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    The Scarlet Letter
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    The Scarlet Letter
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    The Scarlet Letter
    Ebook320 pages5 hours

    The Scarlet Letter

    By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    There was a fire in her and throughout her.

    Hester Prynne’s husband had been abroad for years, maybe lost at sea. Many men used the opportunity to try to charm her. . . . There was only one Hester couldn’t resist.

    When Hester’s sin is discovered, the townspeople of Boston force her to wear the scarlet letter as a stamp of shame. But Hester refuses to give up the name of the man she loves. She’ll protect him and their forbidden love—to the very end.

    Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece of dark romanticism is one of the most enduring stories about the price of unchecked passion. Beautifully presented for a modern teen audience, this is the must-have edition of a timeless classic.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperTeen
    Release dateNov 22, 2011
    ISBN9780062066039
    Author

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Born in 1804, Nathaniel Hawthorne is known for his historical tales and novels about American colonial society. After publishing The Scarlet Letter in 1850, its status as an instant bestseller allowed him to earn a living as a novelist. Full of dark romanticism, psychological complexity, symbolism, and cautionary tales, his work is still popular today. He has earned a place in history as one of the most distinguished American writers of the nineteenth century.

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    Reviews for The Scarlet Letter

    3.5/5

    7,592 ratings152 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 2/5
      yawwwn, shutup hester. not hester.. shutup nathaniel.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the most beautifully and intelligently written works I have ever come across. It's just brilliant.
    • 3/5
      This was required reading for English class. Now that I think about it--it does seem odd that a school would have us reading about a woman being punished for adultery--well, the adultery part in a school book seems odd--though if they were going to have us read about adultery, I don't find it so odd that they would have it be this book. I remember our teacher saying "if you're reading the Cliff Notes, you already know who the baby's father is"--and it was true! The Cliff Notes did reveal the baby's father long before the book did. (But I won't reveal who it was here to avoid any spoilers.)
    • 4/5
      This mid 19th century American classic novel is very much set within the ethos and mores of the Puritan community in New England in the mid 17th century. A young woman Hester Prynne with a baby (Pearl) is humiliated by the community and marked with the eponymous letter A for adultery (though the word is never used in the book). The story is about her relationship with her daughter, with an old doctor who is revealed to be her ex-husband, and with the clergyman who is Pearl's father. The story is told within a framework narrative, with an over-long introduction describing the author's personal experiences working in a custom house, where he purported to have found old documents describing Hester's story. Hawthorne is clearly sceptical of the grim joylessness of extreme Puritanism, when he describes one of their rare festive events thus: "Into this festal season of the year ............the Puritans compressed whatever mirth and public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared scarcely more grave than most other communities at a period of general affliction." The novel is very well written and needs to be read in relatively small doses truly to appreciate the language, though it is short at only 138 pages.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I "had" to read in high school. I think it had something to do with teaching me how wrong it is to judge others.
    • 3/5
      I'm not a big Classics fan but I do try to read a few each year. This time my Book Club chose A Scarlet Letter because of the Puritan connection and Thanksgiving time-frame. I had never read this book even in high school though I thought I knew the basics. There were aspects of the story to which I was unaware and it added a bit to the story IMO. However, the treatment of anyone - man, woman, or child - in manner, saddened me so I think that it did give me a greater reason to be thankful for the blessings I have.
    • 4/5
      A classic!
    • 4/5
      Despite its age, the Scarlet Letter is an excellent exploration of morality, religion and hypocrisy in a setting that's obsessed with morals. If you're not the kind of person who likes the sometimes over-written style of 19th century novels, you'll probably lose Hawthorne's message in the language but it's well worth the read and shows surprisingly modern thinking for such an old book.
    • 5/5
      I put my hands on the beating hearts of Arthur Dimmesdale and Hester Prynne, they came close to escaping their time. Characters trump plot, but here the story line is viciously inescapable.
    • 4/5
      I don't see why Chillingworth is presented as a "villain." He does nothing heinous that I've seen. He's merely getting revenge on his wife for being a cheating whore (I have zero sympathy for adulterers) and her lover. If she had shown any repentance or turned aside from her lover when he returned, I might be able to see him in a more negative light. However, she continued to protect his identity throughout the story and even goes back to him in the end. I enjoyed the story, but would have much preferred is Hester was not the focus and Chillingworth's quest for revenge (justice) had been.
    • 4/5
      Why should we read the Classics? One reason is for the history not only of the time and place; but for the ideas that have found expression through the writer. Roughly 4500 years ago, some scribe marked up The Epic of Gilgamesh into clay tablets. We have an intriguing glimpse into the time and place and some action points to string a story together; but we don't have a sense of what the characters were really thinking or what sensibility guided their thought processes. What was it like to live in a world where you perceived time as circular and cyclical, not linearly? How did the concepts of civilization, a major shift from the nomadic and animistic lifestyle change their worldview? How did the oral tradition and sense of history transmute their own sense of culture? Unfortunately, it is unlikely that we will ever know because the story contains no explanation. It is no more than a historic artifact celebrated for being the oldest written story. The Classics, however, tell us more. The Classics provide a sense of "interior history," ideas that had currency when they were written and still inform our culture today.

      But why should you read The Scarlet Letter? The events that make up the main body of the work were not contemporary to the writer so how could he posit a credible story that reflects a mindset of a society that he could not have possibly have experienced? But the thing is, he did. No, Hawthorne did not live in the 17th century; but he did live in a small town with a strong cultural legacy to that time and; family ties bound him to the history of which he wrote. He was living with the effects a Puritanical society that embedded itself into the political consciousness of his day and, actually still lives with us even now (Don't fool yourself that because we don't put people in stocks or force them to wear a scarlet "A" upon their breasts, that we don't excoriate adulterers, especially if they happen to be public figures.) Hawthorne builds the first bridge between the events of 1650 and 1850 by creating prologue in which he discovers the documents that purportedly contain the events of the main body of the story. The second bridge is the one created by the reader's connection to the text. The second bridge is a meta-literary experience that elevates the text from being an artifact to being historically relevant, something from which, like all history, we can extricate meaning to our current lives.

      The Scarlet Letter is an exposition of how religious and political thought cohered to create an inheritance of our American culture: a paradox of sex and sexuality, religious freedom that incarcerates and the punishment that frees. Hester Prynne falls in love with a man and gets pregnant by him; but does not enjoy the benefits of marriage which apparently include not being shoved into a jail cell, being publicly called out for her sin, reminding everyone else of her indiscretion by wearing a red "A" upon her chest and, being pretty much excluded from town life. Had she been married to the man, this would not have happened. So, falling in love and having sex with the man is a sin when the sanctity of marriage is not conferred by the town-church; but falling in love and having sex with a man becomes the consecration of life affirming values when you add in the public endorsement of marriage. It's a fine line between hypocrisy and relative morality. Hester Prynne is punished for her transgression; but her moment in the the town square (wherein she is brought out before all the townspeople) is meant to be an occasion for her not only to renounce her sin; but to give up the name of her lover as well so that he too may be free of guilt. Only through renunciation can the opportunity exist for forgiveness. There is an celebratory atmosphere to the denunciation of Hester Prynne. A zealful, but compassionless event in which Hester Prynne's pride is sacrificed to the self-righteous crowd. Except that Hester doesn't renounce her sin, give up her lover's name and, the public does not forgive or even really seem inclined to do so (after all the punishment begins before the possibility of her renouncement.) Ironically, Hester Prynne's punishment actually does free her: Her isolation forms her into a woman of independent thought, devoid of the hobbling dictates of the Puritan community.

      The Scarlet Letter offers a lot in terms of ideas as to who we were, who we are and through the second bridge, who we can be.

      Redacted from the original blog review at dog eared copy, The Scarlet Letter; 01/03/2012.
    • 5/5
      I just re-read this at age 64. The previous time was for American Lit class in high school. This was a totally different experience and a good one. I know I didn't appreciate the high school experience and I doubt that I entered into the characters much then. I struggled then with having to account for my reading. I should have had the dictionary by my side now too, but needed to keep reading and did quite well with context clues, I think.
    • 4/5
      Fascination story of punishment and the different ways that people can deal with it.
    • 3/5
      It's a great historical reconstruction of the Puritan world in early New England, apart from its literary qualities which are also plenty. However, its fame owes a lot to the strong cultural lobby the ever powerful America carries over the world - for the same period there are hundreds of far more important and interesting authors in Europe.
      If high schoolers and obviously, American literature graduates, will be forcefed it, nineteenth century literature is maybe the quintessential era of writing.
    • 5/5
      I read this book in high school. I should probably read more of N.H.'s books. This is a captivating read and rings so true even today.
      Great book!
    • 3/5
      I am glad I was not forced to read this book in HS! I liked the book, but I don't think I would have liked it in HS.
    • 4/5
      Frustrating story, but worth the read. Frustrating from a "why don't you just tell them!" standpoint.
    • 5/5
      Loved this book even as I agonized over the fate of our protagonist.
    • 2/5
      Summary: The harsh puritan world of the 17th century introduces us to Hester Prynne a woman who commits adultery and must wear the scarlet letter A to set her apart while her cowardly lover and her vengeful husband are the ones who truly are marked.
    • 3/5
      A book that shows the great strength of one woman against the unfair opinions of the populace and the bias of that socity of men verus women.
    • 4/5
      On Nov 20, 1946, said: "Reading in The Scarlet Letter, which is pretty good." On Nov. 21 I said: "Finished Scarlet Letter." But no other comment! I remember I was reading the book when I saw at the Public Library Eric Savereid's book Not So Wild a Dream, which had just come out. I assumed that the title came from The Scarlet Letter, since that phrase I knew was therein. When I finally read the Savereid book, on Sep 14, 1988, I learned the title did not come from The Scarlet Letter, but from Norman Corwin, who probably did not know the words had been written by Hawthorne long before and put in the mouth of the sinner concerning his feeling for the girl he seduced..
    • 1/5
      The characters in The Scarlet Letter raise as much sympathy in me as do characters in a badly- filmed and overdramatic soap opera. Dimmesdale, the "hero" of the piece, is a spineless worm that deserves to be squashed. It is impossible to imagine this cringing, crawling invertebrate ever playing the part of a passionate lover. Chillingworth, the villain of the piece, has about as much depth and creativity as his name. He could have been an interestingly twisted character, but is instead reduced to a plot device to keep the action going. He has about as much depth as a villain in a silent movie who laughs maniacally and twirls his mustache as he ties the heroine to a railroad track--not that he would need to actually tie down Hester, the heroine. If told to stand on the racetrack, she would probably do it. The "humble narrator" (yes, he calls himself this) idolizes Hester for her return to domesticity, self-flagelation, and protection of the man who should at least share her punishment. Yet she then flips implausibly back and forth from meek and apologetic to fiery and passionate. Hawthorne has no excuse for such poor writing. Other authors of the time, such as Jane Austen, write with sparkle and interest, with tangibly lifelike characters. Hawthorne’s book is at the same level of flamboyantly unreal drama as Alcott’s The Inheritance or The Long, Fatal Love Chase.
    • 1/5
      I finally read this classic, and despised everyone in it. I did read it to the end, but am not impressed enough to read anything else by this author!
    • 4/5
      Like many others, I first encountered this book in high school, and at the time, I liked parts of it. As I read it a second time, I recall a sort of Jane Eyre or Frankenstein sort of romantic Gothic tone. It is a haunting example of the american Gothic; Roger Chillingworth is undoubtedly the face of the devil himself, and the child Pearl could be a sprite come from the darkest pits of hell - not because she does anything surprising fr a child, but the things she says to her mother are spot on. Pearl, who may not realize it, is aware of a lot of different things concerning her mother's guilty feelings and has the uncanny ability to remind her mother of her sin without necessarily reproaching her. It is as if she were possessed by a demon taunting Hester Prynne int he guise of a child.

      But, as it is observed even now, Hester's and Reverend Dimmesdale's guilt is so strong that religious superstition engulfs what they experience in everyday life. Guilt leads people to fear and see the worst until finally, they must confess.

      Not that Chillingworth's feelings of revenge are imaginary - here is a man who would poison himself with hate in order to bring the cruelest kind of revenge to his enemy.

      Hawthorn's writing style is kind of long-winded and dry at times (much like that of his puritan ancestors) but I found the story interesting enough to suffer through his didactic digressions and his characters' self-inflicted sermons.
    • 3/5
      I feel like the best way to understand another time and place, one that may be so foreign to us now, is through storytelling, through novels. Instantly I am transported somewhere else to observe a world so far removed from my own. It can be frustrating - a lot of the time I wanted to shake various characters for their small mindedness, but then I had to remind myself that this world is all that they know, like mine is all I know. What is acceptable, or maybe frowned upon but not punished in the same way, today was a crime back then. The Scarlet Letter is a fascinating look into a world where God's word was Law, but what happens when you go against it?  
    • 5/5
      I just re-read this book for school and I'm re-rating it. I think I was too young to appreciate it when I read it the first time. The three-star rating is changing to five stars because The Scarlet Letter is pretty amazing.

      I'm also changing the read date because I don't think I read "The Custom-House" and a few other parts of the book before.
    • 2/5
      Read it as a class requirement, I like the imagery, but that is about it, not really crazy about the story, sorry. I feel like this being one of the great classics I should be doing backflips for it, but the truth is that the story just wasn't for me.
    • 1/5
      Ugh, this was really tough to get through, even in audiobook form. The only reason that I finished it is because it was one of those "classics" that I thought I should read. I wish that I wasn't regularly disappointed with these classic books/books on the 1001 books to read before you die list.

      I know that Hawthorne was trying to talk about guilt and sin but man, could it be a little more interesting? Please?
    • 4/5
      Although the book is dated of course, I found it quite impressive. It certainly is worth reading, to get to know a world of which one hardly can believe it ever existed.
    • 1/5
      Super boring, super puritan, nothing happens, I don't care about puritan sex laws, will never read again.