Nathaniel Hawthorne

a cura di I. Bruschi
 
 Set in the 17th century Puritan Boston, it is a classic of American literature.
 Hester Prynne has preceded her husband to Massachusetts, and has had a daughter from an illicit love affair. She is sentenced to wear a scarlet A (adultery) forever. She refuses to reveal her lover’s name but her husband will find out who he is. The ending is rich in dramatic turns of events.
 The Scarlet Letter is a psychological novel which faces themes such as love and hatred, guilt and punishment, rebellion and double-dealing.
 Stimulating inserts about the period and the themes of the novel enrich the book. 
 
 Teacher's Resources available online: Answer Key - Audioscripts - Key to Summing-up Activities.
 
 È un classico della letteratura statunitense, ambientato nella Boston puritana del XVII secolo. Hester Prynne ha preceduto nel Massachusetts l’anziano marito, e ha avuto una figlia da una relazione illegittima. È condannata a portare sul petto la lettera A (adultera). Si rifiuta di rivelare il nome dell’amante, ma il marito riuscirà a scoprirlo. Romanzo psicologico ricco di colpi di scena e personaggi dalle forti tinte.

Chapter 1 – The Punishment

Chapter 2 – Hester and Pearl

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Extension: The Puritans’ Way of Life

Chapter 3 – The Leech and His Patient

Chapter 4 – Hester and the Doctor

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Extension: The native Americans in Puritan New England

Chapter 5 – A Forest Walk

Chapter 6 – Conclusion

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp Extension: Superstition and Witchcraft in Puritan New England

Summing-up activities

Glossary

E X T E N S I O N THE NATIVE AMERICANS IN PURITAN NEW ENGLAND The Puritans settlers that arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the mid-17th century wanted to create the society of the  Pure  in the New World. However, they found that the creation of their perfect society was more difficult than expected. The New World was already inhabited by Native Americans and each of their tribes had their own culture, political structure, and religion. The Puritans saw these Native American peoples as heathens1 and savages2 and thought it was their duty to bring Christianity to them. So their main objective when interacting with the Native Americans was to convert them to Christianity, or more specifically, to the Puritan form of Christianity. Native American religion was Shamanistic in form and was largely based on nature. According to the Native Americans, all aspects of nature possessed a single spirit or life force and they worshipped3 Mother Earth, believing that humans had to live in harmony with Her. The central idea of Puritan religion   that the power of God comes from the Word of the Bible   was particularly difficult for the Native Americans to understand, as they did not have any written language. However, in many cases cross-cultural4 interactions generated a mixture of the two cultures: Native Americans sometimes adopted the Christian God together with their own Gods. 1. heathens: people who have no religion or who believe in a religion that is not one of the world s main religions (Christianity, Judaism or Islam). 2. savages: people with no civilization. 3. worshipped: loved and adored. 4. cross-cultural: from one culture to another. 70 

Even though the Puritans were successful in converting some Native Americans to their religion, they never accepted them as social equals and converted Natives were placed in the so-called  praying towns . Native Americans who converted to the Puritan faith were no longer accepted by their tribes but were not fully accepted by the Puritan communities either. Contacts between the Puritans and the Native Americans were often economic and political as well as religious. The Puritans needed more and more land for their growing communities and traded5 with the Native Americans in exchange for land. But these transactions often led to conflicts because the Native Americans believed land was to be used for the production of food and could not be  owned  by an individual. The centrality of the community in Native American culture clashed with the centrality of the individual in Puritan culture. The Puritan settlers often took advantage of these cultural differences, especially of the Natives  lack of sense of personal property. However, the Native populations, who were not as stupid as the English Puritans liked to believe, soon understood that the colonizers were unduly6 taking possession of their lands and began to fight back. The Native Americans could take prisoners of war and did so especially when they had to replace their lost dead. Often these prisoners were adopted by the tribe and taken in by a family who had lost an important member   the prisoner had to take on7 the role of that individual in the family. This was very confusing to many Puritan settlers captured by Native Americans, as we learn from reading the histories of these people. It is clear, then, that interaction between these two groups of people was based largely on cultural misunderstandings8 which led to conflict. The mutual resistance of the two communities led to a state of continual tension. 5. traded: exchanged. 6. unduly: inappropriately, with no right. 7. take on: play. 8. misunderstanding: incorrect understanding. Elliot, the first missionary among the Indians (J. C. Buttre, 1856). 

Esplora il classico della letteratura statunitense "La lettera scarlatta" con Hester Prynne condannata per adulterio nella Boston puritana delXVII sec

The Scarlet Letter Collana RAINBOWS

Level B1 • Pre-Intermediate - Collana RAINBOWS

The Scarlet Letter

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