The Scarlet Letter
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''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of
historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...
by American author
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
, published in 1850. Set in the
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of
Hester Prynne Hester Prynne is the protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel ''The Scarlet Letter''. She is portrayed as a woman condemned by her Puritan neighbors. The character has been called "among the first and most important female protagonists in ...
, who conceives a daughter with a man to whom she is not married and then struggles to create a new life of
repentance Repentance is reviewing one's actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better. In modern times, it is generally seen as involving a co ...
and
dignity Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
. Containing a number of religious and historic allusions, the book explores themes of legalism,
sin In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...
and
guilt Guilt may refer to: *Guilt (emotion), an emotion that occurs when a person feels that they have violated a moral standard *Culpability, a legal term *Guilt (law), a legal term Music *Guilt (album), ''Guilt'' (album), a 2009 album by Mims *Guilt ( ...
. ''The Scarlet Letter'' was one of the first mass-produced books in the United States. It was popular when first published and is considered a classic work of American literature. The novel has inspired numerous film, television, and stage adaptations. Critics have described ''The Scarlet Letter'' as a masterwork, and novelist
D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
called it a "perfect work of the American imagination".Miller, Edwin Haviland. ''Salem is my Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne''. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991.


Plot

In Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, a crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young woman who has given birth to a baby of unknown paternity. Her sentence requires her to stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation, and to wear a scarlet "A" for the rest of her life. As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity. When commanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses. As Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as her long-lost husband, who had been presumed lost at sea. When the husband sees Hester's shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's pregnancy. He angrily exclaims that the child's father should also be punished for his immoral act and vows to find the man. He chooses a new name, Roger Chillingworth, to aid him in his plan. The Reverend John Wilson and the minister of Hester's church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question her, but she refuses to name her lover. After she returns to her prison cell, the jailer brings in Chillingworth, now a physician, to calm Hester and her child with his roots and herbs. He and Hester have an open conversation regarding their marriage and the fact that they were both in the wrong. Chillingworth demands to know who fathered Hester's child, but Hester refuses to divulge that information. He accepts Hester's refusal, stating that he will find out the man's identity anyway. Chillingworth threatens to destroy the father of Hester's child if Hester ever reveals the fact that Chillingworth is her husband. Hester agrees to Chillingworth's terms, although she suspects she will regret it. Following her release from prison, Hester settles in a cottage at the edge of town and earns a meager living with her needlework, of extraordinary quality. She lives a quiet, sombre life with her daughter, Pearl, and performs acts of charity for the poor. She is troubled by her daughter's unusual fascination with the scarlet "A". The shunning of Hester also extends to Pearl, who has no playmates or friends except her mother. As she grows older, Pearl becomes capricious and unruly. Her conduct starts rumours, and the church members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester. Hester, hearing rumours that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham and ministers Wilson and Dimmesdale. Hester appeals to Dimmesdale in desperation, and the minister persuades the governor to let Pearl remain in Hester's care. Because Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail, the townspeople are happy to have Chillingworth, the newly arrived physician, take up lodgings with their beloved minister. In close contact with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is the result of unconfessed guilt. He applies psychological pressure to the minister because he suspects Dimmesdale is Pearl's father. One evening, pulling the sleeping Dimmesdale's vestment aside, Chillingworth sees a symbol that represents his shame on the minister's pale chest. Tormented by his guilty conscience, Dimmesdale goes to the square where Hester was punished years earlier. Climbing the scaffold in the dead of night, he admits his guilt but cannot find the courage to do so publicly in the light of day. Hester, shocked by Dimmesdale's deterioration, decides to obtain a release from her vow of silence to her husband. Hester meets Dimmesdale in the forest and tells him of her husband and his desire for revenge. She convinces Dimmesdale to leave Boston in secret on a ship to Europe where they can start life anew. Inspired by this plan, the minister seems to gain energy. On Election Day, Dimmesdale gives one of his most inspired sermons. As the procession leaves the church, however, Dimmesdale climbs upon the scaffold, confesses his sin, and dies in Hester's arms. Later, most witnesses swear that they saw a stigma in the form of a scarlet "A" upon his chest, although some deny this statement. Chillingworth loses his vengeance and dies as well, leaving Pearl a substantial inheritance. After several years, Hester returns to her cottage and resumes wearing the scarlet letter. When she dies, she is buried near the grave of Dimmesdale, and they share a simple slate tombstone engraved with an escutcheon described as: "On a field,
sable The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaza ...
, the letter A,
gules In heraldry, gules () is the tincture with the colour red. It is one of the class of five dark tinctures called "colours", the others being azure (blue), sable (black), vert (green) and purpure (purple). In engraving, it is sometimes depict ...
" (“On a black background, the letter A in red").


Major theme

The major theme of ''The Scarlet Letter'' is shaming and social stigma, as seen both in Prynne's public humiliation and in Dimmesdale's private shame and fear of exposure. Notably, their liaison is never spoken of, so the circumstances that led to Prynne's pregnancy never become part of the plot. Elmer Kennedy-Andrews remarks that Hawthorne in "The Custom-house" sets the context for his story and "tells us about 'romance', which is his preferred generic term to describe ''The Scarlet Letter'', as his subtitle for the book – 'A Romance' – would indicate." In this introduction, Hawthorne describes a space between materialism and "dreaminess" that he calls "a neutral territory, somewhere between the real world and fairy-land, where the Actual and the Imaginary may meet, and each imbues itself with nature of the other". This combination of "dreaminess" and realism gave the author space to explore major themes.


Other themes

The experience of Prynne and Dimmesdale recalls the story of
Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
because, in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering. But it also results in knowledge – specifically, in knowledge of what it means to be immoral. For Prynne, the Scarlet Letter is a physical manifestation of her sin and reminder of her painful solitude. She contemplates casting it off to obtain her freedom from an oppressive society and a checkered past as well as the absence of God. Because the society excludes her, she considers the possibility that many of the traditions upheld by the Puritan culture are untrue and are not designed to bring her happiness. As for Dimmesdale, the "cheating minister", his sin gives him "sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind" "that his chest vibrate in unison with theirs." His eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy. The Dimmesdale narrative is quite in keeping with the oldest and most fully authorized principles in
Christian thought Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exeg ...
. His "fall" is a descent from apparent grace to his own damnation; he appears to begin in purity but he ends in corruption. The subtlety is that the minister's belief is his own cheating, convincing himself at every stage of his spiritual
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
that he is saved. Throughout the work, the nature images contrast with the stark darkness of the Puritans and their systems. A rose bush's beauty forms a striking contrast to all that surrounds it. Later, the beautifully embroidered scarlet "A" is held out in part as an invitation to find "some sweet moral blossom" in the ensuing, tragic tale and in part as an image that "the deep heart of nature" (perhaps God) may look more kindly on the errant Prynne and her child than her Puritan neighbors do.''The Scarlet Letter'' by Nathaniel Hawthorne
CliffNotes from Yahoo! Education
Chillingworth's misshapen body reflects (or symbolizes) the anger in his soul, just as Dimmesdale's illness reveals his inner turmoil. The outward man reflects the condition of the heart. This observation is thought to have been inspired by the deterioration of
Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
, whom Hawthorne "much admired". Another theme is the extreme legalism of the Puritans and how Prynne chose not to conform to their rules and beliefs. Prynne was rejected by the villagers even though she spent her life doing what she could to help the sick and the poor. Because she was shunned, she spent her life mostly in solitude and did not attend church. Instead, she retreated into her own mind and her own thinking. Her thoughts began to stretch and go beyond what would be considered by the Puritans as safe. She still saw her sin, but she began to look on it differently than the villagers did. Prynne began to believe that a person's earthly sins do not necessarily condemn them. She even went so far as to tell Dimmesdale that their sin had been paid for by their daily penance and that their sin would not prevent them from reaching heaven. Prynne was alienated from Puritan society, both in her physical life and spiritual life. When Dimmesdale died, she knew she had to move on because she could no longer conform to the Puritans' strictness. Her thinking was free from Puritan religious bounds and she had established her own moral standards and beliefs.


Publication history

It was long held that Hawthorne originally planned ''The Scarlet Letter'' to be a shorter novelette, part of a collection named ''Old Time Legends'', and that his publisher,
James T. Fields James Thomas Fields (December 31, 1817 – April 24, 1881) was an American publisher, editor, and poet. His business, Ticknor and Fields, was a notable publishing house in 19th century Boston. Biography Early life and family He was born in ...
, convinced him to expand the work to a full-length novel. This is not true: Fields persuaded Hawthorne to publish ''The Scarlet Letter'' alone (along with the earlier-completed "Custom House" essay) but he had nothing to do with the length of the story. Hawthorne's wife Sophia later challenged Fields' claims a little inexactly: "he has made the absurd boast that ''he'' was the sole cause of the Scarlet Letter being published!" She noted that her husband's friend
Edwin Percy Whipple Edwin Percy Whipple (March 8, 1819 – June 16, 1886) was an American essayist and critic. Biography He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1819. For a time, he was the main literary critic for Philadelphia-based ''Graham's Magazine''. Lat ...
, a critic, approached Fields to consider its publication. The manuscript was written at the Peter Edgerley House in
Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, located on the North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem would become one of the most significant seaports tr ...
, still standing as a private residence at 14 Mall Street. It was the last Salem home where the Hawthorne family lived. ''The Scarlet Letter'' was first published in the spring of 1850 by
Ticknor and Fields Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as a bookstore in 1832, the business would publish many 19th century American authors including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, ...
, beginning Hawthorne's most lucrative period.McFarland, Philip. ''Hawthorne in Concord''. New York: Grove Press, 2004: 136. When he delivered the final pages to Fields in February 1850, Hawthorne said that "some portions of the book are powerfully written" but doubted it would be popular. In fact, the book was an instant best-seller, though, over fourteen years, it brought its author only $1,500. Its initial publication brought wide protest from natives of Salem, who did not approve of how Hawthorne had depicted them in his introduction "The Custom-House". A 2,500-copy second edition included a preface by Hawthorne dated March 30, 1850, that stated he had decided to reprint his Introduction "without the change of a word... The only remarkable features of the sketch are its frank and genuine good-humor ... As to enmity, or ill-feeling of any kind, personal or political, he utterly disclaims such motives". ''The Scarlet Letter'' was also one of the first mass-produced books in America. In the mid-nineteenth century, bookbinders of home-grown literature typically hand-made their books and sold them in small quantities. The first mechanized printing of ''The Scarlet Letter'', 2,500 volumes, sold out within ten days, and was widely read and discussed to an extent not much experienced in the young country up until that time. A signed first edition, first printing of Scarlet Letter from March 1850 published by Ticknor, Reed and Fields sells for $22,500. Unsigned, the retail price is $12,500.


Critical response

On its publication, critic
Evert Augustus Duyckinck Evert Augustus Duyckinck (pronounced DIE-KINK) (November 23, 1816 – August 13, 1878) was an American publisher and biographer. He was associated with the literary side of the Young America movement in New York. Biography He was born on Novem ...
, a friend of Hawthorne's, said he preferred the author's
Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...
-like tales. Another friend, critic
Edwin Percy Whipple Edwin Percy Whipple (March 8, 1819 – June 16, 1886) was an American essayist and critic. Biography He was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1819. For a time, he was the main literary critic for Philadelphia-based ''Graham's Magazine''. Lat ...
, objected to the novel's "morbid intensity" with dense psychological details, writing that the book "is therefore apt to become, like Hawthorne, too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of them". English writer Mary Anne Evans writing as "George Eliot", called ''The Scarlet Letter'', along with
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet and educator. His original works include "Paul Revere's Ride", ''The Song of Hiawatha'', and ''Evangeline''. He was the first American to completely transl ...
's 1855 book-length poem ''
The Song of Hiawatha ''The Song of Hiawatha'' is an 1855 epic poem in trochaic tetrameter by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which features Native American characters. The epic relates the fictional adventures of an Ojibwe warrior named Hiawatha and the tragedy of his l ...
'', the "two most indigenous and masterly productions in American literature". Most literary critics praised the book but religious leaders took issue with the novel's subject matter.
Orestes Brownson Orestes Augustus Brownson (September 16, 1803 – April 17, 1876) was an American intellectual and activist, preacher, labor organizer, and noted Catholic convert and writer. Brownson was a publicist, a career which spanned his affiliation with ...
alleged that Hawthorne did not understand Christianity, confession, and remorse. A review in ''
The Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register ''The Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register'' was an Episcopal American journal publishing (under a number of different names) on theological and religious matters from 1848 until 1891. The journal was founded by Nathaniel Smith Richardson. ...
'' concluded the author "perpetrates bad morals." On the other hand, 20th-century writer
D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...
said that there could not be a more perfect work of the American imagination than ''The Scarlet Letter''.
Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...
once said of the novel, "It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary; it has in the highest degree that merit which I have spoken of as the mark of Hawthorne's best things—an indefinable purity and lightness of conception...One can often return to it; it supports familiarity and has the inexhaustible charm and mystery of great works of art."


Allusions

The following are historical and Biblical references that appear in ''The Scarlet Letter''. *
Anne Hutchinson Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury; July 1591 – August 1643) was a Puritan spiritual advisor, religious reformer, and an important participant in the Antinomian Controversy which shook the infant Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1636 to 1638. Her ...
, mentioned in Chapter 1, "The Prison Door", was a religious dissenter (1591–1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the
Puritans The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. P ...
and exiled from
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
, and moved to
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...
. *
Ann Hibbins Ann Hibbins (also spelled Hibbons or Hibbens) was a woman executed for witchcraft in Boston, Massachusetts, on June 19, 1656. Her death by hanging was the third for witchcraft in Boston and predated the Salem witch trials of 1692.Poole, William F. ...
, who historically was executed for witchcraft in Boston in 1656, is depicted in ''The Scarlet Letter'' as a witch who tries to tempt Prynne to the practice of witchcraft.Schwab, Gabriele. ''The Mirror and the Killer-Queen: Otherness in Literary Language''. Indiana University Press. 1996. Pg. 120.Hunter, Dianne, ''Seduction and Theory: Readings of Gender, Representation, and Rhetoric''. University of Illinois Press. 1989. Pgs. 186–187 *
Richard Bellingham Richard Bellingham (c. 1592 – 7 December 1672) was a colonial magistrate, lawyer, and several-time governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the last surviving signatory of the colonial charter at his death. A wealthy lawyer in Lincolnsh ...
(c. 1592–1672), who historically was the governor of Massachusetts and deputy governor at the time of Hibbins's execution, was depicted in ''The Scarlet Letter'' as the brother of Ann Hibbins. *
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
(1483–1545) was a leader of the
Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
in Germany. *
Increase Mather Increase Mather (; June 21, 1639 Old Style – August 23, 1723 Old Style) was a New England Puritan clergyman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and president of Harvard College for twenty years (1681–1701). He was influential in the administ ...
(1639–1723), a powerful leader of the early Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a Puritan minister involved with the government of the colony, and also the
Salem Witch Trials The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom w ...
. * Sir
Thomas Overbury Sir Thomas Overbury (baptized 1581 – 14 September 1613) was an English poet and essayist, also known for being the victim of a murder which led to a scandalous trial. His poem ''A Wife'' (also referred to as ''The Wife''), which depicted the ...
and Dr. Forman were the subjects of an adultery scandal in 1615 in England. Dr. Forman was charged with trying to poison his adulterous wife and her lover. Overbury was a friend of the lover and was perhaps poisoned. *
John Winthrop John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...
(1588–1649), second governor of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
. *
King's Chapel Burying Ground King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic graveyard on Tremont Street, near its intersection with School Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1630, it is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail. Despite ...
, mentioned in the final paragraph, exists; the
Elizabeth Pain Elizabeth Pain (c. 1652 – 26 November 1704), sometimes spelled Elizabeth Paine or Elisabeth Payne, was a settler in colonial Boston who was brought to trial after the death of her child. She was acquitted of the murder charge but found guilty of ...
gravestone is traditionally considered an inspiration for the protagonists' grave. * The story of King
David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
and
Bathsheba Bathsheba ( or ; he, בַּת־שֶׁבַע, ''Baṯ-šeḇaʿ'', Bat-Sheva or Batsheva, "daughter of Sheba" or "daughter of the oath") was the wife of Uriah the Hittite and later of David, according to the Hebrew Bible. She was the mother of ...
is depicted in the tapestry in Mr. Dimmesdale's room (chapter 9). (Se
II Samuel 11–12
for the Biblical story.) * John Eliot (c. 1604–1690) was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians whom some called "the apostle to the Indians". He is referred to as "the Apostle Eliot" whom Dimmesdale has gone to visit at the beginning of Chapter 16, "A Forest Walk".


Symbols

The following are symbols that are embedded in ''The Scarlet Letter'': * The Scarlet Letter "A": In the beginning of the novel, Hester's letter "A" is a representation of her sin and adultery. However, as time progresses, the meaning of the letter changed. To some, it now meant "able". The novel states, "The letter was the symbol of her calling. Such helpfulness was found in her—so much power to do, and power to sympathize—that many people refused to interpret the scarlet A by its original signification. They said that it meant Able, so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman's strength". * Meteor: The meteor shaped as an A serves as another symbol in the book. To Reverend Dimmesdale, the meteor is a sign from God. God is revealing Dimmesdale's sin to everyone, and Dimmesdale is be ridden with guilt. However, others perceived the letter to be the symbol of an angel. * Dimmesdale's name: Dimmesdale's name itself also holds symbolism. His name contains the root word "dim", which evokes faintness, weakness, and gloom and represents Dimmesdale's constant state since the commission of his sin. * Pearl: Pearl is the embodiment of her parents' sin and passion. She is a constant reminder of the sin from which her mother cannot escape. It is mentioned she "was the scarlet letter in another form; the scarlet letter endowed in life".Hawthorne (1850), p. 84. * Rosebush: The rosebush is mentioned twice within the course of the story. It is first viewed as nature's way of offering beauty to those who leave and enter the prison, as well as providing a glimmer of hope to those who inhabit it. The rosebush is perceived as a symbol of brightness in a story filled with human sorrow. * The Scaffold: The scaffold is mentioned three times throughout the novel. It can be viewed as separating the book into its beginning, middle, and end. It symbolizes shame, revelation of sin, and guilt, for it is the location where Hester received her scarlet letter as punishment and where Dimmesdale experienced his revelation through the meteor.


Adaptations and influence

''The Scarlet Letter'' has inspired numerous film, television, and stage adaptations, and plot elements have influenced several novels, musical works, and screen productions.


See also

*
Badge of shame A badge of shame, also a symbol of shame, a mark of shame or a stigma, is typically a distinctive symbol required to be worn by a specific group or an individual for the purpose of public humiliation, ostracism or persecution. The term is also u ...
* Boston in fiction *
Colonial history of the United States The colonial history of the United States covers the history of European colonization of North America from the early 17th century until the incorporation of the Thirteen Colonies into the United States after the Revolutionary War. In the ...
*
Illegitimacy in fiction This is a list of fictional stories in which illegitimacy features as an important plot element. Passing mentions are omitted from this article. Many of these stories explore the social pain and exclusion felt by illegitimate "natural children". ...
*
Whore of Babylon Babylon the Great, commonly known as the Whore of Babylon, refers to both a symbolic female figure and place of evil mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. Her full title is stated in Revelation 17 (verse 5) as "Mystery, Babylon the Gr ...
*'' Angel and Apostle'', a 2005 novel about the same characters


References


Notes


Bibliography

* Boonyaprasop, Marina. ''Hawthorne’s Wilderness: Nature and Puritanism in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter and "Young Goodman Brown"'' (Anchor Academic Publishing, 2013). * Brodhead, Richard H. ''Hawthorne, Melville, and the Novel''. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1973. * Brown, Gillian. "'Hawthorne, Inheritance, and Women's Property", ''Studies in the Novel'' 23.1 (Spring 1991): 107–18. * Cañadas, Ivan. "A New Source for the Title and Some Themes in ''The Scarlet Letter''. ''Nathaniel Hawthorne Review'' 32.1 (Spring 2006): 43–51. * * Korobkin, Laura Haft. "The Scarlet Letter of the Law: Hawthorne and Criminal Justice". ''Novel: a Forum on Fiction'' 30.2 (Winter 1997): 193–217. * Gartner, Matthew. "''The Scarlet Letter'' and the Book of Esther: Scriptural Letter and Narrative Life". ''Studies in American Fiction'' 23.2 (Fall 1995): 131–51. * * Newberry, Frederick. "Tradition and Disinheritance in ''The Scarlet Letter''. ''ESQ: A journal of the American Renaissance'' 23 (1977), 1–26; repr. in: ''The Scarlet Letter''. W. W. Norton, 1988: pp. 231–48. * Reid, Alfred S. ''Sir Thomas Overbury's Vision (1616) and Other English Sources of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter''. Gainesville, FL: Scholar's Facsimiles and Reprints, 1957. * Reid, Bethany. "Narrative of the Captivity and Redemption of Roger Prynne: Rereading ''The Scarlet Letter''. ''Studies in the Novel'' 33.3 (Fall 2001): 247–67. * Ryskamp, Charles. "The New England Sources of ''The Scarlet Letter''. ''American Literature'' 31 (1959): 257–72; repr. in: ''The Scarlet Letter'', 3rd ed. Norton, 1988: 191–204. * Savoy, Eric. Filial Duty': Reading the Patriarchal Body in 'The Custom House. ''Studies in the Novel'' 25.4 (Winter 1993): 397–427. * Sohn, Jeonghee. ''Rereading Hawthorne's Romance: The Problematics of Happy Endings''. American Studies Monograph Series, 26. Seoul: American Studies Institute, Seoul National University, 2001; 2002. * Stewart, Randall (ed.) ''The American Notebooks of Nathaniel Hawthorne: Based upon the Original Manuscripts in the Piermont Morgan Library''. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1932. * Waggoner, Hyatt H. ''Hawthorne: A Critical Study'', 3rd ed. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1971.


External links

* * *
"Critical Commentary Related to Female Characters in ''The Scarlet Letter''
Hawthorne in Salem Website
Excerpts from the opera ''The Scarlet Letter''
by
Fredric Kroll Fredric Joseph Kroll (born February 7, 1945, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American-German composer and writer. He was born in 1945 as the only child of the piano teacher and schoolteacher Alexander Kroll, born in New York as the fourth child of ...
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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Scarlet Letter, The 1850 American novels Adultery in novels American historical novels American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into plays Novels adapted into operas American novels adapted into television shows Novels by Nathaniel Hawthorne Novels set in Boston Novels set in the 1630s Novels set in the 1640s Novels set in the American colonial era