Juliana Strenger

Publisher: Ticknor, Reed & Fields

Publish Date: 1850

Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter is a classic story of sin, punishment, and revenge. It was written in 1850

by the well-known American author Nathaniel Hawthorne and he does a great job of expressing

numerous themes throughout the book. It shows the lives of three tragic characters, each of who

suffers because of his or her sins. The Scarlet Letter novel tells the story of Hester Prynne. The

story starts with Hester Prynne’s small Puritan community, being led from the town jailhouse to a

public scaffold where she must stand for 3 hours as punishment for adultery. The Cause of sin

was one of them and every person in the Puritan society was alert about committing sins and

about their fellow townspeople. Anyone who sinned against the scripture like adultery was

punished by death. “The scarlet letter burned on Hester Prynne's bosom. Here was another ruin,

the responsibility of which came partly home to her” (150). The author supports Hester and

points out the real sinners in the novel. Chilling worth is the of the two main sinners who don’t

forgive and torment Dimmesdale, who is another sinner, mentally for committing adultery with

Hester. Conformity and Individuality are something Hester suits the best to fulfill. She remains

alone after she is thrown out of the Puritan society for an affair. Her individuality was confirmed

by the puritan society which demanded conformity because it considered that anyone is a threat

to society’s security and religion. The doing of revenge is shown by torturing with loneliness and

guilt. “Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly upon your bosom! Mine burns in

secret! Thou little knowest what a relief it is, after the torment of seven years cheat, to look into

an eye that recognizes me for what I am!” (132). At that point in the book Dimmesdale confesses
that he is miserable and can’t take the guilt anymore. The Author's tone is a mix of deep irony

with sympathy towards the protagonists, contrasting the hypocrisies of Hester and Dimmesdale’s

society with their attempts to lead virtuous lives.

The story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, in a Puritan settlement. A young woman,

Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the

scarlet letter “A” on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being

punished for adultery. Hester’s husband sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in

Boston. She will not reveal her lover’s identity and the scarlet letter, along with her public

shaming. On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town fathers, but

she again refuses to identify her child’s father. The elderly onlooker is Hester’s missing husband,

who is now practicing medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth. He settles in Boston,

intent on revenge. He reveals his true identity to no one but Hester, whom he has sworn to

secrecy. Hester supports herself by working as a seamstress, and Pearl grows into a willful,

impish child. Shunned by the community, they live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston.

Community officials attempt to take Pearl away from Hester, but, with the help of Arthur

Dimmesdale, the mother and daughter manage to stay together. Chillingworth attached himself

and eventually moves in with him so that he can provide his patient with round-the-clock care.

Chillingworth also suspects that there may be a connection between the minister’s torments and

Hester’s secret, and he begins to test Dimmesdale to see what he can learn. Chillingworth

discovers a mark on the man’s breast, which convinces him that his suspicions are correct.

Dimmesdale’s psychological anguish deepens, and he invents new torture for himself. One night,

Pearl and her mother are returning home from a visit to a deathbed when they encounter

Dimmesdale trying to punish himself for his sins. Hester and Pearl join him, and the three link
hands. Pearl acknowledges her publicly the next day, and a meteor marks a dull red “A” in the

night sky. Hester can see that the minister’s condition is worsening, and she resolves to

intervene. She goes to Chillingworth and asks him to stop adding to Dimmesdale’s self-torment.

Chillingworth refuses, Hester arranges an encounter with Dimmesdale in the forest because she

is aware that Chillingworth has probably guessed that she plans to reveal his identity to

Dimmesdale. They decide to flee to Europe, where they can live with Pearl as a family. They will

take a ship sailing from Boston in four days. Hester removes her scarlet letter and lets down her

hair. Pearl does not recognize her mother without the letter. The day before the ship is to sail, the

townspeople gather for a holiday and Dimmesdale preaches his most eloquent sermon ever.

Hester has learned that Chillingworth knows of their plan and has booked passage on the same

ship. Dimmesdale sees Hester and Pearl standing before the town scaffold. He impulsively

mounts the scaffold with his lover and his daughter exposing a scarlet letter seared into the flesh

of his chest. He falls dead, as Pearl kisses him. Chillingworth died a year later. Hester and Pearl

leave Boston, and no one knows what has happened to them. Many years later, Hester returns

alone, still wearing the scarlet letter, to live in her old cottage and resume her charitable work.

She receives occasional letters from Pearl, who has married a European aristocrat and established

a family of her own. When Hester dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale. The two share a single

tombstone, which bears a scarlet “A.”

I would recommend this book because it is such a ‘classic moral study. It has strong themes of

sin and guilt, and it is a societal critique. It shows a symbol of shame and is a powerful book for

expressing true identity. The Scarlet Letter is a timeless story of morality and struggles in a

world that was so intolerant of the things that make us human, which was very interesting to stir

up my imagination. The novel expresses artistic qualities through the conflicts between the

character and the plot. It is also still such a good book after generation after generation because it

portrays a woman who refused to conform when it came to the issue of her sexuality which is

such an important topic to read about. In many ways, it can be considered a feminist story.