Where are the Wild Things?

The Scarlet Letter: The Musical

Introduction to Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter, complete with its unique style of literary elements and purposeful use of repetitive vocabulary, has set itself up to become a beautiful motion picture. Although it has been directly turned into a film, several movies or plays could be produced using just small sections of this novel. The book easily lends itself to the style of a play. The author's asides would build great suspense in an audience of literary scholars and avid movie-goers alike. The author Nathaniel Hawthorne has an interesting and distinct voice in his writing, as well as an incredible skill of differentiating characters by their dialogue and how they formulate sentences. Chillingworth, for example, uses highfalutin vocabulary as his knowledge is 

superior to all others in the settlement.

Aside

Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a unique literary tactic similar to an aside in a play. He builds suspense through his rhetorical questioning and his giving information to the audience which is unknown to the characters of the novel. He often phrases his asides similar to Disney Channel does before commercials on their shows. During intense or suspenseful scenes, he will cut to an aside to make us, the audience, question the outcome before it is presented. Nathaniel Hawthorne has a characteristic way of setting his novel up for a play or film, and sometimes will hint this to the audience. After Dimmesdale falls to the floor during his final sermon, the major characters surround him.

They beheld the minister, leaning on Hester's shoulder, and supported by her arm around him, approach the scaffold, and ascend its steps; while still the little hand of the sin-born child was clasped in his. Old Roger Chillingworth followed as one intimately connected with the drama of guilt and sorrow in which they had all been actors, and well enticed, therefore, to be present at its closing scene.(Hawthorne, 226)

Roger Chillingworth had felt so connected to the whole drama which was 'The Scarlet Letter' that he both deserved and belonged to be there with them as it unraveled. They were all actors of some sort, either acting outwardly as someone they were not, or thinking inwardly as a different person than they wished to be. Roger Chillingworth is seen by many to be evil or of-the-devil, and is portrayed like this throughout the book. Nevertheless, one of the most important characters of the novel, he would have to be there for the story to be complete. It was his duty to be a part of the closing scene, and had earned it through his 7 years of torture and obsession.

The 'A'

At the end of the novel, Hester returns from England to her cabin in the woods, the abode which humbled her and supported her after the sin. The house, much like Pearl, was a comfort to her, as well as a curse that would remain with her until death. Upon her return, she does not resemble a human, but more of a ghost. This ghost was dressed in the most expensive clothing money could buy, and entered the house in an attempt to be unseen. The ghost represented both her ignominy and her withering beauty and love. After Dimmesdale passed away, Hester had no one to love except for Pearl, who would soon grow up and move out on her own, The lonely Hester Prynne waits for death to once again rejoin her beloved Arthur Dimmesdale.

The detail which seemed the most crucial to the scene was the fact that her A remained on her chest through all these years.

On the threshold she paused,...But her hesitation was only for an instant, though long enough to display a scarlet letter on her breast. / And Hester Prynne had returned, and taken up her long-forsaken shame! (Hawthorne, 233) 

The only time she took it off was in the woods, when she felt free of her sin thanks to Dimmesdale's affection. It was quickly put back on when Pearl begs for it to be put back, as if she could not recognize her mother. The A became a part of Hester, an integral building block of her character. With no further reason to remove the A, it becomes lost in the fabrics of her wealth. The A becomes a birthmark, a mark so important to the identity of a person that is often overlooked by oneself, and over-examined by others. Birthmarks separate identical twins at an age so young they cannot yet open their eyes. The A has become integral part of Hester's identity and will forever remain there until she once again enters the forest with Dimmesdale; whether it be a meeting with Dimmesdale's spirit in the woods, or an everlasting rendezvous in the boundless planes of Heaven.

Where the Wild Things Are

Hester Prynne is lost in a world of sinners. It seems to her as though the inhabitants of the world like to feel higher than others by minimizing their sins and maximizing the sins of others. Hester was able to see the sins of those around her once she put on the A, some sins worse than the one she committed. Hester felt like no matter where she went in the world she would be trapped in the same situation, as people all over the world are very much similar on the inside. The one place she could be alone and be herself was in her cabin on the edge of the woods, where evil supposedly thrived. The Black Man lived in the woods along with Hester and Pearl, and thus these people quickly became associated with each other, despite sharing few common traits. The Black Man was a demonic or Satan-like figure who lived in the woods. It is unclear whether the members of the community actually believed that a Black Man did live out there, or whether this was a figurative being who personified evil and the unknown.
The gossamer thread I found was related to the children's book Where the Wild Things Are. This book was my all-time favorite book as a kid, and my mother would read it to me once a week. My sisters and I even formed a game based off of the book where my father was the monster and we would have to get downstairs and to the base before the monster tagged us.
The main plot of the story is that Max wears his wolf suit and his imagination runs wild. His mother sends him to his room without dinner after he proclaims, "I'll eat you up!" and as he sits there his room becomes a forest of vines and trees. He takes his boat across the water for a year to the place where the wild things are. After controlling them with magic, they have a "wild rumpus" until Max wants to return home because he misses his mother. He sails home after being begged to stay by the monsters and eats the hot dinner his mother prepare for him, "and it was still hot".
Hester can only find solace in her cabin in the woods, as Max only finds solace in the place where the wild things are. They both go to get away from the hate and contempt of others in their society. They both feel as to not fit into their allotted societies and need to get away. Max lives with the monsters who do with him all of the things he wished to do at home but his mother would not let him. Hester lives in the woods which is synonymous with sin, doing whatever she wishes. She can do all of the things that society will not let her do and she finds comfort in the sin and darkness of the woods.
Hester ultimately returns to society by helping those around her in order to appease the societal members and Max comes home to appease his mother. Max wears his wolf suit which signals wildness and barbarous behavior, but blends in with the monsters. Hester wears her scarlet letter, signalling adulterous and sinful behavior, but blends in with the sinners of society.
Hester is labelled the most sinful and all other sinners look to her as the most sinful in order to make themselves feel better. Max, on the other hand, becomes king of the monsters, ultimately putting him in the same spot as Hester. The monsters worship Max as their king, as the sinners inwardly worship Hester, as she makes them look better.
Finally, Max ultimately leaves as his place in the society, the king of bad things, does not make him happy, and needs society and love to be happy. Hester dislikes being the worst societal member (by societal standards) and works herself back into society to feel loved and worthy.