The Scarlet LetterHester Prynne is the adulteress, forced by the Puritan community to wear a scarlet letter A on the breast of her gown. Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister and the secret father of her child, Pearl, struggles with the agony of conscience and his own weakness. Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband, revenges himself on Dimmesdale by calculating assaults on the frail mental state of the conscience-stricken cleric. The result is an American tragedy of stark power and emotional depth that has mesmerized critics and readers for nearly a century and a half. |
Contents
The CustomHouseIntroductory | 7 |
The PrisonDoor | 41 |
The Recognition | 53 |
Copyright | |
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adultery Ann 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 gray guilty hand hath Hawthorne heart Hester Prynne hither human ignominy imagination impulse infant kind knew light likewise little Pearl look magistrates man's market-place mind minister minister's Mistress Hibbins moral Nathaniel Hawthorne nature never Old Manse old Roger Chillingworth once pale passed passion perhaps personage physician pillory poor Prynne's Puritan Reverend Salem scaffold scarlet letter scene secret seemed seen shadow shame sinful smile solemn sorrow soul speak spirit step stern stood strange sunshine Surveyor sympathy tell thee thing thou hast thought tion token town tremulous truth Twice-Told Tales venerable voice whispered wild Wilt thou woman yonder young