The Scarlet LetterThe canonical American masterpiece of sin, guilt, and revenge, in an authoritative new edition from Penguin Classics with a foreword by Tom Perrotta At once retrospective and radically new, The Scarlet Letter portrays seventeenth-century Puritan New England, a time period irreversibly encoded in the American identity. Hawthorne built one of the most incisive and devastating human dramas ever written out of a community and its outcasts: Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale, one emblazoned with sin and the other distraught with hidden guilt; Pearl, a child born into ostracism; and Roger Chillingworth, driven to vengeance by hatred. Though these characters face a set of specifically troubling circumstances, their words and actions point to moral truths inherent in human affairs, independent of time and place. The text of this edition, approved by the Center for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association, is the result of an exhaustive examination of Hawthorne’s manuscript and other historical records. Robert Milder provides an enlightening new scholarly introduction and bibliography. Tom Perrotta, whose novel The Leftovers—now a hit HBO show—was influenced by Hawthorne’s work, provides a thoughtful foreword on how he came to appreciate Hawthorne’s masterpiece. For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators. |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Ann Hutchinson answered Hester antinomianism Arthur Dimmesdale aspect beauty beheld beneath Blithedale Romance bosom Boston breast brook brought character child church clergyman cried Custom-House D. H. Lawrence dark deep Dimmes Dimmesdale's Dost thou earth earthly England evil eyes face fancy father felt forest gaze gleam Governor Bellingham gray guilt hand hath Hawthorne Hawthorne's heart Hester Prynne hither human ignominy imagination impulse infant kind knew light little Pearl Loco-foco look magistrates market-place mind minister minister's Mistress Hibbins moral mother Nathaniel Hawthorne nature never Old Manse old Roger Chillingworth once pale passion physician Prynne's Puritan reverence Reverend Salem scaffold scarlet letter scene secret seemed seen shadow shame sinful smile Sophia Peabody sorrow soul speak spirit stood strange sunshine Surveyor symbol sympathy thee thing thought tion TOM PERROTTA town Transcendentalist truth University Press voice Whigs whispered wild Wilt thou woman yonder young