The Scarlet Letter (Identities and Issues in Literature)
At a glance:
- Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
- First Published: 1850
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., Colonies or colonization, Mistaken or secret identity, Guilt, New England, Ministry or ministers, Seventeenth century, Adultery, Punishment, Good and evil, Revenge, Illegitimacy, Boston, Sermons, Gossip, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Needlepoint or needlework
- Locales: Boston, MA
The Work
The Scarlet Letter, long considered Nathaniel Hawthorne’s greatest novel, is a complex investigation of the effects of secrecy and guilt. Set in seventeenth century Boston, the novel follows the life of Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman convicted of adultery and forced to wear a red patch, the letter A, as part of her punishment. Hawthorne’s sympathetic depiction of Hester’s struggle with this restrictive self-image is largely responsible for the book’s status as an American classic.
After her emergence from Boston prison at the book’s...
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- The Scarlet Letter (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
- The Scarlet Letter (Identities and Issues in Literature)
- The Scarlet Letter (Magill Book Reviews)
- The Scarlet Letter (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
- The Scarlet Letter (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
- The Scarlet Letter (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
See Also:
Nathaniel Hawthorne (Cyclopedia of World Authors)Nathaniel Hawthorne (Short Fiction)Nathaniel Hawthorne (Long Fiction)Nathaniel Hawthorne (Dictionary of World Biography)Nathaniel Hawthorne (Identities and Issues)
See Also:
- - For teachers, the The Scarlet Letter Lesson Plan.
- - Read the The Scarlet Letter text online.
- - The Scarlet Letter summary and study guide in the eNotes.
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