PROJECT PROPOSAL GLASS MENAGEERIE

English 1B Monday & wednesday 4-5:20pm

Group: K.C. Andrew, Pedro, Faith

Assignments:

Writer: K.C.

Director: K.C.

Editor: Faith

Set/Costume Designer: Faith

Actors: Pedro & Andrew

Rough Draft Essay The Letter "A"

Faith Lucero                                                                                                                                                                                           

Professor: Stacey Knapp

English 1B

4 May 2011

In the scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the letter A manifests in a variety of forms and places. Not only does the A manifest in various forms, but it also acquires a variety of meanings. It represents more than just the sin of adultery. Even as the original mark of adultery, the scarlet letter has a different individual meaning to the various characters.

To Hester, the A is a symbol of unjust humiliation. The A magnifies in an armor breastplate at the Governor's mansion to exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be acutely the most prominent feature of Hester's semblance. In truth, she emerges absolutely hidden behind it. The A grows to be larger than Hester signifying the town's view of her sin. They do not see the human being behind the scarlet letter, they only see a sinner. For Hester, the A is not only a symbol of adultery, but also a symbol of alienation. She is an outcast from society and the women treat her differently by constantly sneering at her in public. The scarlet letter is a symbol of what society wants to see and the decision to create a relativity. The townspeople soon began to accept her and believe that letter had supernatural powers. They decide that it meant able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength, that they were allowing her to remove it. Their opinion and vision of the scarlet letter changes into its complete opposite within a short period of under ten year's time. This opinion conforms according to their worldly view of convenience. To the Puritan community, it is a mark of just punishment. In the beginning of the story the letter struck fear into the society's hearts. It symbolizes the unfair humiliation she endures, such as humiliation standing on the scaffold at noon in public view. The ornately gold-embroidered A on Hester's heart, at which Pearl throws wildflowers and decorates with a border of prickly burrs. To Pearl, the A is a bright and mysterious curiosity which symbolizes her existence and the meaning behind it. In mockery, Pearl creates an A on her chest made of green seaweed which represents purity and innocence, but also signifies Pearl's future as the daughter of sinner. For Chillingworth, the A represents the need for revenge and is the spur to this quest. To Dimmesdale, the A is a piercing reminder of his the guilt engulfing his concealed sin. It drives him to punish himself and endure Chillingworth's torture. In addition, the A also symbolizes attributes other than adultery. On the night of his vigil on the scaffold, Dimmesdale sees an immense red A in the sky. It symbolizes Angel when a great red letter in the sky, the letter A, which the townspeople interpret to stand for angel, as it manifests in the sky on the night of Governor Winthrop's death. One of the most dramatic of the several A's the book hints at is the A so frequently seen earlier and which Dimmesdale finally reveals to be an A on his chest by most of the spectators who witness his confession and death. At the end of the novel, as a summary symbol, the scarlet A refers against the black background on Hester and Dimmesdale's tombstone.