Jennifer-The+Scarlet+Letter

//The Scarlet Letter//- Nathaniel Hawthorne ​ "A pure hand needs no glove to cover it." (Hawthorne 155).

Author Biography: Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathan iel Hathorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Later on, Hathorne would add a “w” to his last name in order to separate himself from the Hathorne family, which was associated with the Salem Witch Trials. Hawthorne had a hard life growing up. His father, who was a sea captain, died when Hawthorne was four from yellow fever. This prompted his mother to move his family into her parent’s house. Later on, Hawthorne received an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College in Maine. It was at Bowdoin that Hawthorne became friends with future president Franklin Pierce and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He also wrote his first poem titled “Fanshawe”. The young writer moved around a lot and had a string of odd jobs. He even lived in a utopian commune. In 1842, Hawthorne married his wife, Sophia Peabody, and eventually had three children. Taking on a new job at a customs house in Salem, Hawthorne was soon inspired to write //The Scarlet Letter//. Always searching for new jobs while writing new novels, Hawthorne’s health began to decrease. After writing his last novel, //The Marble Fawn//, in 1860, Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864.

Plot Synopsis:media type="youtube" key="NlUetVd4rsw" height="385" width="480" align="right" Set in 17th-century Boston, Hester Prynne sits in jail after committing a crime that is unthinkable in her devout, Puritan village. A new immigrant from Europe, Hester arrived in the new land without her husband, who was supposed to arrive soon after her, but never showed up. Not long after her arrival in Boston, Hester became pregnant. This caused a stir in her village because having a child out of wedlock was considered a serious crime. While sitting in jail with her newborn daughter, Pearl, Hester’s punishment was decided upon. Hester must wear a badge with the letter “A” (which stands for adulterer) for the rest of her life, and must also sit at the town scaffold for three hours. While serving her three hours worth of punishment on the scaffold, the town’s highly respected minister, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, begins to question Hester about who the father of the child is, but Hester is stubborn and will not reveal the identity of the father. Meanwhile, while sitting on the scaffold, Hester spots an odd man in the crowd, but she thinks nothing of him until he comes into her cell later that night to make sure she is healthy. Hester then realizes that the odd man is her husband. He now is a doctor and goes by the name of Roger Chillingworth. Hester is sworn to secrecy that she will not reveal his true identity to anyone else, and in return, Chillingworth promises to seek revenge on whoever the father of Hester’s child is. Eventually, Hester is let out of jail and decides to move to a small cottage on the outskirts of town. Throughout the next couple of years, Hester and Pearl are shunned by the village and seen as examples of sin. Known for her beautiful sewing, Hester makes a living by designing clothes for the townspeople. In the meantime, Reverend Dimmesdale’s health begins to decrease, so the town decides to have Roger Chillingworth move in with Dimmesdale to monitor his health. The two develop a close friendship, but Chillingworth feels that Dimmesdale is hiding something that may be a link to Hester’s child. It is then that a tangled web of sin and guilt form between the main characters of //The Scarlet Letter//. Hester must decide who she must remain loyal to: her husband Roger Chillingworth, or the father of her child.

Criticism: What worked, What didn't What worked://The Scarlet Letter// is a very suspenseful book that will keep a reader on the edge of their seat. With almost continual twists and turns, this book is quite hard to put down. Nathaniel Hawthorne creates a great cast of characters that will have the reader beginning to care deeply for each and every character. With never a dull moment throughout, //The Scarlet Letter// will have the reader guessing until the //very// end. The deep description of this novel not only helps shape the reader’s understanding of //The Scarlet Letter//, but also the early origins of Puritan America. With a great plot, great characters and great historical content, The Scarlet Letter is not to be missed.

 What didn’t work: At times, //The Scarlet Letter// can get wordy and distracting. It’s hard to follow the narrator’s plot every so often, because they will go off into a totally different direction than the plot is going. All of this combined with and older style of English does not always make for an easy read. Also, throughout the novel, there are major details that the narrator declines to share with the reader. This can only lead to the reader having to infer or guess what the detail is. Overall, //The Scarlet Letter// is a great read, but it can become difficult and confusing at some points.

Literary Infromation: Genre: Historical Fiction/Romance​ Point Of View: Third Person Omnicient First Published: 1850 Setting: 17th-Century Boston, Massachusetts

Main Characters:  Hester Prynne: A new immigrant to America arriving without her husband. Hester becomes pregnant while her husband is still in Europe and is therefore shunned by her devout Puritan village for having a child out of wedlock. Pearl Prynne: Daughter of Hester Prynne and unknown villager of Boston. The town sees Pearl as a “devil child” conceived by sin. Pearl often acts in strange ways, causing even her mother to doubt her. Roger Chillingworth: A new immigrant to America. Chillingworth is actually Hester’s husband who changed his name since arriving in America. He was once captured by natives and is a trusted physician in Boston. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The well respected minister of Boston. Dimmesdale is respected for his powerful sermons, but is also known for having bad health.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 18.48pt; line-height: 115%;">Why is //The Scarlet Letter// outstanding? <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When one reads //The Scarlet Letter//, it is proven to be an obvious choice for an outstanding college bound book. //The Scarlet Letter// makes the reader take a deeper look onto their own beliefs and qualities. It shows that what may be wrong for some people, may not be for others. It makes the reader really think- which is a great skill to have developed before college. Not only is //The Scarlet Letter// a chilling romance, it’s also a book that have lasted over many years and continues today to be a great read today.

Works Cited: “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Wikipedia.com. Wikipedia, n.d. Web. 9 June. 2010. <[]> “Gary Oldman, Demi Moore – The Scarlet Letter trailer” Youtube.com. 9 June. 2010. < []>

Nathaniel Hawthorne Photo: 9 June. 2010. <[]> <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> The Scarlet Letter oil painting photo: 9 June. 2010. []

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. //The Scarlet Letter//. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, Inc., 1987. Print.