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. |
Contents
INTRODUCTORY | 4 |
FIVE | 59 |
SEVEN | 75 |
EIGHT | 81 |
NINE | 88 |
FIFTEEN | 131 |
TWENTYTHREE The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter | 186 |
TWENTYFOUR Conclusion | 193 |
Common terms and phrases
answered Hester appeared Arthur Dimmesdale aspect beauty beheld beneath bosom breast brook brought CHAPTER character child clergyman cried Custom-House D. H. Lawrence dark deep Dimmes Dimmesdale's Dost thou earth earthly embroidered England evil eyes face fancy felt forest gaze gleam Governor Bellingham grey hand hath Hawthorne's heart Hester Prynne hither human ignominy imagination impulse infant intellectual John Endecott kind knew likewise little Pearl look magistrates man's market-place mind minister minister's Mistress Hibbins moral mother Nathaniel Hawthorne nature never novel Old Manse old Roger Chillingworth once pale passion perhaps personage physician pillory poor possessed Prynne's Puritan recognised revealed Reverend Mr Dimmesdale Salem Salem witch trials scaffold scarlet letter scene secret seemed seen shadow shame smile solemn sorrow soul speak spirit stood strange sunshine Surveyor sympathy thee thought token town truth voice whispered wild Wilt thou woman yonder young