The Scarlet Letter, The »

"Words -- so innocent and powerless as they are, as standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and evil they become in the hands of one who knows how to combine them," Nathaniel Hawthorne once reflected. Hawthorne's own words indeed had an undeniable power. Author of The Scarlet Letter and originator of the American short story, Hawthorne left an indelible impression on literature that would influence his fellow writers into the next century.

When it first appeared in 1850, The Scarlet Letter enjoyed scandalous success. New England critics condemned its passionate subject matter. One critic complained that Nathaniel Hawthorne invested adultery with all the fascination of genius, and all the charms of a highly polished style. My preliminary chapter, wryly noted the author, has caused the greatest uproar that has happened here since witch-times.

As she emerges from the prison of a Puritan New England town, Hester Prynne defies the dark gloom much as the rose blooms against the prison door. With her illegitimate baby, Pearl, clutched in her arms and the letter A—the mark of an adulteress—embroidered in scarlet thread on her breast, Hester holds her head high as she faces the malice and scorn of the townsfolk. Her powerful, bittersweet story is an American classic that continues to touch the hearts of modern readers with its timeless themes of guilt, passion and repentance.

Why read The Scarlet Letter?     8
Nathaniel Hawthorne 1804-1864     10
Timeline of the novel     12
The Custom-House     15
Hawthorne's Customs House     50
The Scarlet Letter     53
The Prison-Door     53
The Market-Place     55
Early Boston     64
The Recognition     66
The Interview     74
Medicine     80
Hester at Her Needle     82
Pearl     91
The Governor's Hall     100
The Elf-Child and the Minister     107
The Leech     115
Puritan religion     124
The Leech and His Patient     126
The Interior of a Heart     135
The Minister's Vigil     141
Another View of Hester     152
Puritan women     158
Hester and the Physician     160
Hester and Pearl     166
Crime and punishment     172
A Forest Walk     174
The Pastor and His Parishioner     180
A Flood of Sunshine     188
The Child at the Brook-Side     194
Witchcraft     200
TheMinister in a Maze     202
The New England Holiday     212
Transcendentalism     220
The Procession     222
The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter     232
Conclusion     240
Glossary     246
Discussion questions     268
Further reading     270
Acknowledgments     271