In 1666 in the Massachusetts Bay colony, Puritans and Algonquian have an uneasy truce. Hester arrives from England, seeking independence. Awaiting her husband, she establishes independence, fixing up a house, befriending Quakers and other outsiders. Passion draws her to a young pastor. He feels the same; when they learn her husband has probably died at the hands of Indians, they consummate their love. A child is born, and on the day Hester is publicly humiliated and made to wear a scarlet letter, her husband appears after a year with Indians. Calling himself Chillingworth, he seeks revenge, searching out Hester's lover and stirring fears of witchcraft.
New England in the 17th century: Young Hester Prynne arrives at the colony with the purpose to find a house for herself and her husband, old doctor Roger Prynne, who still resides in good old England and will follow later. From the first day the other inhabitants of the village notice that Hester is intelligent and independent, which attracts the ones and strucks the others. When she, however, finds herself a house near the forest and takes a walk in it she sees by chance a naked young man swimming in the river nearby. The man, as she finds out later, is the very popular Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The two soon find themselves attracted to each other and secretly begin an affair. As the result of this Hester becomes pregnant and when the government finds out, she is showed up in public and has to wear a scarlet "A" as "adultery" on her chest. Because of this but also because she refuses to tell the name of her child's father, she goes into jail where she gives birth to her daughter, Pearl. Then, surprisingly, Roger Prynne, whose ship was supposed to have been destroyed in a storm with no survivors, appears in the village. The doctor is now driven by the idea to find out who was Hester's lover and destroy his life, as well as the life of Hester.
The novel takes place in 17th-century Boston, Massachusetts during the summer, in a then Puritan village. A young woman named Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter in her arms and on the breast of her gown "a rag of scarlet cloth" that "assumed the shape of a letter. It was the uppercase letter "A". The scarlet letter "A" represents the act of adultery that she has committed and it is to be a symbol of her sin a badge of shame for all to see. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, who is much older than she is, sent her ahead to America while he settled some affairs in Europe. However, her husband never arrived in Boston. The consensus is that he has been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lovers identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy. On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town fathers, but she again refuses to identify her childs father.
Cast:
Demi Moore - Hester Prynne
Gary Oldman - Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale
Robert Duvall - Roger Chillingworth
Lisa Joliffe-Andoh - Mituba
Edward Hardwicke - Gov. John Bellingham
Robert Prosky - Horace Stonehall
Roy Dotrice - Rev. Thomas Cheever
Joan Plowright - Harriet Hibbons
Malcolm Storry - Maj. Dunsmuir
James Bearden - Goodman Mortimer (as Jim Bearden)
Larissa Laskin - Goody Mortimer
Amy Wright - Goody Gotwick
George Aguilar - Johnny Sassamon
Tim Woodward - Brewster Stonehall
Joan Gregson - Elizabeth Cheever
Edited by Sc@libur 2009
Claudio Cavalcante Cunha
http://www.scaliburweb.com.br
Piracicaba-São Paulo-Brazil
Sc@libur Scaliburweb Scarlet Letter Demi Moore Gary Oldman Malcolm Storry James Bearden manofbrazil claudio cavalcante cunha piracicaba