Hester and the Physician, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"
Darley illustrates Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter, A Romance" (published 1850). The drawing was reproduced in 1879 as the sixth print of twelve "Compositions in Outline." Set in seventeenth-century Boston, the story explores the consequences of a liason between Hester Prynne and the Puritan pastor Arthur Dimmesdale. When Hester becomes pregnant, she refuses to identify her child's father, is imprisoned, and forced to wear a red letter "A" on her dress (to mark her as an adultress). This image responds to an encounter in chapter 14 between Hester and her estranged husband, an elderly professor whom she thought lost at sea. Instead, he endured a long captivity by Native Americans and, upon release, reached Boston on the day of Hester's public humiliation. This prompted him to assume the name Roger Chillingworth, to practise medicine, and to plot revenge on his wife's lover. Convinced that he has discovered the latter's identity, Hester here begs Chillingworth to be merciful. See 14.111.1,.3–.5 for other Darley drawings from the set.
Artwork Details
- Title: Hester and the Physician, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter"
- Series/Portfolio: Design for Plate 6 in "Compositions in Outline from Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter by F. O. C. Darley," Boston, Houghton, Osgood & Company, 1879, printed in heliotype.
- Artist: Felix Octavius Carr Darley (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1822–1888 Claymont, Delaware)
- Author: Related author Nathaniel Hawthorne (American, Salem, Massachusetts 1804–1864 Plymouth, New Hampshire)
- Date: ca. 1879
- Medium: Pen and black ink with graphite and pale blue wash
- Dimensions: Sheet: 15 1/2 x 22 1/4 in. (39.4 x 56.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Gift of W. A. White, 1914
- Object Number: 14.111.2
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Felix Octavius Carr Darley
Felix Octavius Carr Darley
ca. 1859
Felix Octavius Carr Darley
Felix Octavius Carr Darley
1845
Multiple artists/makers
1849–50
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