The Scarlet Letter is book 105 on the list. The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel
Hawthorne in 1805. The Scarlet Letter is not about adultery or committing a sin. It’s about
finding love and the nature of evil. The Scarlet Letter tells about many issues such as how not
telling the entire truth will eat you alive and how one tiny mistake can change your life for the
best or for the worst. The book deals with evil, sin, experience, society motifs, identity motifs,
and the human condition. I thoroughly did not enjoy the fact that Hester Prynne had to wear a
scarlet A on her chest for the sin that she committed. But rather that she wore it with dignity even
though everyone else thought her wrong. I absolutely dislike how Hester gets punished for a sin
when her lover gets nothing that anyone can visually see. I thought that Hester was correct on not
telling who the father was. I look at Hester as a hero because she loved her daughter so matter
what anyone else thought and she didn’t give up no matter what happened to her.
The main characters are; Hester Prynne (the protagonist or the woman accused of
committing adultery), Arthur Dimmesdale (the man who Hester had an affair with and the
minister), Roger Chillingworth (the undercover doctor and Hester’s husband), Pearl (Hester and
Dimmesdale’s daughter), and the narrator (the narrator tells the story as if he knows more about
the characters than they know themselves.)
The story takes place in the middle of the seventeenth century in Boston, Massachusetts.
The story begins with Hester Prynne coming from the prison to stand on the town scaffold in the
middle of the town. Hester had an affair when her husband refused to show up while she was
sent ahead on a ship from Europe. Hester had just given birth to a little girl named Pearl. The
problem with that is that Hester had an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale while she was still
married to another man. Hester refuses to give the name of the father and in result of her doing
that she gets a condemnation resulting her to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her breast for adultery.
She was punished for secrecy and sin.
Even though Dimmesdale helped Hester to commit the sin he stands by in silence.
Throughout the book his conscience bothers him and poses a threat to his health. Roger
Chillingworth shows up pretending to a doctor in order to hide his identity. When in truth he is
Hester’s husband who came for revenge. No one knows who Roger Chillingworth is except
Hester who sworn she wouldn’t tell anybody. Hester supports herself and her child by working
as a seamstress. They are shunned by the community so they live outside of Boston. Officials
attempt to take Pearl away from Hester, but Dimmesdale manages to keep the two together.
Dimmesdale lets Hester suffer alone in silence for the sin they both committed.
Dimmesdale conscience gets to him and bothers him. However, Dimmesdale appears to be
having heart trouble. Chillingworth moves in with Dimmesdale so he can better take care of him.
Chillingworth finds markings on Dimmesdale’s chest, which now turns into revenge. Hester’s
good deeds have earned her a spot in the community. One day Pearl and Hester discovers
Dimmesdale at the town scaffold, where he’s trying to punish himself for the sin that he had
committed with Hester. As the three links hands, a meteor traces the sky with an “A.”
Hester and Dimmesdale arrange a meeting in the forest. Hester removes the scarlet letter
and lets down her hair. Pearl does not recognize Hester without the scarlet letter. Hester and
Dimmesdale plan on leaving for Europe with Pearl to live as a family. They will leave in four
days on a ship for Boston. Chillingworth has learned of their plans and has also booked passage
on the same ship. Hester and Pearl are standing by the town scaffold as Dimmesdale notices.
Dimmesdale walks before the scaffold and publicly confesses his sin, exposing the scarlet letter
carved into his chest. As Pearl kisses him, Dimmesdale falls dead. Chillingworth dies a year later
frustrated in his revenge. Pearl and Hester leaves Boston, but no one knows what happens to
them. When Hester returns, she returns alone. Pearl had gotten married. When Hester dies she is
buried next to Dimmesdale whom both share one tombstone which has a scarlet “A” on it. The
Scarlet Letter shows that the truth will set you free.