The Scarlet Letter"'Thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me.' With these chilling words a husband claims his wife after a two-year absence. But the child she clutches is not his, and Hester must wear a scarlet 'A' upon her breast, the sin of adultery visible to all. Under an assumed name her husband begins his search for her lover, determined to expose what Hester is equally determined to protect. Defiant and proud, Hester witnesses the degradation of two very different men, as moral codes and legal imperatives painfully collide." "Set in the Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, The Scarlet Letter also sheds light on the nineteenth century in which it was written, as Hawthorne explores his ambivalent relations with his Puritan forebears. The text of this edition is taken from the Centenary Edition of Hawthorne's works, the most authoritative critical edition."--BOOK JACKET. |
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Anne Hutchinson answered Hester Art thou Arthur Dimmesdale aspect beauty beheld beneath bosom breast brook brought character child clergyman cried Custom House dark deep Dimmes Dimmesdale's Dost thou earth earthly England evil eyes face fancy father felt forest gaze gleam Governor Bellingham grave gray guilty hand hath head heart heaven Hester Prynne hither human ignominy imagination impulse infant ister kind knew light likewise little Pearl look magistrates man's market-place ment mind minister minister's Mistress Hibbins moral murmur NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE nature ness never Old Manse old Roger Chillingworth once pale passed passion physician pillory poor preter Prynne's Puritan Reverend Roger Chilling Salem scaffold scarlet letter scene secret seemed seen shadow shame sinful smile solemn sorrow soul speak spirit step stood strange sunshine Surveyor sympathy thee thought token torture town tremulous truth venerable voice whispered wild Wilt thou woman yonder young