The Scarlet Letter (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
- First Published: 1850
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: Early days of the Massachusetts Colony
- Setting: Boston
- Principal Characters: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, Pearl
- 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 Story:
On a summer morning in Boston, in the early days of the Massachusetts Colony, a throng of curious people had gathered outside the jail in Prison Lane. They were there looking for Hester Prynne, who had been found guilty of adultery by a court of stern Puritan judges. Condemned to wear on the breast of her gown the scarlet letter “A,” which stood for adulteress, she was to stand on the stocks before the meetinghouse for three hours so that her shame might be a warning and a reproach to all who saw her. The crowd waited to see her ascend the scaffold with her...
[The entire page is 2904 words long]
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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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