The Scarlet Letter

The story begins with Hester Prynne coming put of the jail with her daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the Scarlet Letter on her bosom in a Puritan town is Boston, Massachusetts in the seventeenth century. She has been accused of committing adultery, and has been given the punishment of wearing the Scarlet Letter for the rest of her life and has ro stand on a pedestal before the whole town while they condemn her. The town fathers try persistently to get the name of her lover, but she refuses to give it. She later sees her missing husband whom she thought was dead in the crowd watching her. She is put back in jail for not revealing the name of her lover. Her husband, now known as Roger Chillingworth, comes to visit her in jail. He makes her promise to not reveal his identity and says that he will have revenge on the father of the child. After a few days she is released from jail, and returns to a cottage that she has made her home. Several years pass. Hester supports Pearl and herself by becoming a seamstress, and Pearl grows up to be a very mischievous but clever child. A group of community officials attempt to take Pearl away from her mother, but after Arthur Dimmesdale, a young minister, speaks up for the child and mother, Hester is permitted to keep Pearl. Arthur Dimmesdale appears to be wasting away and suffers from mysterious heart problems. Chillingworth, who now claims to be a physician, moves in with and devotes his time to Dimmesdale. He suspects that there might be a connection between Dimmesdale and Hester. One afternoon while the minister is sleeping, Chillingworth sneaks in to Dimmesdale’s bedroom and rips open his shirt and finds a terrible marking on the minister’s bosom which we later find out is the Scarlet Letter.

The Minister is constantly finding ways to punish himself. Meanwhile, Hester’s charitable deeds have caused less people to harass and condemn her. Some people start to believe that the “A” stands for able. One night, on their way home... [continues]

Read full essay