Perhaps because some readers of
Roger's Versionfailed to see the novel's connection with
The Scarlet Letter, the third and final novel in John Updike's “
The Scarlet LetterTrilogy”,
S., opens with two quotations taken from
The Scarlet Letter. The first quotation refers to Hester's physical description – “she had dark and abundant hair, … how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped.” This is a physical description with a spiritual component – she has a halo, almost as if she were a saint. The following quotation (“much of the marble coldness of Hester's impression was to be attributed to the circumstance that her life had turned, in great measure, from passion and feeling, to thought. … The world's law was no law…
1726 words
Citation: Gomez-Galisteo, M. Carmen. "S". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12963, accessed 25 April 2024.]
