The Scarlet Letter

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Overview

When it first appeared in 1850, The Scarlet Letter enjoyed scandalous success. New England critics condemned its passionate subject matter. One critic complained that Nathaniel Hawthorne invested adultery with all the fascination of genius, and all the charms of a highly polished style. My preliminary chapter, wryly noted the author, has caused the greatest uproar that has happened here since witch-times.

As she emerges from the prison of a Puritan New England town, Hester Prynne defies the dark gloom much as the rose blooms against the prison door. With her illegitimate baby, Pearl, clutched in her arms and the letter A—the mark of an ...
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Overview

When it first appeared in 1850, The Scarlet Letter enjoyed scandalous success. New England critics condemned its passionate subject matter. One critic complained that Nathaniel Hawthorne invested adultery with all the fascination of genius, and all the charms of a highly polished style. My preliminary chapter, wryly noted the author, has caused the greatest uproar that has happened here since witch-times.

As she emerges from the prison of a Puritan New England town, Hester Prynne defies the dark gloom much as the rose blooms against the prison door. With her illegitimate baby, Pearl, clutched in her arms and the letter A—the mark of an adulteress—embroidered in scarlet thread on her breast, Hester holds her head high as she faces the malice and scorn of the townsfolk. Her powerful, bittersweet story is an American classic that continues to touch the hearts of modern readers with its timeless themes of guilt, passion and repentance.

In early colonial Massachusetts, a young woman endures the consequences of her sin of adultery and spends the rest of her life in atonement.

Editorial Reviews

Sheppard Jacinto
“A quick read. A great read. What makes this series of classics so successful is the way they have been lovingly crafted. Near perfect, they honor their source material and capture the humor, the drama, the passion, the excitement, the sheer narrative exuberance, that have made each of these works timeless classics.”

--Sheppard Jacinto
More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews
From Barnes & Noble
Hawthorne's masterpiece about Hester Prynne, hapless victim of sin, guilt and hypocrisy in Puritan New England.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780451526083
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 10/28/1999
  • Format: Mass Market Paperback
  • Edition description: Reissue
  • Pages: 272
  • Age range: 1 year
  • Series: Signet Classics Series
  • Product dimensions: 4.24 (w) x 6.70 (h) x 0.60 (d)

Meet the Author

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, the son and grandson of proud New England seafarers. He lived in genteel poverty with his widowed mother and two young sisters in a house filled with Puritan ideals and family pride in a prosperous past. His boyhood was, in most respects, pleasant and normal. In 1825 he was graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, and he returned to Salem determined to become a writer of short stories. For the next twelve years he was plagued with unhappiness and self-doubts as he struggled to master his craft. He finally secured some small measure of success with the publication of his Twice-Told Tales (1837). His marriage to Sophia Peabody in 1842 was a happy one. The Scarlet Letter (1850), which brought him immediate recognition, was followed by The House of the Seven Gables (1851). After serving four years as the American Consul in Liverpool, England, he traveled in Italy; he returned home to Massachusetts in 1860. Depressed, weary of writing, and failing in health, he died on May 19, 1864, at Plymouth, New Hampshire.

Nina Baym is the director of the School of Humanities and professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Thomas E. Connolly (1918–2002) was a literary critic and professor of English at the University of Buffalo, where he served as chair of the UB faculty senate. Connolly’s critical essays appeared widely in scholarly journals, and he wrote and edited several books on the works of James Joyce and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Biography

Nathaniel Hathorne, Jr., was born into an established New England puritan family on Independence Day, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. After the sudden death of his father, he and his mother and sisters moved in with his mother's family in Salem. Nathaniel's early education was informal; he was home-schooled by tutors until he enrolled in Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.

Uninterested in conventional professions such as law, medicine, or the ministry, Nathaniel chose instead to rely "for support upon my pen." After graduation, he returned to his hometown, wrote short stories and sketches, and chanced the spelling of his surname to "Hawthorne." Hawthorne's coterie consisted of transcendentalist thinkers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Although he did not subscribe entirely to the group's philosophy, he lived for six months at Brook Farm, a cooperative living community the transcendentalists established in West Roxbury, Massachusetts.

On July 9, 1942, Hawthorne married a follower of Emerson, Sophia Peabody, with whom he had a daughter, Una, and a son, Julian. The couple purchased a mansion in Concord, Massachusetts, that previously had been occupied by author Louisa May Alcott. Frequently in financial difficulty, Hawthorne worked at the custom houses in Salem and Boston to support his family and his writing. His peaceful life was interrupted when his college friend, Franklin Pierce, now president of the United States, appointed him U.S. consul at Liverpool, England, where he served for four years.

The publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850 changed the way society viewed Puritanism. Considered his masterpiece, the novel focuses on Hawthorne's recurrent themes of sin, guilt, and punishment. Some critics have attributed his sense of guilt to his ancestors' connection with the persecution of Quakers in seventeenth-century New England and their prominent role in the Salem witchcraft trials in the 1690s.

On May 19, 1864, Hawthorne died in Plymouth, New Hampshire, leaving behind several unfinished novels that were published posthumously. He is buried at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts.

Author biography from the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of The Scarlet Letter.

Good To Know

Hawthorne's birth name was actually Nathaniel Hathorne. It's rumored that he added a "w" to avoid being associated with his Puritan grandfather, Judge Hathorne -- who presided over the Salem Witch Trials.

Among Hawthorne's peers at Maine's Bowdoin College: author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who would later become the country's 14th president.

In its first week of publication, The Scarlet Letter sold 4,000 copies.

Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, at the Pemigewasset House in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Ironically, former president Franklin Pierce had advised him to go there for his health.

    1. Date of Birth:
      July 4, 1804
    2. Place of Birth:
      Salem, Massachusetts
    1. Date of Death:
      May 19, 1864
    2. Place of Death:
      Plymouth, New Hampshire
    1. Education:
      Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine, 1824

Read an Excerpt

Scarlet Letter, The

1

The Prison Door

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 founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. In accordance with this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built the first prison house somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial ground, on Isaac Johnson's lot and round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres in the old churchyard of King's Chapel. Certain it is that,some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail was already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front. The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than anything else in the New World. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era. Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed, apple peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison. But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.

This rosebush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally overshadowed it—or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Ann Hutchinson, as she entered the prison door—we shall not take upon us to determine. Finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal, we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers, and present it to the reader. It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.

All new material in this edition is copyright © 1989 by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

Table of Contents

Introduction Michael J. Colacurcio Colacurcio, Michael J.

History in The Scarlet Letter

Note on the Text

Chronology of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Life

The Scarlet Letter

Selected Bibliography

Reading Group Guide

Hailed by Henry James as "the finest piece  of imaginative writing yet put forth in the  country," Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet  Letter reaches to our nation's  historical and moral roots for the material of great  tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel  shows the terrible impact a single, passionate act  has on the lives of three members of the  community: the defiant Hester Prynne; the fiery, tortured  Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed, vengeful  Chillingworth.

With The Scarlet  Letter, Hawthorne became the first American  novelist to forge from our Puritan heritage a  universal classic, a masterful exploration of  humanity's unending struggle with sin, guilt and pride.


From the Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 3034 )

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 3053 Customer Reviews

  • Posted June 22, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9781593082314

    Better the Second Time Around

    I read this book in high school and reread it last week. It is one of those novels that improves over time and experience of the reader. I highly recommend this for all adults who read this as teens. Go back and look at the story with the eyes of someone who has experienced love and loss. It will change the way you thought about this wonderful book.

    9 out of 10 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 2, 2005

    very very plain

    the book was required reading for my 11th grade lit class, it is the dullest book Ive ever read, if you like the plain stlye writing then maybe you will like this book as for all the other people who like books to grab your attention leave this book on the shelf...2 stars for the story behind the boring book

    9 out of 26 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 12, 2011

    Read it again as an adult!

    If you can remember the discussions from high-school English class about this book--read it again and see how much you've grown up! If you've been married, betrayed, or have children- it's a totally different read from when your only worry is breaking curfew and going to the mall.

    8 out of 12 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 18, 2010

    I Also Recommend:

    9780143105985 9780618492398 9780316015844 9780679736523 9781593081430

    The Scarlet Letter Book Review Dislike

    The Scarlett Letter Book Review
    The novel The Scarlet Letter is based in the Puritan past in Boston. It starts off with Hester Pyrenne is being led to the town prison for committing adultery with her month old daughter named Pearl cradled in her arms.
    The story behind this flashback starts when her husband sent her ahead to Boston (suspected to arrive later) then, never arrived as he promised Hester.  Meanwhile Hester was waiting for her husband to arrive to Boston, (out of helplessness without a husband) she had a baby with an unidentified man (to the reader) which she won't tell the jury while on her trial. After this account, Hester then falls in love with yet another man named Minister Dimmsdale that is trying to save her and her baby from being sentenced to death for commiting adultery. Hester and the Minister Dimmsdale are both united because, they mysteriously have a scarlet letter imprinted on their chests.  If you liked the beginning then, Im sure you would enjoy reading this story.
      The story is a bit hard to read because, the prolouge is so long. To me it seemed worthless to read the entire 40 page long prolouge. It only explains about how the book came to be and facts about the author. It feels like there is an autobiography first of the author then, the story. I didn't enjoy this part of the book
    The mystery unravels as you keep reading. If you like reading about the past and mysteries unraveling, you will enjoy this book. It does get a bit complicated with the names along the ways so I would suggest to take notes for your own benefit.  I did not enjoy this book as much as I could have because, the way it is written is very distracting and hard to follow. I also do not enjoy reading books based in the past. If you find yourself tastes similar to mine I would suggest not reading this book.
    The book also did seem intresting to me in some ways when I finally did some research on what I was actually reading (because, I was very confused in some parts by the way it was written) The intresting part about the book that I did enjoy was that the author explains secret societies and their sophistication even in past times( when we think now that they couldn't be modernized) to be discovered later in time.

    6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 2, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    Well I can cross this off my list!

    Well I finally finished The Scarlet Letter. I have to admit it was slow to begin, but then the mystery of who was the father was caught my interest. I did figure it out before the book confirmed it, but I have to admit it was the mystery I liked best. The writer did his job, I thought her husband was a jerk which I would guess was the writers intent. I guess the only reason why I read it was because it was on the classic list, and it did stand the test of time for it to remain in today's society, but who am I to judge?!?!?!?

    4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 6, 2010

    more from this reviewer

    An Intimate Glimpse into Puritan Life

    This novel is considered to be one of the greats. Being an English Literature major, I felt I needed to read it. The synopsis is as follows: Hester Prynne, a woman living in Puritan New England, has had an affair with a man whose identity she refuses to reveal. From this union, Hester is impregnated, and the story opens on Hester holding the illegitimate child in her arms while standing on a scaffold in front of her entire town. As punishment for her adulterous act, Hester is sentenced to wear a large scarlet A on her breast for the rest of her life. As the rest of the story unfolds, the reader gains an understanding of Hester's true nature, as well as the nature of her child. This novel provides a clear view of life as a Puritan woman, yet I found it to be a bit "wordy" at times, often going off on tangents about nature or philosophy. By the end of the novel, I found myself not caring about any of the characters, even the child. Since this novel is taught in many high schools, perhaps I am missing something, and will read it again at a later time.

    4 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted December 9, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    I Also Recommend:

    9780060809249 9781416548942 9781593083809 9781411400405

    "The Letter A Gules"

    I moaned, groaned, and complained about reading The Scarlet Letter for a literature class, but as I turned the first page, my attention was seduced. The writing itself is very unique in its style. Mostly, the chapters critically analyze the characters therin, delving into the abyss of thought. As well as displaying a fantastic portrayal of Puritan society, the symbols, the emotions, and the dialogue are masterful. The Scarlet Letter is well-wriiten, thought-provoking, and definitly a book that should continue to be read.

    4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 18, 2009

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    I Also Recommend:

    9780451525260

    A great classic

    I read at least one classic each summer - some are good and some are actually as bad as I remember from High School. But I really enjoyed the Scarlet Letter.

    4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 3, 2012

    Boring

    It was over descriptive and drug on forever. A very long very boring story. The plot line was okay but it didn't reach expectations.

    3 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 23, 2009

    Get the entire plot in the prolog

    The first 17 pages of this particular version of Scarlet Letter is basically a "Cliff-Note" version of the book. Try not to read through it, otherwise you'll have no reason to read the actual novel. I read through the rest of the book, skipping through pages because, well, I already knew what was going to happen.

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 13, 2009

    OMG, worst book ever!

    I couldn't believe how monumentally dull this book was. I have never almost puked from boredom, but it almost happened while reading this book. The plot isn't actually bad, but it's the romantic style of writing, common in that time, which just kills me.

    3 out of 14 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 26, 2012

    One of my favorites!!!

    The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most well known pieces of literature, and it definitely deserves its title as an American classic. Set in a puritan colony in Massachusetts, the book depicts the life a young woman named Hester Prynne as she commits the ignominious crime of adultery. However, not only does she commit this sin with just anybody, her partner in crime turns out to be the town’s church minister. Then on top of this, Hester conceives a child she names Pearl. With the scarlet letter of shame she is now forced to where upon her breast, and with the child that was a direct result of her crime, she becomes the towns’ outcast. These elaborate conflicts carry on throughout the plot as Hester struggles to prevail over her disgrace and to keep incognito her fellow sinner. The third person narrative focuses on the development of Hester as she gains independence, and strives to achieve forgiveness and a normalcy back into her life. She starts work as a weaver in order to provide for Pearl, and help give back to the community. The piece also concentrates on Pearl, how she is the representation of a devil child, and her fascination and constant attraction to Hester’s scarlet letter. In addition, although Hester loves her with all her heart, she did not like the way Pearl was conceived. Pearl, along with her mother, is an outcast but develops into a strong, multifaceted child who in some minds, even sometimes in Hester’s, is evil. Pearl’s father is also developed in the story, as he deals with extreme guilt. He is driven almost insane with the knowledge that he should be sharing the same fate as Hester. Hawthorne writes in a way so well thought out, that the reader can feel many different emotions and conjure so many different opinions. Hawthorne pinpoints the themes of evil, sin, and the identity in society throughout the novel, really highlighting a psychological, as well as sociological, way of writing. He depicts these difficult subjects in such intricate ways through the different characters in his story. For example, the scarlet letter A helped Hester daringly analyze herself and her position in society, further letting her accept the awful she has committed. Arthur Dimmesdale on the other hand—Pearl’s father—had the internal burden of keeping his adultery a secret, thus displaying an alternative view and perhaps even a worse off way, to cope with his wrongdoing. Nevertheless, this is only one of the numerous interpretations of the different themes in the book, solidifying that the novel really does have a great deal of complexity. Although the novel is a fantastic classic, it does like anything else have a few weaknesses; some including the loquacious tone Hawthorne turns to when describing in depth different settings, people, and events. The narration during this lags on for a bit before it gets back into more interesting events. In addition, it is a classic, and the writing is obviously written with a different mannerism, which can be taken as a pain to read, or a very poetic technique. Even so, the Scarlet Letter’s benefits outweigh its flaws. The captivating plot, interesting characters, and complex themes keep the attention of the reader and make them want to keep reading to find out what will happen next. That is why the Scarlet Letter is a classic, and that is why it will be read for many more generations to come.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 25, 2012

    Im12

    Does anyone think a 12 year old will like this book

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 9, 2012

    Not an easy read

    I had to read this for my English Lit. Class. Although the story is a decent one, the book is so slow moving and filled with a lot of unnecessary details and happenings that didnt help the story progress, they were just there, like a lot of filler. It was difficult for me to get through.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 26, 2011

    Blech

    If you like classic novels you'll love this. However if you don't it is super boring I only read the first chapter then sparknotes the rest.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted October 31, 2011

    highly recommended. quality was good.

    this item was delivered in a timely manner and was in good condition. thanks

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted July 28, 2009

    This is not a classical book.

    Why is this book considered one of the classical texts? It is written in old style english, which is very difficult to understand. Also, the story is much to be desired. The women commits adultry, and she is forced to wear letter "A" on her dress. A book is considered classical when it portrays culture of the society properly. This book shows negative values of the society. Since in western culture such action is done often, it clearly shows that western culture has no culure.

    I DO NOT recommend this book at all.

    2 out of 24 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 7, 2008

    I Also Recommend:

    9781416500292 9781432717605

    Years later, I can appreciate!

    As a required read in high school, which was quite some time ago, I had to read this story and if I needed a quick nap all I needed to do was pull out Scarlet Letter. Many years later I read it again. I knew there was a reason that Hawthorne had this grip on me. His writing is so dark, yet wonderfully illuminating. No one utilizes symbols better than Hawthorne. The idea that Hester lives on the edge between the city and the woods is a great example of how that represents her situation. It's absolutley brilliant. Also, there has to be a connection to Hawthorne's anguish through the character of Pastor Dimmesdale. The idea of living with so much guilt in a community that was intolerant of 'mortal' sins reveals the soul of Hawthorne and the quiet cry of a man tortured with his past.
    I would highly recommend other stories of his, novels or short stories, in order to better understand his anguish and desire for perfection. Once I read other stories it made this novel so much easier to understand. This is on level with Romeo and Juliet without the feud.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 26, 2000

    The Scarlett Letter

    The Scarlett Letter is about a woman named Hester Pyrnne who is forced to live with the fact that she had a child out of wedlock. Although she is faced with many trials along her journey throughout life she still overcomes all of them to become a good mother to her child. This novel portrays many things; one of the more important things, which it portrays, is the love Hester shows toward Pearl (her daughter) throughout the entire novel. She may be sorry for her actions forever, but one thing is for sure, she will never be sorry for the consequences of those actions. The main theme of this novel is a tale of judgement, shame and redemption.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 21, 2012

    Rosey

    I told u ud fall

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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