Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

1. Colacurcio, Michael J. "Footsteps of Ann Hutchinson: The Context of The Scarlet Letter."

            The Scarlet Letter: an Authoritative Text, Essays in Criticism and Scholarship. New

            York: W.W. Norton &, 1988. 213-30. Print.

“Like Ann Hutchinson, Hester Prynne is an extraordinary woman who falls afoul of a theocratic and male dominated society, and the problems which cause them to be singled out for exemplary punishment both begin in a sort of relationship with a pastor…” (215).

 I got this passage from one of the essays in the back of the book. This quote is relevant to my research because it supports one of the points I am trying to make in my essay. It is comparing both Ann Hutchinson and Hester. It shows how because they both lived in a society where men were dominant their reputation went down and if they stood out from the other women they would be seen as bad.

2. Hawthorne, Nathaniel, and Seymour Gross. The Scarlet Letter: an Authoritative Text, Essays          

      in Criticism and Scholarship. New York: W.W. Norton &, 1988. Print.

“She possessed an art that sufficed, even in a land that afforded comparatively little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her thriving infant and herself. It was the art-then as now almost the only one within a woman’s grasp-of needle-work” (Hawthorne 57).

“I must tarry at home, and keep watch over my little Pearl” (Hawthorne 81).

“Such helpfulness was found in her, so much power to do, and power to sympathize, that many people refused to interpret the scarlet letter by its original signification. They said that it meant Able; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne 111).

I chose these quotes from the book because they really help the reader get a better understanding of what is going on in the book, and also to prove that Hester is good.

In the first quote it explains the talent that Hester had of sewing. This was not just a talent but her job in order to feed herself and her child. It shows that Hester is more than capable to support herself and her daughter.

In the second quote Hester tells Mistress Hibbins that she will not go to the witch gathering in the forest because now she has a child. A child who she must take care of. So she rejects her offer and goes home. It also shows that Pearl is the savior of Hester because she knows she has a child she wants to show that she is a good person and mother.

In the third quote shows that the townspeople’s views changed about Hester dramatically. In the beginning everyone in the town viewed Hester’s “A” as Adulterer. After the town sees her as Able and not an Adulterer.  

3. Hoffman, Daniel G. "Hester's Double Providence: The Scarlet Letter and the Green."

The Scarlet Letter: an Authoritative Text, Essays in Criticism and Scholarship. New                  York: W.W. Norton &, 1988. 343-49. Print.

“It is apparent that the Puritans badly bungled the case of Hester Prynne. The scarlet letter they condemned her to wear was a self evident judgment: A for Adultery. Giving up her individuality, she would become a general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which they might vivify and embody their images of woman’s frailty and sinful passion” (343-344).  

            This quote is from an essay in the back of the book too. It shows what the letter A stood for in the beginning and how hard it was on Hester. It lets the reader see that this letter might just seem as any letter but back then it stood for something horrible for a woman to wear.