The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Description

The landscape of this classic novel is uniquely American, but the themes it explores are universal—the nature of sin, guilt, and penitence, the clash between our private and public selves, and the spiritual and psychological cost of living outside society. Constructed with the elegance of a... read more

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Summary

Hester is being led to the scaffold, where she is to be publicly shamed for having committed adultery. Hester is forced to wear the letter A on her gown at all times. She has stitched a large scarlet A onto her dress with gold thread, giving the letter an air of elegance. Hester carries Pearl,... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Cast of Characters

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Hester Prynne: Hester is the book’s protagonist and the wearer of the scarlet letter that gives the book its title. Just a quick trivia question (but some college profs love to trick you with it): What is the significance of Hester's last name? (clue: you have to rhyme it.)
Pearl: Hester’s illegitimate daughter Pearl is a young girl with a moody, mischievous spirit and an ability to perceive things that others do not.
Roger Chillingworth: Hester’s husband in disguise.
Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale: Dimmesdale is a young man who achieved fame in England as a theologian and then emigrated to America.
Governor Bellingham: Wealthy, elderly gentleman who spends much of his time consulting with the other town fathers.
Mistress Hibbins: Mistress Hibbins is a widow who lives with her brother, Governor Bellingham.
Reverend Mr. John Wilson: Boston’s elder clergyman, Reverend Wilson is scholarly yet grandfatherly.

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Memorable Quotes

“But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed, from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness. . . . The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.”
“One token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another.”
“A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole and entire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of some ailment in the spiritual part.”
“Let men tremble to win the hand of woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart! Else it may be their miserable fortune, when some mightier touch than their own may have awakened all her sensibilities, to be reproached even for the calm content, the marble image of happiness, which they will have imposed upon her as the warm reality.”
“Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!”

First Sentence

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.

The Custom House: Introductory
Chapter 1 - The Prison-Door
Chapter 2 - The Market-Place
Chapter 3 - The Recognition
Chapter 4 - The Interview
Chapter 5 - Hester at Her Needle
Chapter 6 - Pearl
Chapter 7 - The Governor's Hall
Chapter 8 - The Elf-Child and the Minister
Chapter 9 - The Leech
Chapter 10 - The Leech and His Patient
Chapter 11 - The Interior of a Heart
Chapter 12 - The Minister's Vigil
Chapter 13 - Another View of Hester
Chapter 14 - Hester and the Physician
Chapter 15 - Hester and Pearl
Chapter 16 - A Forest Walk
Chapter 17 - The Pastor and His Parishioner
Chapter 18 - A Flood of Sunshine
Chapter 19 - The Child at the Brook-Side
Chapter 20 - The Minister in a Maze
Chapter 21 - The New England Holiday
Chapter 22 - The Procession
Chapter 23 - The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter
Chapter 24 - Conclusion

Glossary

Dotage: Old age, with its mental troubles.
Antinomian: A believer in the Christian doctrine that faith alone, not obedience to the moral law, is necessary for salvation; to the Puritans, the Antinomian doctrine is heretical.
Cope: A vestmentworn by priests for certain ceremonies. Here, anything that covers like a cope, a canopy over, or the sky.
Ignominious: Deserving or causing public disgrace or shame.