of the film, Olive uses social media to reveal that she is, actually, a virgin. And she admits to liking a certain boy. She tells her internet audience (and the film’s audience) that she might sleep with Todd “tonight, next week, months from now, or on my wedding night. But it’s none of your business.”

But as a certain CEO and head of HR recently discovered, secrets don’t always remain secret. So following the moral wisdom about sexuality found in tradition and Scripture is best for us as individuals and for our communities.

(The painting above is The Scarlet Letter by Hugues Merle - 1861)