The Scarlet Letter

Title: The Scarlet Letter

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

ISBN: 9781492964070

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Copyright: 2013 (1850)

Genre: Historical Fiction

Age Range: 16+

Reader’s Annotation: Hester Prynne wears a scarlet A on her chest for adulterer is just one person in a love triangle rife with revenge.

Plot Summary: In 1642, the town of Boston crowds together to see the official punishment of Hester Prynne who has been found guilty of adultery. She wears a scarlet A as a symbol of her shame. She carries the baby up to the scaffold for public humiliation. During that time, she is scorned by angry women jelous of her good looks and dignity. During the time of the punishment, she never reveals the name of the father. While upon the scaffold, she sees a funny little man that was believed to be lost at sea, her husband. The man chooses a new name, Roger Chillingworth, claims to be the man who fathered the child.

            Reverend John Wilson and the minister of her church, Arthur Dimmesdale, interrogate her further. After they receive no answer, they send Hester and her child back to prison. Chillingworth, a physician, tends to them with his roots and herbs. He and Hester have a frank talk about how leaving such a young wife was just as bad as her adultery. He forgives her for her actions. Although, he is hell bent on revenge against her lover. He demands to know who the man was. She refuses. They make a deal. She will be silent about Chillingworth’s identity, and he will not destroy the life of the baby’s father. After her release, Hester moves out to a cottage on the rim of the town earning little money for her needlework. She lives a quiet life with Pearl. Pearl grows to be an unruly child. Church members try to get Pearl taken away from Hester, but Dimmesdale persuades the Governor otherwise. Reverend Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail. The people of Boston are glad to have Chillingworth as a physician.

            Spending much tome with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth figures out it is not a physical ailment but a spiritual aliment that has caused so much sickness in Dimmesdale. Using psychology, Chillingworth believes that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father. While Dimmesdale is sleeping, Chillingworth notices an A carved into his chest. Driven crazy by his guilt, Dimmesdale climbs the scaffold, seeing Hester and Pearl, calls them up to stand as a family in front of everyone. Dimmesdale sees a meteor shower that forms what appears to be a gigantic A in the sky. Pearl points to the shadows where Roger Chillingworth lurks. Hester seeks out Chillingworth to end her silence and warns him that if he does not stop his soul will be forfeit.

            Days later, Hester secretly meets Dimmesdale in the forest and tells him everything about her husband and his revenge. She talks him into leaving on a ship back to Europe where they can all start life anew. But they must first escape out of Boston.

Critical Evaluation: The initial reviews for this novel were mixed. Hawthorne was better known for his Washington Irving like tales that were not as serious and often had a short moral. When stepping onto a high literary scene, he received accolades saying that the work was an intense piece of fiction. The real discord was struck by Christian leaders. They thought that Hawthorne’s book did not correctly represent what Christianity taught or the purpose of remorse and confession. Many years later, the book received many different positive accolades from American writers stating that it is one of the first books written that shows an expressly American point of view about the spiritual and moral problems of the human condition. It is for this reason that it should be included in a teen collection. It is a piece of literature that is challenging. It shows the foundations of American literature. It is frequently used in high school English classes to teach these principles. At one time or another, teens will need to be exposed to this founding father of American literature. Through this work, teens learn the idea of sin, the consequences of what one’s actions, and the torture they might endure as they pay a penance for those sins. The Scarlet Letter is one of many Hawthorne works that deserve to be shared with teens.

Author Information: Nathaniel Hawthorne, (1804-1864), ranks among America's major authors. Between about 1825 and 1850, he developed his talent by writing short fiction and the novel FANSHAWE (1828). Then he gained international fame for his novel The Scarlet Letter, a masterpiece of American literature.
Hawthorne's works probe into human nature, especially its darker side. He set many stories against the somber background of Puritan New England, the world of his ancestors. Unlike most fiction writers of his time, he was not primarily interested in stirring the reader by sensational or sentimental effects. Hawthorne called his writing "romance," which he defined as a method of showing "the depths of our common nature." To Hawthorne, romance meant confronting reality, rather than evading it. Hawthorne often dealt with the themes of morality, sin, and redemption. Among his early influences were the parables and allegories of John Bunyan and Edmund Spenser. Source - http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/hawthorne.html

Curriculum Ties: English, History

Challenge Issues: Adultery; Anti-Religion

Booktalk Ideas: Pure – Explain Puritanical society and what was considered a sin. Lead into the story of Hester and how she became to be an adulteress.