Fashion illustration of the day (The Scarlet Letter) / Modna ilustracija dana ( Grimizno slovo)

Today I'm sharing another fashion illustration with you. The medium is watercolour on paper. This one was actually inspired by one of my old outfit posts (here). In that post, I talked a bit about the book I was reading at that moment. Since I already discussed that book, today I wanted to take this opportunity to make another book recommendation. Just like my last literary recommendation, this one is a known classical of American literature. The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne (who happens to be one of my favourite American writers). 

You can download this book for free here on project Gutenberg where it is available in different forms (kindle, etc.). When it comes to classics, you can always find them online, that is one of the advantages of the time we live in. Anyway, back on topic. This novel was published in 1850 and it is considered a masterpiece. It focuses on life of Hester Prynne, who after being condemned for adultery, manages to rebuild her life in an extremely puritan society/community. 

There is also a movie version of this book featuring Demi Moore. I kind of liked the movie, even if the movie version didn't really capture the spirit of the book. I watched the movie years prior to reading the book, but it didn't ruin it for me, because the novel actually has a different ending. 

The film itself has a happy ending that completely spoils the seriousness and the depth of this novel that is all about philosophical exploration of guilt, but I actually liked the acting in that film. I think Demi Moore did a pretty good job of capturing Hester's sensuality.  Unfortunately, the movie version didn't manage to capture neither the essence nor the sophistication of this book, which is about spiritual and individual growth. 

In the novel, Hester is portrayed as such a strong women and she becomes an inspiration for the reader (at least it was in my case). She manages to survive everything that life throws at her. In the movie, Hester needs a man to save her and that makes it a lot less interesting. 

The novel is all about its strong female protagonist and it focuses on her battle with both herself and the society. It is surprisingly modern for its time. In one way, I see it as a metaphor for a struggle between the artist and the society. Society is always both attracted and repelled by an artist. Repelled because artist's job is to challenge everything and because art of the best kind can be quite intense. At the same time, society is attracted to art because of that same intensity and beauty it possesses.

“It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object.”

“No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

MEMORABLE QUOTES ABOUT LOVE FROM THE SCARLET LETTER

“Love, whether newly born or aroused from a deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, filling the heart so full of radiance, that it overflows upon the outward world.”

.....

“It is to the credit of human nature, that, except where its selfishness is brought into play, it loves more readily than it hates. Hatred, by a gradual and quiet process, will even be transformed to love, unless the change be impeded by a continually new irritation of the original feeling of hostility.”

.....

“It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object.”

 Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

here

With embroidery being so trendy this season, it is no wonder that Hester keeps invading my thoughts.  Hester, the heroine of this novel,  is an artist. An artist with the needle. After being excluded from the society, Hester lives a solitary life. Instead of becoming weakened by the harsh treatment she is subjected to, Hester grows stronger and manages not only to raise her daughter as a single mother but ensure a good life for her Pearl.

 Hester becomes known for her skill with the needle. In reality, Ester's embroidery becomes a form of art. I'm surprised that more critics didn't pick up on full significance of Ester's embroidery. Embroidery is a form of art. The kind of embroidery that Ester does certainly is. It is the only art form she has on her disposal. In her embroidery Hester finds realization of her sensuality and creative energies. There is passion in her work. 

That is why her embroidery becomes so popular. It is the only truly creative thing that exists in this puritan society. They don't have painting, they don't have higher education and learning, they don't have luxurious fashion. Embroidery is the one visual pleasure they have at their disposal (beside the nature itself). 

“In all her intercourse with society, however, there was nothing that made her feel as if she belonged to it... She stood apart from mortal interests, yet close beside them, like a ghost that revisits the familiar fireside, and can no longer make itself seen or felt.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Paradoxically, once Hester doesn't need society anymore, society accepts her. Intuitively people feel her strength, and it comforts them. The story of Hester is a story of feminine courage. Of succeeding against all odds. Not everyone has the option of running away. 

Hester didn't have anywhere to go, but she managed to turned things into her advantage. That is perhaps what wisdom is about. Suffering the  blows of life and overcoming them, taking in the wrongs and turning them into something good. Too bad they had to make a film in which they turned it into a love story in which a heroine gets saved by a prince charming. 

You see, sometimes classics have more revolutionary ideas than modern film. This notion that a women can and should be enough for herself, but at the same time that by loving others she becomes something greater than herself. 

This idea that our individual growth is our first responsibility but that we don't need to forsake others for sake of it. That we can love, be hurt and rise about it. This idea that a woman can be fine on her own, but strong enough to love, strong enough that she can forgive and accept those who forsake her. You don't see this in modern films that often, do you? I tell you, The Scarlet Letter is quite an exceptional piece of writing. 

“She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness... Her intellect and heart had their home, as it were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods... The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers—stern and wild ones—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.”

“Some attribute had departed from her, the permanence of which had been essential to keep her a woman. Such is frequently the fate, and such the stern development, of the feminine character and person, when the woman has encountered, and lived through, an experience of peculiar severity. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survive, the tenderness will either be crushed out of her, or—and the outward semblance is the same—crushed so deeply into her heart that it can never show itself more.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

Have you read The Scarlet Letter? Would you like to? Have you seen the film?

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