A Journey To The Terrible Enlightenment in Suzan-Lori Parks' in the Blood and The Fucking A

Abstract

This thesis will address a comparative investigation of the portrayal of the sin guilt immoral act fault and the search for salvation in the embodiment of the three different female characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet Letter and Suzan-Lori Parks’ plays in the Blood and The Fucking A. Contemporary playwright Suzan-Lori Parks is associated with what is called “revisionary” artistic style in which she believes that revising the history of literature is a tool for constructing the new literature. For this reason she has a tendency to use historical figures and refer to famous old writers within the framework of her “revisionary” and “experimental” theatre. This idea is the reason why understanding Nathaniel Hawthorne’s character of Hester Prynne is pertinent when analyzing the characters Hester La Negrita and Hester Smith within the texts in the Blood and The Fucking A. By revising Nathaniel Hawthorne’s literary character Hester Prynne the thesis also aims to reveal the conflicts and nonsensical behaviors of these characters in order for the readers/audiences to understand the absent rather than the present on stage. -- Abstract'tan.