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The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Fiction, Literary, Classics Paperback – March 1, 2004

by Nathaniel Hawthorne (Author)

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Nathaniel Hawthorne was already a man of forty-six, and a tale writer of some twenty-four years' standing, when The Scarlet Letter appeared. He was born at Salem, Mass., on July 4th, 1804, son of a sea-captain. He led there a shy and rather somber life; of few artistic encouragements, yet not wholly uncongenial, his moody, intensely meditative temperament being considered. Its colors and shadows are marvelously reflected in his Twice-Told Tales and other short stories, the product of his first literary period. Even his college days at Bowdoin did not quite break through his acquired and inherited reserve; but beneath it all, his faculty of divining men and women was exercised with almost uncanny prescience and subtlety.

The Scarlet Letter, which explains as much of this unique imaginative art, as is to be gathered from reading his highest single achievement, yet needs to be ranged with his other writings, early and late, to have its last effect. In the year that saw it published, he began The House of the Seven Gables, a later romance or prose-tragedy of the Puritan-American community as he had himself known it -- defrauded of art and the joy of life, "starving for symbols" as Emerson has it. Nathaniel Hawthorne died at Plymouth, New Hampshire, on May 18th, 1864.

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About the Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 - 1864) was an American novelist, dark romantic and short story writer. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. He entered Bowdoin College in 1821, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in 1824 and graduated in 1825. He published his first work in 1828, the novel Fanshawe; he later tried to suppress it, feeling that it was not equal to the standard of his later work. He published several short stories in periodicals, which he collected in 1837 as Twice-Told Tales. The next year, he became engaged to Sophia Peabody. He worked at the Boston Custom House and joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment as consul took Hawthorne and family to Europe before their return to Concord in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, and was survived by his wife and their three children. Much of Hawthorne's writing centers on New England, many works featuring moral metaphors with an anti-Puritan inspiration. His fiction works are considered part of the Romantic movement and, more specifically, dark romanticism. His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. His published works include novels, short stories and a biography of his college friend Franklin Pierce, the 14th President of the United States.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wildside Press (March 1, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 204 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0809594137
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0809594139
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1420L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.47 x 9 inches

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Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Born on the fourth of July in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote the stories that lie at the heart of the American Romantic movement. His portraits of colonial life reflect his Puritan heritage and offer fascinating profiles of individuals who strive for freedom from social conventions.
Photo by Mathew Brady [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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American Renaissance Books
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American Renaissance is a series of classic books designed and published by ST Book Arts. Visit TorodeDesign.com to see more.
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Cindy Weinstein
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Love to Cycle

Impossible Language Made Easier by Audio

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2024

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So glad I listened to the audio book before trying to read this 1850 book. It's like Shakespeare, I guess you had to live at that time to understand the meaning of the expressions. Check out comments on Good Reads for more opinions about the readability. The audio's book reader and accent is excellent in presenting difficult or strange manners of expression.

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Michelle Baker

the scarlet letter

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2024

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Interesting reading. I never read this as a youth but understand it much better today. Mystery and intrigue throughout the novel is proven to relate a sad tale.

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024

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This classic by Nathaniel Hawthorne was a good read, however I found a lot of the sentences were quite long and I forgot what the sentence was at the beginning and found myself having to read parts more than once which is a shame.

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2024

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Excellent book to read! Enjoying the interesting outlook and feeling a human comroddery. Try it and take your time in this read.

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Tricia Love

This is when I fell in love with Nathaniel.......

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2007

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Just look at a portrait of him as a young man, note the noble brow, the handsome features, the sensitivity, how romantic......... Curl up with this book and let Nathaniel tell you his tale in his beautiful poetic language . This is a book to be read quietly, alone, not in an airport lounge or on the subway, but preferably in a beautiful garden or sunroom with the windows open. Let the beauty of his language flow over you and transport you back in time.

It is over 200 years since Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem Massachusetts, his great great grandfather officiated at the Salem Witch Trials. He was both disturbed and intrigued by his ancestry. One day when working at The Custom House in Salem to make ends meet as a struggling young author, he discovered in one of the upstairs rooms some dusty old boxes, on opening them he found them to contain relics from the past, long since forgotten. Yellowing documents and an intriguing piece of embroidery, a scrap of faded and torn material with the letter A embroidered on it. He picked it up, and while wondering what it was, he held it up to his chest, and at that moment he claims to have felt a burning sensation which caused him to drop the piece of cloth. It gave him inspiration for this story along with documents he found about a woman called Hester Prynne.

The scene he sets so vividly is somewhere around 350 years ago 150 years before he was born. In a time when behavior to which we can hardly be bothered to raise an eyebrow was in that day considered a punishable sin. A disgrace for life. Branded by having to wear a scarlet letter on the chest for all to see.

It is a feminist novel, (Nathaniel Hawthorne supported women's rights). Briefly, the protagonist Hester Prynne has a child from an adulterous relationship and refuses to name the father. Her husband a physician much older than she has never been a "proper" husband to her so she had looked elsewhere for love. The husband vows to find the father of the child, and in exchange for her freedom makes Hester swear she will never disclose who her husband is. Her husband being a physician quickly deduces who the father is from the way he is wasting away under his burden of guilt. He sets about a long period of torment of the young man of which Hester is aware but can say nothing because of her promise. Finally she has had enough and decides to come clean, shaming the devil, (her husband) and redeeming the young man. I do not want to spoil anything by divulging the name of the father of the child in case you do not know.

This is such a simple and brief account it would make Nathaniel wince to read it. There is so much more to the story. It states in the blurb that it is a psychological novel before there was a science called psychology. The way the characters in the story interact with each other, the symbolism, the different values of the day from Nathaniel's day, and then again to this day. The religious aspect in Puritan times, the emotional ups and downs as you empathize with first one and then another of the characters. It is a wonderful story and well deserving of its position as one of America's great classics.

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Farah

long winded

Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2024

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Good story but too many unnecessary details. The sentences were so long that you’d forget what the sentence was actually about.

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Ron Coia

Beautifully Written Story about Public vs Private Shame

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2011

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I put my goal to read Moby Dick on hold in order to read The Scarlet Letter as I prepare to teach it with my AP Language & Composition class. As Hawthorne and Melville were friends, I didn't think that Melville would mind.

While I read and taught The Scarlet Letter before, I never had the appreciation for it as I did in this reading. I was captivated by the story, but the language and style of its writing was preeminent for me. Hawthorne crafts a beautifully written story that tells the familiar tale of Hester Prynne's public shame and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale's private tormented guilt after an adulterous affair set in the backdrop of Puritan Boston. The story is simple, as Hester faces a judgmental crowd in the town, and Dimmesdale suffers from a burning conscience as he does not admit to his sin. One man, Roger Chillingworth--Hester's husband--knows the secret and is bent on revenge against them both.

While The Scarlet Letter is often used to criticize and demonize the Puritan era, it rather shows the importance of what the consequences of sin lead to within our hearts. The public consequences are temporary, but the private consequences are far longer reaching as the "Hound of Heaven" chases after us to confess and repent. While Hawthorne does not condemn adultery as a sin, we see the destruction causes by infidelity with the Prynne family. Hester Prynne is indeed a model of feminine strength and virtue in accepting responsibility and guilt, but she also provides us a picture of the results of our sin and the need for redemption in a Savior.

The book begins with this excellent line, showing the coldness of the scene and the tone of the entire novel:

A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.

In our first picture of Hester, Hawthorne contrasts the ugliness of sin with the beauty of the woman:
On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony.

If you are looking to read novels that you should have read in high school but didn't, I heartily recommend starting with this one.

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rothkehlchen

The letter A, like adultery, to be worn in public by a woman

Reviewed in Germany on December 13, 2023

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Many (and old-fashioned) words for a short message. I got easily through reading this book by listening to it (audiobook). How about marking a sinner as such? What consequences has it for a person to wear...a scarlet letter, or a yellow star or some other mark? The message this story transports is timeless. In fact, we are all sinners, but it is always easier to mark one as a "scapegoat". The only right answer to such doing is what Jesus says in John 8 vers 7: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

Luisa Cisterna

This novel is perfect

Reviewed in Canada on May 17, 2021

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I just love The Scarlet Letter! An immortal protagonist. Great lessons on the danger of self-righteousness, and how grace is what we all crave.

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Ann hofmans

artikel nooit ontvangen

Reviewed in Belgium on October 30, 2023

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verkoper reageert op geen enkel bericht - deze verkoper te mijden

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Miss Informed

A classic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2023

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Modern readers may find the verbal eloquence of writers from this period trying. Like Irving, Hawthorne delighted in such loquaciousness, but even if it doesn't work for you, the story, primarily about appearances, is still pertinent and worth reading.

Carmen M.

👍

Reviewed in Italy on July 3, 2022

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👍Tutto ok

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