by Hiatt Woods
It’s funny how sometimes things get turned around on you.
I enrolled in a class this semester (well, a few) and my ultimate goal was of course to receive a bright red letter A to run home and show my parents, and take to job interviews with me and basically show off to anybody who would look at it.
Since you’re reading a blog called canonical thoughts, and you have probably done some reading in your lifetime, I won’t try to deceive you any longer:
I’m talking about “The Scarlet Letter,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
That was the first book assigned in the aforementioned class I enrolled in. (see what I mean? Turned around? Ok I’ll stop.) I had never read the book before, and found that I rather enjoyed it. (As is the case with some assigned reading.)
What really got me going about it though, was that I was reading the same book in another class.
Yes, it’s true. I was reading “Persuasion,” By Jane Austen at the exact same time I was assigned “The Scarlet Letter!”
I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking,
“Hiatt. Come off it. Those are not even relatively the same book.”
Well first I would say to you, reader, that’s not how you use the word “relatively,” (Zing!) and second I would say that you’re right; they are not the same book.
However, I couldn’t help but notice some strange similarities at the most base and vulgar level of the writing form known as the novel: The plot.
Perhaps you haven’t read both of these books, and so I will attempt to break them down quickly, and effectively.
I will begin with a three-sentence synopsis of each situation:
Scarlet Letter:
Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale had a child together while Hester was married to another man. She was found out (ummm…hey aren’t you pregnant?) and he was not, and so they kept their affair a secret in order to protect his status (he is a Minister) in society. After seven years, he reveals his share of guilt to his congregation before dying of natural causes.
Persuasion:
Anne Elliot and Captain Frederick Wentworth were in love, but she rejected his proposal because he did not have enough money or social clout to satisfy her friends and family. They spend eight years apart, he returns a wealthy man, and when they are reunited they each behave very politely while secretly pining for each other. He writes her a note and then they reveal their true feelings for one another, and end up together.
SEE? Basically the exact same book.
Now, having said that, I’d like to go over the dissimilarities (more commonly referred to as differences) between the two.
In my mind, the most important difference is setting. This includes the time period, by my definition, and since my definition is the one we’re working with, we will begin there.
“Persuasion,” published in 1818, is set in the late 18th century.
“The Scarlett Letter,” published in 1850, is set in the mid 17th century.
Interesting to note that these SUSPICIOUSLY similar works were written by contemporaries… but I digress.
Of course the time is irrelevant without the place, and so I offer it to you now.
Jane Austen’s novel is set in England (how droll) while Hawthorne sets the scene in puritanical Salem, a village near Boston.
From these two settings we derive all the other differences between the two works.
The love affair described above, in the smoldering (A.K.A. dull) “Persuasion,” is one dictated by the society in which it was formed. Anne Elliot and her suitor, Frederick Wentworth, were very much in love during their initial courtship. Well, one would think, wonderful! That settles it, time to get married and be happy. Forever.
Well, Anne’s family didn’t see it that way. Her father absolutely balked at the idea of her marrying Freddy W.
Why?
Because he didn’t have any money! What’s worse, he didn’t have a name. Anne cared as little for her father’s opinion as her father did for her nameless, penniless scrub of a boyfriend (too harsh?) and so she sought a second opinion. Her friend persuaded her (see what I did there?) to think of her future, and her family’s best interest. She did not marry him.
Then she felt kind of lonely for eight years, and after watching him flirt with some other girls for a few months, they got back together! (Of course, at this point he had money and a name, so… lesson learned?)
The point being, during the original courtship, this happy matrimony was nixed because of societal expectations. Anne was expected to marry for the effect it would have on her family’s name (not even her actual family) and purse.
Then, during the second phase of courtship (The old, “playing hard to get for 4/5ths of a decade.”) the two were prevented from revealing their true feelings to one another, because (you guessed it) saying anything about it directly to one another was far too improper, especially since other people wanted to marry each of them, for much more sensible reasons.
As you can see, this novel is full of fireworks, perfect for you thrill-seeking readers.
Oh no wait, that’s its fraternal twin of a novel, “The Scarlett Letter.”
Far removed from the stuffy (if not emotionally debilitated) aristocracy of 18th century England, we find ourselves on a wild continent, so new that the rules of society vary from city to city. The one in which this story is set however, had what they considered a very good solution to controlling all of the wildness of this new world. Hard-nosed, strict interpretations of the Bible, set into law.
Hester Prynne, after having a child while her husband was nowhere to be found (so… he must be a talented guy) is sentenced to wearing a bright red letter “A” on her breast to inform and remind everyone that she is an adulterer.
So we see a much more dramatic situation from the first. What Anne is struggling with internally, and without any social stigma, Hester bears (literally… like, childbirth) on her breast. (Oh yeah the letter is literal bearing too. Sorry.)
Not to mention, her baby-daddy is the hottest puritanical preacher on the pulpit, and she refuses to oust him. Of course, the whole situation could be rectified if he took the blame himself, but why would he? It’s not like the guy’s a saint…
Hester is cast out of society to deal with her issue, (which is that society does not want her to be with the man she loves) while Anne suffers her problem (which is that society does not want her to be with the man she loves) in silence, and with little torture except some half-hearted, vain self-pity.
SPOILER ALERT: (I should have said that forever ago)
They both end up with the guy.
Do I even need to say I told you so?
These are the exact same stories!
Oh, except that the main difference in the endings is the same as it was for the rest of the novels… private versus public.
While Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale eventually breaks down, taking his daughter’s hand and the hand of the woman with whom he committed the sin of the flesh on a public stage, declaring himself a wretched sinner, (Boom. Fireworks.) Captain Frederick Wentworth scribbles a love note while he’s pretending to write something else in a room full of people, and slips it to Anne Elliot on the sly.
If these two endings aren’t microcosms of the worlds in which they take place, I don’t know what else is.
What is most excellent about these two novels is exactly that great similarity in plot lines that I have been poking fun at in this piece.
The two situations (which I hope have been proven to be basically parallel) allow us to look not only at the specific lives of the characters but more pointedly at the different settings in which they find themselves. The story of star-crossed lovers (hardly a new idea) is being put to use by these two for almost the same reason! To inspect the societies which bred these particular tales.
In both we find a stifling society, one harsh and direct, the other a game of please and thank yous, and a pair that try to play by the rules, even after they break them.
If you have any kind of time available to you in the next few years, I would recommend reading both of these works. Twice.
Then go and think about what you’ve done.
Canonical Thoughts 