Jerryl C.

Ugsod BSE-III
Survey of English-American Literature 03-10-2021

The Scarlet Letter

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Country: United States
Language: English
Genre:Romantic, Historical
Publisher: Ticknor, Reed & Fields
Publication date: 1850

The Characters
Hester Prynne is a beautiful woman who is known for her needlework. She is also an adulteress and has to
wear a scarlet letter A on her dress as a punishment.
Arthur Dimmesdale is the town minister. No one knows it, but he is an adulterer too. He punishes himself in
private about it.
Roger Chillingworth is Hester's husband, who has been missing (and thought to be dead) for a couple years.
He is in disguise in town, hoping to take revenge on Hester's lover.
Pearl is Hester's illegitimate daughter. She is unique in spirit and doesn't like Puritans very much.

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 parentage. Her sentence required her to stand on the
scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation, and to wear the 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 demanded 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 has 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 adultery. He angrily exclaims that the child's father, the
partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished 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. Her lover, however, is another matter
and he demands to know who it is; Hester refuses to divulge such information. He accepts this, stating that he
will find out anyway, and forces her to conceal that he is her husband. If she ever reveals him, he warns her,
he will destroy the child's father. 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, which is of extraordinary quality. She lives a quiet, somber 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 rumors, and, not surprisingly, the church
members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester.
Hester, hearing rumors that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham. With him are 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. Being in such close contact with Dimmesdale,
Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is the result of some 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.
Several days later, 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 new energy. On Election Day, Dimmesdale gives one of
his most inspired sermons. But as the procession leaves the church, Dimmesdale climbs upon the scaffold and
confesses his sin, dying 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, losing his will for revenge, dies
shortly thereafter and leaves 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 letter A, gules" ("A red letter A written on a black
background").

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. It now represented, to some, able. It 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” (129).[24]
Meteor: The meteor shaped as an A serves as another symbol in the book. To Reverend Dimmesdale the
meteor is a sign from God who is revealing his sin to everyone and causes him to be ridden with guilt.
However, others perceived the letter to be a symbol for angel.[24]
Dimmesdale's name: Dimmesdale's name itself also holds symbolism. His name contains the root word "dim"
which evokes the feeling of faint, weak, and gloom. This represents the constant state Dimmesdale finds
himself in. His life has dimmed itself ever since his sin, causing his light of life to fade and dim.[24]
Pearl: Pearl symbolizes 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” (84).[24]
Rosebush: The rosebush is mentioned twice within the course of the story. At the beginning, 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.[24]
The Scaffold: The scaffold is mentioned three times throughout the novel. It can be viewed as separating the
book into the beginning, middle, and end. It symbolizes shame, revelation of sin, and guilt for it is where Hester
received her scarlet letter as punishment and where Dimmesdale experiences his revelation through the
meteor.

Major theme
The major theme of The Scarlet Letter is shaming and social stigmatizing, both Hester's public humiliation and
Dimmesdale's private shame and fear of exposure. Notably, their liaison is never spoken of, so the
circumstances that led to Hester's pregnancy, and how their affair was kept secret never become part of the
plot.