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Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) is a classic American novel set in 17th-century Puritan Boston. It tells the story of Hester Prynne, who is condemned to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest after bearing a child out of wedlock. While she endures shame and isolation with dignity, the community’s hypocrisy is revealed: her lover, Reverend Dimmesdale, secretly suffers under the weight of his guilt, and her estranged husband, Chillingworth, becomes consumed by revenge. The novel explores themes of sin, guilt, redemption, identity, and the conflict between individual morality and rigid social codes. Hawthorne uses rich symbolism—especially the scarlet letter itself, Pearl (Hester’s daughter), and the forest—to question the harshness of Puritan judgment and to highlight the complexities of human nature.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850) is a classic American novel set in 17th-century Puritan Boston. It tells the story of Hester Prynne, who is condemned to wear a scarlet “A” on her chest after bearing a child out of wedlock. While she endures shame and isolation with dignity, the community’s hypocrisy is revealed: her lover, Reverend Dimmesdale, secretly suffers under the weight of his guilt, and her estranged husband, Chillingworth, becomes consumed by revenge. The novel explores themes of sin, guilt, redemption, identity, and the conflict between individual morality and rigid social codes. Hawthorne uses rich symbolism—especially the scarlet letter itself, Pearl (Hester’s daughter), and the forest—to question the harshness of Puritan judgment and to highlight the complexities of human nature.