The Scarlet Letter (1850) is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne set in Puritan Boston in the 1640s. Hester Prynne, condemned to wear a scarlet A for adultery, refuses to name the father of her child. It is one of the founding works of American literature.
The story
Hester Prynne stands on the scaffold of the market place with her baby Pearl, wearing a scarlet A embroidered on her dress. Her husband, long believed lost at sea, arrives in the crowd and, under the name of Roger Chillingworth, sets out to discover her lover.
The lover is the young and revered minister Arthur Dimmesdale, whose secret guilt consumes him. Chillingworth attaches himself to him as his physician and torments him, until Dimmesdale confesses in public.
The Custom-House
The novel opens with an introduction, The Custom-House, in which Hawthorne describes his years at the Salem Custom House and pretends to have found the scarlet letter and the story in its attic. The sketch, with its satire of local officials, caused anger in Salem.
He wrote the novel in 1849, after losing his post, and in a few months; it was published in March 1850.
Success
The first edition of 2,500 copies sold out in ten days. The book made Hawthorne famous and is one of the first American bestsellers.
It has been filmed many times, adapted as an opera and a play, and is one of the most widely read novels in American schools.
Anecdotes
Read to his wife
When Hawthorne read the end of the novel to his wife Sophia, he said, she went to bed with a 'grievous headache', which he took as a sign of success.
The meaning of the A
As the years pass and Hester helps the poor and sick, people say the A stands for 'Able' rather than 'Adulteress'.
Frequently asked questions
What does the scarlet letter mean?
It is the letter A, for adultery, which Hester must wear on her breast as a public punishment.
Who is Pearl's father?
The minister Arthur Dimmesdale, who confesses only at the end of the novel.
When and where is The Scarlet Letter set?
In Boston, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in the 1640s.