Siobhán O’Gorman in her essay Reorienting scarlet letters: Suzan-Lori Parks’ and Marina Carr’s Hester plays discusses how Parks’ play In the Blood demonstrates some of the ideas explored in The Scarlet Letter. O’Gorman states that In the Blood raises questions that “can be seen panoramically to ‘match’ Hawthorne’s interrogation of labelling, public shaming and social hypocrisy” (49). It is especially true that social hypocrisy is present in both of the concerned works, with The Scarlet Letter demonstrating Dimmesdale’s hypocrisy and how he keeps it separate from sin and how the other characters in In the Blood and similar during their confession scenes. They chose to shame that Hester for her promiscuity while also capitalizing on it.
However, this reading does have some limits, namely how O’Gorman admits that “Parks’ ensuing characterization of Hester as a selfless, loving and optimistic caregiver undermines the way in which the protagonist is initially presented. We sympathize with this struggling, stoical Hester throughout” (50). While this may read as a comparison to The Scarlet Letter, it actually shows how the two works are dissimilar. In The Scarlet Letter, the reader is put into Hester’s position and, because of how unfair her treatment is based on her crime and the fact that Dimmesdale is just as guilty but is hiding his sin, it allows for empathy. It is rather different that he are able to sympathize with Parks’ Hester, which can come from a place of pity. Both Hester’s are received in very different ways. I think a missed opportunity would be to mention how people’s perception of promiscuity today is engrained in society and comes from those Puritan beliefs. This could pair well with how poverty is at the societal level as well, and that the blame should not be on the individual.
Hi Drew! Great thoughts! I personally found your points on the two Hester’s very interesting. I hadn’t thought much about the perspectives each character is shown through. When I read the two works, I found that the time in which each was set played the largest role in influencing how I viewed the character. Since Hawthorne’s novel was set in such a different time period than our own I found that it was easier to sympathize with her because societal norms are so different. Parks’ Hester on the other hand was a much different story since she was placed into a society that we are very familiar with, it being in the present day.