The Scarlet LetterThe Scarlet Letter

"The Scarlet Letter" is Nathaniel Hawthorne's best-known novel and is considered by many to be among the masterpieces of American literature. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, the book centers on Hester Prynne, a young woman who bears an illegitimate child and is subsequently condemned by her community to wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest as a symbol of her adultery. Hester's secret lover, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, is tormented by guilt but cannot bring himself to confess his role in the affair. Meanwhile, Hester's estranged husband, Roger Chillingworth, arrives in Boston and disguises himself as a physician to seek revenge on Dimmesdale. The novel concludes as a profound meditation on sin, forgiveness, and the complexities of moral judgment in a rigidly religious society. "The Scarlet Letter" is presented here in its original and unabridged format.