The Scarlet Letter (1850)
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter is
peopled with
characters who are
meant to be the
embodiments of moral
traits, rather than
realistic, living figures.
It was initially
supposed to be a short
story, but Hawthorne
was encouraged to
lengthen it by his
publisher
The Scarlet Letter, in brief…
It is often considered a difficult
(boring?) text.

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Romantic diction- far away, distant,
historical, elusive
This story is not about action but about
reflection. The most important action
already happened before the novel begins.
What do we make of that action? That one
BIG mistake?
SETTING
Boston
1642-1649 (i.e., the 17th Century)
Chapters 1-3 Market-Place. A June morning, 1642. Baby
Pearl is about three-four months old
Chapter 4 Prison. Afternoon of the same day.
Chapters 7-8 Home of Governor Bellingham. Late
summer, 1645. (Pearl is three years old)
Chapter 12 Market-Place. Saturday night, early May,
1649 (Governor Winthrop’s death; Pearl is now seven
years old)
Chapters 14-15 Sea coast. Several days later.
Chapters 16-19 Forest. Several days later.
Chapters 21-23 Market-Place. Three days later.
STRUCTURE
Chapters 1-3: Hester’s ignominy is established
Chapters 4-8: Hester and Pearl struggle in the
community
Chapters 9-11: Chillingworth and Dimmesdale
Chapters 12-15: Hester’s evolution and her
responsibility for the downfall of both men
Chapters 16-20: The Forest-Talk and decision to be
free!
Chapters 21-23: Back to the marketplace;
Dimmesdale’s victory over Chillingworth.
Chapter 24: Conclusion
What was Hawthorne’s point?
There is beauty in darkness
 the rose-bush, Pearl, sunshine in the forest, etc.
Nature can show pity and kindness regardless of
human judgment
Everyone could be wearing a letter of some sort;
their hypocrisy hides their own sins
Hester earns redemption through her good works- a
Catholic philosophy that defies Puritan values of
predestination
There’s hope for humanity: “It’s the credit of human
nature…it loves more readily than it hates.” (Ch. 13)
Hawthorne’s ironic tone
Chapter 1:
 A prison is one of the first things that was
established in this “utopia”– the Puritan ideals
were already prepared for failure!
Chapter 2:
 The fat, ugly ladies gossip about Hester, but a
pretty young mother defends her
 Gov. Bellingham says to Rev. Dimmesdale: “This
woman’s soul lies with you.”
Chapter 3:
 The baby cries at Dimmesdale’s voice… babydaddy recognition!
Hawthorne’s ironic tone, cont.
Chapter 5
 Hester is the “Ralph Lauren” of Boston with her needlepoint;
everyone wants her fashion– even Governor Bellingham (for his
gloves). Only brides shun her. 
Chapter 6
 “The truth was that the little Puritans, being of the most intolerant
brood that ever lived…scorned them in their hearts, and not
unfrequently reviled them with their tongues.” Does this sound
Christian?!
Chapter 10
Pearl dancing on important Puritan graves and flinging burrs at
Hester and Dimmesdale
Chapter 13 (four years later)
 “The whole system of society is to be torn down and built up
anew.” – Hester is a STRONG woman; Hawthorne shows how it’s
not nature’s intention for women to “keep women quiet.”
Feminism?
 ‘A’ has become able.  “The scarlet letter had not done its office.”
Hester Prynne
Openly acknowledges her sin of
adultery
Publicly accepts her punishment
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She wears the scarlet letter A which is
elaborately embroidered by herself
she humbly accepts all people’s derision
and belittlement without feeling wronged;
instead, she continues helping the poor
and the diseased
Effect of Hester Prynne’s Reaction
Wins respect from the community and
changing the meaning of the letter “A”
on her bosom
Becomes at peace with herself and with
other people
Grows stronger in mind
Sees more clearly and thinks more
critically about the people about her
and the sins hidden in these people
Things associated with Hester
Prynne
A blossoming wild rose-bush (could also be
used to symbolize Pearl later in the novel)
The sun and the shadows
The scarlet letter “A” elaborately embroidered
on the bosom of her gown
Black hair and eyes
Gray attire
Seamstress
Solitary sphere
Arthur Dimmesdale
He hides his sin of adultery
Effects:
- he suffers from increasing torment of
conscience (his own hypocrisy); he’s
often described as “tremulous”
- he grows weaker both physically and
psychologically (dims, fades away…)
- he dies from the mental torture
Things associated with Arthur
Dimmesdale
Eloquence & fervor / speech of an angel
Nervous sensibility: tremulous mouth,
melancholy brown eyes, apprehensive,
startled and half-frightened look, emaciated
form, gloom and terror, pain
White: white brow, pale cheek
The meteoric sign of the letter “A”
Hand over his heart
“Diminishing” overtime (hence his name)
“Doctor” Roger Chillingworth
His reaction to his wife’s adultery:
- Revengeful
- Hideously torments a human heart
Effects:
- changes into a cold-hearted (“chilled”) devillike man
- loses humanity and motive to live after the
object of his revenge (Dimmesdale) dies.
Things associated with Roger
Chillingworth
Dim eyes
Deformity: Misshapen shoulders
Snake / horror / terror
Blackness / darkness / dusk
Somber, lonely, having a “chilling” effect
Glare of red light / fire / flame
Herbs, medicines
Devil / Black Man in the forest
Pearl
Her reaction to her mom’s adultery:
- Inquisitiveness/Precociousness
- She’s the living embodiment of the scarlet
letter
Effects:
- She is alienated from society, so she does not
have friends with kids her age; she plays with
fictitious enemies and animals in the forest
- She is beautiful and grows up becoming a
noblewoman who inherits Chillingworth’s
riches.
Things and people associated
with Pearl
“Elfish”
Always adorned in bright colored clothing
Beautiful: “brought forth in Eden” (ch. 6)
Creative and precocious
Affiliated with the sunshine
Also symbolic of the rose-bush? Wild in nature,
but a bright spot of beauty after a dark time
Narrative method
Telling vs. showing
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(Stephen King would cringe!)
The main action of the novel happened
before it even began!
Narrative mode: omniscient narration
with frequent author intrusions
Romanticism rather than realism
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Unlikeliness of Pearl’s questions; later, she
plays with a wolf in the forest?