This document provides background information and a summary of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It includes sections on the author, the historical time period the novel is set in, major themes of the work, a synopsis of the plot, and character analyses of the two main characters Hester Prynne and Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale. The synopsis outlines the key events of the story, including Hester being punished for adultery, the arrival of her long-lost husband who seeks revenge on her lover, and the ultimate confessions and deaths of Dimmesdale and Hester's husband years later.

1. The Scarlet Letter
- By Nathaniel Hawthorne

2. Original Cover Page
of Scarlet Letter, 1850

3. Contents
• Cover Page i
• About the Author 1-2
• The Time Period 3
• Major Themes 4-6
• Synopsis 7-9
• Character Analysis 10 - 15
• Critical Appreciation 16 - 17
• Conclusion 18

4. About the Author
The Scarlet Letter was written by American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. He was
born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne, Sr., and the
former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. He was a descendant of a long line of Puritan
ancestors. In order to distance himself from his family's
shameful involvement in Salem Witch Trials, Hawthorne
added the "w" to his last name.
After his father, a ship captain, died of yellow fever at sea
when Nathaniel was only four, his mother became overly
protective and pushed him toward relatively isolated
pursuits. Hawthorne's childhood left him overly shy and
bookish, which molded his life as a writer.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

5. Hawthorne turned to writing after his graduation from Bowdoin College. His first
novel, Fanshawe, was unsuccessful and Hawthorne himself disavowed the work as
amateurish. However, Hawthorne returned to Salem where he struggled as a short
story writer for 12 years. He published Twice-Told Tales in 1837.
His insufficient earnings as a writer forced Hawthorne to enter a career as a Boston
Custom House measurer in 1839. In 1842, he married Sophia Peabody and moved to
The Manse in Concord. Hawthorne returned to Salem in 1845. Hawthorne then
devoted himself to his most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter was
an immediate success that allowed him to
devote himself to his writing. He published
The House of the Seven Gables in 1851.
Hawthorne passed away on May
19, 1864, in Plymouth, New
Hampshire, after a long period of illness
during which he suffered severe bouts of
Grave of Nathaniel Hawthorne

6. The Time Period
The story of the Scarlet letter is set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years
1642 to 1649. The Puritans had settled in New England to practice their religious
beliefs after leaving the Old World, where they had been persecuted. The Puritans
were a legalistic sect of Protestant Christians influenced by Calvinism. Their beliefs
emphasized God’s omnipotence and the concept of election, the idea that salvation is
predestined. Religious behavior was seen as both a result of salvation and evidence
of it. Thus, Puritan communities were centered on the idea of purity in thought and
deed, and sins were rooted out and punished harshly.
The physical setting of The Scarlet Letter reflects the beliefs and habits of the
Puritans. Throughout the book, we are taken on a mini tour of the most important
town buildings and structures. Law and religion form the heart of the town.

7. Major Themes
Sin
Sin is clearly a matter of great importance in the mid-17th century Puritan
community of The Scarlet Letter, as religious sin is associated with breaking the
law. In the novel, we see a hierarchy of sins. It consistently calls into question the
notion of sin and what is necessary for redemption.
Roger Chillingworth’s pursuit of revenge is deemed a "worse sin" than the passion
that led Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale to commit adultery. No character
in the book questions the idea that sin should be punished, and all recognize that
sin will be punished, if not here on earth by man, than by God after death.
Committing sin is regarded as willfully allowing the Black Man (Satan) to place
his mark upon your soul.

8. Women and Femininity
The Scarlet Letter follows several strong women in an era when women were
expected to be subordinate to their male counterparts. Hester Prynne is willing to
take on her own shame while protecting the man she loves from his share of the
public condemnation. She keeps his secret faithfully, for seven long years.
Women, although the "weaker sex" in this heavily religious society, prove to be
incredibly strong in this novel.
Isolation
The novel tells the story of a society that is as good at excluding people as a middle
school clique. Hester Prynne lived in isolation for years and years, cast out of
Puritan society for having a child out of wedlock. Her isolation leads her to see her
society in a new light and allows her to think outside of the box. Ironically, it seems
characters who are the most appreciated by and involved in this society seem to be
the most conflicted and alone.

9. Fate and Free Will
The world of The Scarlet Letter is a religious one that believes in fate and in the
idea that each person’s life follows a specific and set path. Puritans believed in
Divine Providence, or the idea that God was a guide who controlled every aspect
of life. Characters in this novel constantly struggle between letting fate run its
course and choosing a path for themselves. Those who are ostracized by society
seem more able to forge a life of their own.
Memories vs. the Present
Hester Prynne's offense against society occurred seven years earlier, but she
remains punished for it. Hester learned to forgive herself for her adultery, but
society continues to scorn her for it. Indeed, Hester reaches peace with her affair
and in that peace comes to see the town as insufficiently forgiving in its thoughts
and attitudes. Pearl is enough of a reminder of the wild choices in her past, and as
Pearl grows up, Hester continues to live in the present rather than in the past.

10. Synopsis
The Scarlet Letter follows the public shaming and punishment of a young woman
named Hester Prynne in mid-17th century Boston , i.e., the Massachusetts Bay
Colony. When Hester becomes pregnant, everyone believes her to be guilty of
adultery: she has been separated from her husband for two full years, and the
baby cannot be his. The magistrates (local law enforcers) and ministers order her
to wear a scarlet letter “A" on the bodice of her dress, so that everyone can know
about her adultery.
The Scarlet Letter begins when Hester is briefly released from prison so that she
can be paraded through town, displaying her scarlet "A" while standing on top of
the town scaffold (a public stage). She carries her baby daughter, Pearl, in her
arms. Pearl was born in prison. Hester steadfastly refuses to reveal the name of
Pearl’s father, so that he might be saved from punishment.

11. Hester Prynne’s long lost husband arrives in the midst of this parade through
town. He visits her in prison before her release and asks her not to tell anyone that
he’s in town. His plan is to disguise himself so that he can ferret out and seek
revenge on her lover.
Hester’s husband tells the townspeople that he’s a physician, and he adopts a fake
name: Roger Chillingworth. Hester keeps his secret. Chillingworth soon realizes
that the minister, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, is the likely father of
Hester’s baby, and he haunts the minister’s mind and soul, day and night, for the
next seven years.
The minister is too afraid to confess his sin publicly, but his guilt eats away at him;
Chillingworth’s constant examination really makes him antsy. Seven years pass
and, finally, Hester realizes the evil her husband has done to the man she
loves, the father of her child. She reveals Chillingworth’s true identity to
Dimmesdale, and the two concoct a plan to leave Boston and go to
England, where they might hide from Hester’s husband and create a new life

12. The minister is ultimately unable to go through with the plan. Dimmesdale
confesses his sin to the townspeople on the scaffold that had, seven years
earlier, been the scene of Hester’s public shaming. His dying act is to throw open
his shirt so that the scarlet ”A” that he has carved onto his chest is revealed to his
parishioners. Dimmesdale finds peace through confession.
When Chillingworth dies approximately a year after his rival, Dimmesdale, he
leaves all his money and property to Pearl. Hester and Pearl finally escape the
community where they have been outcasts for so many years and return to the
Old World, i.e., England. However, many years later, Hester returns to the New
England community that had been the site of her shame, resuming the scarlet
letter of her own will.
When she dies, she is buried near the minister, and they share a gravestone. The
gravestone contains an image, described as follows: "On a field, sable, the letter
A, gules." In other words, marked on the headstone is a scarlet letter ”A” drawn
over a black background.

13. Character Analysis
Hester Prynne
Hester is the book’s protagonist and the wearer of the scarlet letter that gives the
book its title. The letter, a patch of fabric in the shape of an “A”, signifies that
Hester is an adulterer. She is like a Swiss Army Knife. She constantly makes herself
useful, and she is powerful. She uses her innate talents and gifts to transform the
meaning of her punishment, and she ultimately becomes a legend in her Puritan
society. She is sharp as a knife, adventurous (she crosses the big blue ocean
alone, leaving her family behind to live on the frontier), and she is a self-sufficient
single mother in one of the gloomiest, most austere moments in America’s history.
She finds a way to support her daughter in a time when women were expected to
either serve men through marriage or to serve God.

14. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale
Dimmesdale is a young man who achieved fame in England as a theologian and
then emigrated to America. He was Hester’s illicit lover and the father of her
child, Pearl. He remains silent about his sin, even while he publicly urges Hester to
reveal the name of her lover. He deals with his guilt by tormenting himself
physically and psychologically, developing a heart condition as a result.
Dimmesdale is an intelligent and emotional man, and his sermons are thus
masterpieces of eloquence and persuasiveness.
Pearl
Hester’s illegitimate daughter Pearl is a young girl with a moody, mischievous
spirit and an ability to perceive things that others do not. The townspeople say that
she barely seems human and spread rumors that her unknown father is actually
the Devil. She is wise far beyond her years, frequently engaging in ironic play
having to do with her mother’s scarlet letter.

15. Roger Chillingworth
Roger Chillingworth is Hester’s husband in disguise. He is much older than she is
and had sent her to America while he settled his affairs in Europe. He lusts for
revenge when he finds Hester and her illegitimate child being displayed on the
scaffold, and thus decides to stay in Boston despite his wife’s betrayal and disgrace.
He is a scholar and uses his knowledge to disguise himself as a doctor, intent on
discovering and tormenting Hester’s anonymous lover. His single-minded pursuit
of retribution reveals him to be the most malevolent character in the novel.
Governor Bellingham
Governor Bellingham is a wealthy, elderly gentleman who spends much of his time
consulting with the other town fathers. Despite his role as governor of a fledgling
American society, he very much resembles a traditional English aristocrat. He
tends to strictly adhere to the rules, but he is easily swayed by Dimmesdale’s
eloquence. He remains blind to the fact that his sister, Mistress Hibbins, is a witch.

16. Mistress Hibbins
Mistress Hibbins is a widow who lives with her brother, Governor Bellingham, in a
luxurious mansion. She is commonly known to be a witch who ventures into the
forest at night to ride with the “Black Man”. Her appearances at public occasions
remind the reader of the hypocrisy and hidden evil in Puritan society. She was
executed as a witch during the Salem Witch trials during the time span of the book.
Reverend John Wilson
Boston’s elder clergyman, Reverend Wilson is scholarly yet grandfatherly. He is a
stereotypical Puritan father, a literary version of the stiff, starkly painted portraits
of American patriarchs. Like Governor Bellingham, Wilson follows the
community’s rules strictly but can be swayed by Dimmesdale’s eloquence. Unlike
Dimmesdale, his junior colleague, Wilson preaches hellfire and damnation and
advocates harsh punishment of sinners.

17. Minor Characters
• Mr. Wilson : A pastor in the Boston area; an old man who respects and is
respected by Arthur Dimmesdale.
• Three Ladies at the Prison Door : Female, married residents of Boston who are
waiting at the prison door to see Hester as she appears for the first time with
her daughter, Pearl.
• Master Brackett : The jailer and town officer who announces Hester’s
appearance from the prison, and who pushes Hester out the door of the jail
when she first emerges.
• Deacon : A pious old man confronted by Arthur Dimmesdale while he is
struggling not to say evil things inspired by the devil..
• Narrator : Surveyor of Revenue: The narrator is assumed to be the direct voice
of the author, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

18. • Commander of the Spanish Pirate Ship : A colorful character who has
license, simply because of his station, to wear outrageous things and act
inappropriately by Puritanical standards.
• Permanent Inspector : A man who inherited his position in the Customs House
from a long line of men in his family. This is his career, from which he has
complete job security.
• General Miller : Collector: A former hero from the War of 1812, who retired to a
job in the Salem Custom House. A man with a great deal of presence, but very frail
and old when we meet him.
• Collector’s Junior Clerk : Assistant to General Miller. The only person educated
and interested enough to have literary conversations with Nathaniel Hawthorne.
• Jonathan Pue Surveyor : A Custom House employee from a number of years ago
who died suddenly, leaving some undiscovered personal papers in the Custom
House building.

19. Critical Appreciation
The Scarlet Letter is a romance. Writing a romance about the past gives Hawthorne
the freedom to present several versions of what might have happened, depending
on whose perspective is presented. This is why after the death of Arthur
Dimmesdale, several theories are submitted as to how the scarlet “A” came to be
imprinted on her bodice of dress. The insignia could have been self-inflicted, or
wrought by Chillingworth’s magic, or a manifestation of Dimmesdale’s remorseful
spirit. Hawthorne presents all three theories without judging them because what
matters most is not how the scarlet letter got there, but that it confirms the truth
about Dimmesdale’s adulterous heart.
The genre of the romance also allowed Hawthorne to embellish the relationship
between humans and nature. For example, the babbling brook in the forest scene
appears to sympathize with Hester and Dimmesdale and adds “this other tale to
the mystery with which its little heart was already overburdened”.

20. In addition, the A - shaped meteor which appears the night Governor Winthrop
dies and Dimmesdale stands on the scaffold is interpreted as both a sign from
heaven denouncing Dimmesdale as an adulterer and also as standing for “Angel”
as the soul of a revered magistrate ascends into heaven, depending upon the
orientation of its observer.
Why I liked the Book?
The Scarlet Letter, being a romantic one, is also a touching subtle story of a time
that made me wonder how far religious and moral extremes could take us. The
struggling story of a woman intertwined with the magic realism and vivid imagery
made me admire the book and the author.
Hawthorne's writing is refreshing and real. He has portrayed the Puritan mindset
so well that I found myself in plethora of the 17th century New England complete
with witches who fly on broomsticks, people who meet the Devil in the woods and
the scarlet letter “A” imprinted in the flesh of Hester's secret lover.

21. Conclusion
Hawthorne’s detailed and vivid imagery provided background for the novel, The
Scarlet Letter. His story criticizes the framework of Puritan society in ways so
subtle that the reader may very well miss them amidst the fast-moving plot and
intriguing, dynamic characters. This classic has not only survived but flourished.
More than 150 years after its publication, this book contains a message that is as
relevant and poignant as the day it was written. It's as much about the abuses of
women in a society too rigid in its moral and religious ideals to still be human as
it is about two people's will to survive. With the vivid imagery, magic realism and
the profound symbolism that mark a Hawthorne novel, The Scarlet Letter is is
still read by scholars and laymen alike after its publication.