"A Strange, Contagious Fear": Scarlet Letters and Shame in the Time of Coronavirus.
Public shaming has a long history in the United States, and the image of the "scarlet letter" is an integral part of that history. This essay examines how American media accounts inthe firstyearof the coronavirus pandemic invoked the image of the scarlet letterto describe the shame of infection at a...
| Published in: | Nathaniel Hawthorne Review Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 144 - 167 |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Pennsylvania State University Press
2021
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=153273009&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 153273009 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 08904197 UM9 jtl: Nathaniel Hawthorne Review issn: 08904197 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 2021 vid: 47 iid: 1 pid: 745 pub: Pennsylvania State University Press artinfo: ui: 153273009 10.5325/nathhawtrevi.47.1.0144 ppf: 144 ppct: 23 formats: fmt: @attributes: type: P size: 11.2MB tig: atl: "A Strange, Contagious Fear": Scarlet Letters and Shame in the Time of Coronavirus. aug: au: WILLIAMS, SUSAN S. su: Public shaming COVID-19 pandemic Scarlet Letter, The (Book : Hawthorne) Prynne, Hester (Fictional character) Selfishness sug: subj: Public shaming COVID-19 pandemic Scarlet Letter, The (Book : Hawthorne) Prynne, Hester (Fictional character) Selfishness keyword: masking Nathaniel Hawthorne public shaming The Scarlet Letter ab: Public shaming has a long history in the United States, and the image of the "scarlet letter" is an integral part of that history. This essay examines how American media accounts inthe firstyearof the coronavirus pandemic invoked the image of the scarlet letterto describe the shame of infection at an individual, institutional. and national level. The first section discusses the colonial sources that Hawthorne used in creating the image as well as the ways in which his romance associates it with social shame and stigma. The second section focuses on media accounts that equate wearing a mask, or declining to wear a mask, with wearing a scarlet letter like Hester Prynne. The final section considers how the scarlet letter has been used in accounts of communal infection rates and forced closures. In their invocations of the scarlet letter, reporters, essayists, and bloggers have repeated the central conflicts between individual freedom and social responsibility, moral good and legal constraint, mobility and isolation. and selfishness and empathythat have long dominated scholarly interpretations of {fhe Scarlet Letter. In doing so, they demonstrate the continuing potency of the cultural work of Hawthorne's classic novel. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Nathaniel Hawthorne Review is the property of Pennsylvania State University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Nathaniel Hawthorne Review holder: Pennsylvania State University Press dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|