The Scarlet Letter

Title: The Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
ISBN: 1442140712

Plot Summary: The narrator of the story, living in what is then the present day in New England, comes across some old belongings of a woman who once lived in the community known as Hester Prynne. Hester, a married woman, had an affair with the Reverend Dimmesdale while her husband was away, and bore his illegitimate child. For this transgression, she was ostracized by the community and forced to wear a large scarlet "A" on her clothing at all times, to symbolize the sin of adultery. She attempts to regain the community's trust by leading a quiet and charitable life, but the reappearance of a mysterious stranger in town throws her world into turmoil. Although both she and her lover attempted to escape their current situation, they found that the ties of duty, obligation, and their mutual child are too great to let them go forever.

Critical Evaluation: The behavior of many of the book's characters, particularly Pearl, Hester's daughter, act more as functions of the author's chosen symbolism than as actual people, forcing the characters to behave as the plot requires rather than as actual people would do. That said, although Hester does not ultimately shirk her societal punishment, Hawthorne demonstrates in her a remarkable ability to live through her emotional and social torments, eventually building a tolerable and peaceful life for herself and her child. Thus, although Hester is not permitted to simply leave her town, cast off her letter, or otherwise defy punishment outright, Hawthorne allows her, in the end, to have some respite from the burdens weighing her down.

Reader's Annotation: Hester Prynne, a married woman in Colonial America, is ostracized by her community when she bears the illegitimate child of the town clergyman while her husband is away. Although she tries to escape the crushing stigma of her circumstances, she finds the ties binding her to her punishment too great to cast off.


About the Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne was born Nathaniel Hathorne in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. He later changed the spelling of his name to distance himself from an ancestor who had been a judge during the Salem Witch Trials. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Bowdoin College in Maine, Hawthorne published several novels in the Romantic literary style, as well as a number of short stories and a biography of Franklin Pierce. Although Hawthorne lived and wrote primarily in New England, he traveled to Europe at one point to fulfill a political appointment. He passed away in 1864, leaving behind a wife and three children.

Genre: Fiction

Curriculum Ties: Women's Studies, World Religions, American History

Booktalking Ideas:

Hook: Hester lets down her hair and takes off her letter, but Pearl makes her put it back on.
Approach: Scene-based
Ideas for Booktalk: Pearl does not recognize her mother without the mark of shame she wears. A force of nature compelling her to do her bidding, regardless of her own perceived authority as Pearl's mother. Child as physical manifestation of Hester's transgression; loss of her symbol is loss of herself. Hester ultimately unable to cast off the weight of her punishment, even if it means sacrificing her one brief moment of personal happiness.

Hook: Chillingworth, Hester's husband in disguise
Approach: Character and plot-based
Ideas for Booktalk: Discuss why Chillingworth comes back, disguises his identity. What he hopes to achieve by reintroducing contact with Hester. When Hester finally reveals his identity to Dimmesdale, why she does it, and his reaction to the news. Chillingworth subsequently provides for Pearl even though she is not his biological daughter - why? Closer examination of his relationship with his wife.

Reading Level/Interest Age: High School

Challenge Issues: Sexual content, religious viewpoint, character death.
Although this book does not depict the physical aspects of Hester's affair with Dimmesdale, it is made explicitly clear that he is the father of her child. Both he and she are ultimately punished for the affair; Hawthorne, however, appears to feel a certain degree of sympathy for both characters, portraying them as good people fallen from grace rather than as inherently evil. As he is a member of the clergy, his transgression would appear to cast aspersions on the strength of his faith, as well as the inherent worth of the faith itself; his subsequent death after openly declaring his love for Hester would seem to compound this crisis. Faith, however, may be found in this book not in Dimmesdale's actions, but in those of Hester herself, who has faith enough in providence to carry on with her life despite having been publicly shamed. Through her perseverance and mere existence, then, Hester goes on to negate the religious and vital weakness her former lover evinces.

Why I Chose This Book: A great deal of Western literature written subsequent to this book makes reference to it, either in passing reference or via directly borrowing plot or characters. Although its message of the inevitability of moral judgment may not sit as well with modern readers as it did in Hawthorne's day, many of its themes are still relevant: the shame and social stigma resulting from adulterous affairs; crises of faith; children as forces of nature; and, ultimately, the human ability to survive even the most socially trying circumstances and still make a reasonably good life for oneself.