The Scarlet Letter (Large Print Edition) »

"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.

The Scarlet Letter is the story of three New England settlers at odds with the puritan society in which they live. Roger Chillingworth, an aging scholar, arrives in New England after two years' separation from his wife Hester to find her on trial for adultery. For refusing to reveal her lover's identity, she is condemned to wear a letter 'A' sewn onto her clothes. Roger resolves to discover and destroy the man who has stolen his honor.

For the next seven years the participants in this bizarre love triangle privately suffer the consequences of betrayal, cowardice, and humiliation. Slowly but surely, the need for redemption grows in each as the story hastens toward its dramatic close. The Scarlet Letter is Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterpiece.

The handsome volumes in The Collectors Library present great works of world literature in a handy hardback format. Printed on high-quality paper and bound in real cloth, each complete and unabridged volume has a specially commissioned afterword, brief biography of the author and a further-reading list. This easily accessible series offers readers the perfect opportunity to discover, or rediscover, some of the world's most endearing literary works.

The volumes in The Collector's Library are sumptuously produced, enduring editions to own, to collect and to treasure.

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