Entre letras e imagens: traduções e representações de Hester Prynne e a condição feminina em "The Scarlet Letter"

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of this investigation is to comparatively analyze the representation of Hester Prynne in the literary work The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850), and in its homonymous film adaptation, directed by Rolland Joffé (1995). To achieve this purpose, I stablished a dialogue with intersemiotic translation scholars, such as Roman Jakobson (1969), an important historical reference in the area, and Julio Plaza (2008), whose approach is explored more widely. From the field of adaptation studies, I brought authors such as Robert Stam (2000), Linda Hutcheon (2006) and Julie Sanders (2006), in order to discuss the representation of the feminine, I resorted to feminist thinkers, such as the pioneer Simone de Beauvoir, and authors such as Sarah Rodriguez and Hannah Arsdale (2011), Lucia Zolin (2019), Nye (1995), Ebrie (2015) and Nancy Fraser (2023). I also considered the contributions of feminist translation, especially the work of Naylane Matos (2022), which explores gender issues in the field of translation. Based on this theoretical framework, I outlined an overview of the historical and social context in which Hester Prynne is inserted, articulating it with the principles of feminist translation. The methodology consisted of analyzing the imagery resources and cinematographic techniques employed by Joffé, and the adjectives and figures of speech used by Hawthorne in the construction of the character. The analysis reveals that Hester Prynne was stigmatized for her alleged adultery in the 17th century, in a Puritan society deeply marked by moral and repressive judgments in the United States. In this process, the voices of the author and the filmmaker stood out, constructing a strong and resilient image of Hester, a woman who resisted the moral regulations of her time, denouncing, through her existence and attitudes, the Puritan principles to which so many women have historically been subjected.