The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

Title page, first edition of The Scarlet Letter, 1850
Author	Nathaniel Hawthorne
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Romantic novel
Publisher	Ticknor, Reed & Fields
Publication date	1850
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	192 pages
ISBN	NA

The Scarlet Letter published in 1850, is a Gothic American romance novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne; generally considered to be his masterpiece. Set in Puritan New England (specifically Boston) in the seventeenth century, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery, refuses to name the father, and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. Throughout, Hawthorne explores the issues of grace, legalism, and guilt.

Plot introduction

The story of The Scarlet Letter is framed by a preface (called "The Custom-House") in which the writer, a stand-in for Hawthorne, claims to have found documents and papers that substantiate the evidence concerning Prynne and her situation. The narrator says that when he touched the letter it gave off a "burning heat...as if the letter were not of red rose, but red hot iron." Historically, Hawthorne worked in the Salem, Massachusetts customhouse several times, losing his job as a result of administration changes. There is no factual basis for the discovery described in the book, however, and the preface is properly read as a literary device.

Explanation of the novel's title

The title refers to a cloth letter that the governor forces Prynne to wear sewn into her clothing to indicate her shame. The letter 'A indicating adultery. The phrase "Scarlet Letter" has come to have the metaphorical meaning of a mark of shame that an individual is forced to wear.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler The Scarlet Letter opens with a long preamble about how the book came to be written. The nameless narrator was the surveyor of the customhouse in Salem, Massachusetts. In the customhouse’s attic, he discovered a number of documents, among them a manuscript that was bundled with a scarlet, gold-embroidered patch of cloth in the shape of an “A.” The manuscript, the work of a past surveyor, detailed events that occurred some two hundred years before the narrator’s time. When the narrator lost his customs post, he decided to write a fictional account of the events recorded in the manuscript. The Scarlet Letter is the final product.

Salem Custom House

The story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter “A” on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester’s husband, a scholar much older than she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in Boston. The consensus is that he has been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband, Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover’s identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy. On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town fathers, but she again refuses to identify her child’s father.

The elderly onlooker is Hester’s missing husband, who is now practicing medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth. He settles in Boston, intent on revenge. He reveals his true identity to no one but Hester, whom he has sworn to secrecy. Several years pass. Hester supports herself by working as a seamstress, and Pearl grows into a willful, impish child. Shunned by the community, they live in a small cottage on the outskirts of Boston. Community officials attempt to take Pearl away from Hester, but, with the help of Arthur Dimmesdale, a young and eloquent minister, the mother and daughter manage to stay together. Dimmesdale, however, appears to be wasting away and suffers from mysterious heart trouble, seemingly caused by psychological distress. Chillingworth attaches himself to the ailing minister and eventually moves in with him so that he can provide his patient with round-the-clock care. Chillingworth also suspects that there may be a connection between the minister’s torments and Hester’s secret, and he begins to test Dimmesdale to see what he can learn. One afternoon, while the minister sleeps, Chillingworth discovers a mark on the man’s breast (the details of which are kept from the reader), which convinces him that his suspicions are correct.

Dimmesdale’s psychological anguish deepens, and he invents new tortures for himself. In the meantime, Hester’s charitable deeds and quiet humility have earned her a reprieve from the scorn of the community. One night, when Pearl is about seven years old, she and her mother are returning home from a visit to a deathbed when they encounter Dimmesdale atop the town scaffold, trying to punish himself for his sins. Hester and Pearl join him, and the three link hands. Dimmesdale refuses Pearl’s request that he acknowledge her publicly the next day, and a meteor marks a dull red “A” in the night sky. Hester can see that the minister’s condition is worsening, and she resolves to intervene. She goes to Chillingworth and asks him to stop adding to Dimmesdale’s self-torment. Chillingworth refuses.

Hester arranges an encounter with Dimmesdale in the forest because she is aware that Chillingworth has probably guessed that she plans to reveal his identity to Dimmesdale. The former lovers decide to flee to Europe, where they can live with Pearl as a family. They will take a ship sailing from Boston in four days. Both feel a sense of release, and Hester removes her scarlet letter and lets down her hair. Pearl, playing nearby, does not recognize her mother without the letter. The day before the ship is to sail, the townspeople gather for a holiday and Dimmesdale preaches his most eloquent sermon ever. Meanwhile, Hester has learned that Chillingworth knows of their plan and has booked passage on the same ship. Dimmesdale, leaving the church after his sermon, sees Hester and Pearl standing before the town scaffold. He impulsively mounts the scaffold with his lover and his daughter, and confesses publicly, exposing a scarlet letter seared into the flesh of his chest. He falls dead, as Pearl kisses him.

Frustrated in his revenge, Chillingworth dies a year later. Hester and Pearl leave Boston, and no one knows what has happened to them. Many years later, Hester returns alone, still wearing the scarlet letter, to live in her old cottage and resume her charitable work. She receives occasional letters from Pearl, who has married a European aristocrat and established a family of her own. When Hester dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale. The two share a single tombstone, which bears a scarlet “A.”

Dimmesdale, knowing that the punishment will be shame or execution, does not admit his relationship with Prynne. In his role as minister he dutifully pillories and interrogates Hester in the town square about the identity of the father. He maintains his righteous image, but internally he is dogged by his guilt and the shame of his weakness and hypocrisy. He is admired while Hester receives social contempt. Prynne's husband, Roger Chillingworth, reappears without disclosing his identity to any but Hester. Suspecting the identity of Hester's partner, he becomes Dimmesdale's caretaker and exacts his revenge by exacerbating his guilt, while keeping him alive physically. It has been speculated by some that Hawthorne hinted that Dimmesdale had been poisoned, by Chillingworth - even stating that the townspeople suspected as much - or that the mark had appeared from Chillingworth’s use of black magic and spells. . Ultimately Dimmesdale, driven to full public disclosure by his ill health, collapses and dies, delivering himself from his earthly tormentor and personal anguish.

Characters in "The Scarlet Letter"

• Hester Prynne
• Pearl
• Roger Chillingworth
• Arthur Dimmesdale

Major themes

Sin

Sin and knowledge are linked in the Judeo-Christian tradition. The Bible begins with the story of Adam and Eve, who were expelled from the Garden of Eden for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. As a result of their knowledge, Adam and Eve are made aware of their humanness, that which separates them from the divine and from other creatures. Once expelled from the Garden of Eden, they are forced to toil and to procreate—two “labors” that seem to define the human condition. The experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam and Eve 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 human. For Hester, the scarlet letter functions as “her passport into regions where other women dared not tread,” leading her to “speculate” about her society and herself more “boldly” than anyone else in New England.

As for Dimmesdale, the “burden” of his sin gives him “sympathies so intimate with the sinful brotherhood of mankind, so that his heart vibrate[s] in unison with theirs.” His eloquent and powerful sermons derive from this sense of empathy. Hester and Dimmesdale contemplate their own sinfulness on a daily basis and try to reconcile it with their lived experiences. The Puritan elders, on the other hand, insist on seeing earthly experience as merely an obstacle on the path to heaven. Thus, they view sin as a threat to the community that should be punished and suppressed. Their answer to Hester’s sin is to ostracize her. Yet, Puritan society is stagnant, while Hester and Dimmesdale’s experience shows that a state of sinfulness can lead to personal growth, sympathy, and understanding of others. Paradoxically, these qualities are shown to be incompatible with a state of purity. The narrative of the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale is quite in keeping with the oldest and most fully authorized principles in Christian thought. His "Fall" is a descent from apparent grace to his own damnation; he appears to begin in purity. He ends in corruption. The subtlety is that the minister is his own deceiver,convincing himself at every stage of his spiritual pilgrimage that he is saved.

The rosebush, its beauty a striking contrast to all that surrounds it — as later the beautifully embroidered scarlet A will be — 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 Hester and her child (the roses among the weeds) than do her Puritan neighbors. Throughout the work, the nature images contrast with the stark darkness of the Puritans and their systems.

Chillingworth’s misshapen body reflects (or symbolizes) the evil in his soul, which builds as the novel progresses.

Although Pearl is a complex character, her primary function within the novel is as a symbol. Pearl is a sort of living version of her mother’s scarlet letter. She is the physical consequence of sexual sin and the indicator of a transgression. Yet, even as a reminder of Hester’s “sin,” Pearl is more than a mere punishment to her mother: she is also a blessing. She represents not only “sin” but also the vital spirit and passion that engendered that sin. Thus, Pearl’s existence gives her mother reason to live, bolstering her spirits when she is tempted to give up. It is only after Dimmesdale is revealed to be Pearl’s father that Pearl can become fully “human.” Until then, she functions in a symbolic capacity as the reminder of an unsolved mystery. It would be interesting to draw a parallel between Pearl and Beatrice, in Rappaccini's Daughter. Both are studies in the same direction, though from different standpoints. Beatrice is nourished upon poisonous plants, until she becomes herself poisonous. Pearl, in the mysterious prenatal world, imbibes the poison of her parents' guilt. But, in either instance, behind this imported evil stands the personal soul: and the question is, Shall the soul become the victim of its involuntary circumstances? Hawthorne, in both cases, inclines to the brighter alternative.

Past and present

The clashing of past and present is explored in various ways. For example, the character of the old General, whose heroic qualities include a distinguished name, perseverance, integrity, compassion, and moral inner strength, is said to be “the soul and spirit of New England hardihood.” Now put out to pasture, he sometimes presides over the Custom House run by corrupt public servants, who skip work to sleep, allow or overlook smuggling, and are supervised by an inspector with “no power of thought, nor depth of feeling, no troublesome sensibilities,” who is honest enough but without a spiritual compass.

Hawthorne has ambivalent feelings about the role of his ancestors in his life. In his autobiographical sketch, Hawthorne describes his ancestors as “dim and dusky,” “grave, bearded, sable-cloaked, and steel crowned,” “bitter persecutors” whose “better deeds” will be diminished by their bad ones. There can be little doubt of Hawthorne’s disdain for the stern morality and rigidity of the Puritans, and he imagines his predecessors’ disdainful view of him: unsuccessful in their eyes, worthless and disgraceful. “A writer of story books!” But even as he disagrees with his ancestor’s viewpoint, he also feels an instinctual connection to them and, more importantly, a “sense of place” in Salem. Their blood remains in his veins, but their intolerance and lack of humanity becomes the subject of his novel.

Civilization versus the wild

In The Scarlet Letter, the town and the surrounding forest represent opposing behavioral systems. The town represents civilization, a rule-bound space where everything one does is on display and where transgressions are quickly punished. The forest, on the other hand, is a space of natural rather than human authority. In the forest, society’s rules do not apply, and alternate identities can be assumed. While this allows for misbehavior — Mistress Hibbins’s midnight rides, for example — it also permits greater honesty and an escape from the repression of Boston. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the woods, for a few moments, they become happy young lovers once again. Hester’s cottage, which, significantly, is located on the outskirts of town and at the edge of the forest, embodies both orders. It is her place of exile, which ties it to the authoritarian town, but because it lies apart from the settlement, it is a place where she can create for herself a life of relative peace.

Literary significance & criticism

The Scarlet Letter attained an immediate and lasting success because it addressed spiritual and moral issues from a uniquely American standpoint. In 1850, adultery was an extremely risque subject, but because Hawthorne had the support of the New England literary establishment, it passed easily into the realm of appropriate reading. It has been said that this work represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius; dense with terse descriptions. It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme.

Allusions/references from other works

• In the Tool song The Grudge the line 'Unable to forgive your scarlet letterman' is a reference to the novel.
• The band Jars of Clay have a song entitled Scarlet on their album The Eleventh Hour, which refers to the novel.
• The band Casting Crowns alludes to the Scarlet Letter in Does Anybody Hear Her from the album Lifesong, "They can't see past her scarlet letter, and we've never even met her".
• The band As Blood Runs Black titled their song Hester Prynne including lyrics that hint towards sin.
• In the romantic novel Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas, author James Patterson refers to the scarlet letter at one part.
• Deborah Noyes wrote a companion to this novel entitled Angel and Apostle with Pearl as the main character.
• The 1993 novel, The Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee re-wrote the story, placing it in present day Boston, Colonial America, and seventeenth century India during the spread of the British East India Company.
• In the Hole recording of 'Old Age' there is a lyric "no one knows she's Hester prynne".

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

1995 film poster

• 1917: A black-and-white silent film directed by Carl Harbaugh with Colleen Moore as Hester Prynne
• 1926: A silent movie directed by Victor Sjostrom and starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson.
• 1934: film directed by Robert G. Vignola and starring Colleen Moore
• Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe a 1972 film directed by Wim Wenders in German
• Meg Foster and John Heard star in a 1979 PBS version.
• The 1995 film, The Scarlet Letter is directed by Roland Joffé and stars Demi Moore as Hester. This version is "freely adapted" from Hawthorne according to the opening credits and takes liberties with the original story.
• The Red Letter Plays (In The Blood produced in 1999, and Fucking A, produced in 2000) by playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, re-wrote the story placing it in both contemporary New York and Houston.
• In 2001, a musical stage adaptation premiered at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland. The show was authored by Stacey Mancine, Daniel Koloski, and Simon Gray. It was directed by Michael Bahar, and produced by Eric Braverman and Blue Line Arts, Inc. The cast included Marisa Mickel, Mark Sanders, Graham Stevens, and Vivienne Cleary.

Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science

• Anne Hutchinson, mentioned in Chapter 1 - The Prison Door, was a religious dissenter (1591-1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the Puritans and exiled from Boston and moved to Rhode Island.
• Martin Luther (1483-1546) was a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany.
• Sir Thomas Overbury 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.
• Governor of Massachusetts Colony in 1641, 1654, and 1665-1672, is the actual historical figure Richard Bellingham.

Trivia

• Hester means "hidden" in Hebrew -- this word is associated with feminine modesty and hiddeness, virtues that Hester is shown to possess despite her adulterous affair.

Release details

• Hawthorne, Nathaniel (May 2, 1994). The Scarlet Letter (reissue ed.). New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-28048-9.

See also

Boston in fiction

External links

• The original text of The Scarlet Letter hosted by the University of Virginia
• Hawthorne in Salem Website Page on Hester and Pearl in The Scarlet Letter
• The Scarlet Letter at Project Gutenberg
• Read The Scarlet Letter and other classics at American Literature
• Free typeset PDF ebook of The Scarlet Letter, optimized for printing