By Nathaniel Hawthorn
The setting of The Scarlet Letter was Boston, Massachusetts. Most of the action happened to also take place in Boston. The Scarlet Letter took place in the 1630’s, but wasn’t written until 1804. Boston at the time was very harsh and judgmental. I think the author chose this setting because it fit the story about what Hester had to go through.
The main character of this book was Hester Prynn, a very beautiful young lady. She was very reckless, wise, and strong. Even though being punished by the entire community Hester was still very protective of her daughter, and later on gave advice to many people. One of Hester’s faults was that she did actually cheat on her husband, even though he had been missing for so long.
In this book Hester Prynn paid her sins of adultery back by wearing the scarlet letter ‘A’ and raising her daughter, Pearl. She was also trying to protect Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl’s father, through this time too. The main goal of Hester’s was to raise Pearl and protect Pearl’s father by not telling anyone his name. One example would be when Pearl later lived a normal life, and Dimmesdale not being affected by any punishments other than Hester’s. The antagonist in the book would most definitely have to be Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband. I think that the crisis of the plot was when Arthur Dimmesdale confessed to being Pearl’s father.
The message of the book was the point of Hester staying loyal to Pearl and her father, especially after the way her punishment was given and portrayed. He proved his point many times, but one would have been when Hester wouldn’t let the elders of the church take Pearl away from her, and when Dimmesdale was forced to ask Hester in front of everyone to confess the father’s name and she wouldn’t. I think that the author wanted you to learn that you need to have faith even through the rough spots of your life.
Yes, I thought that the book was very interesting to read. Learning about how Hester had to deal with everything practically all by herself, and still deal with everyday life problems. The authors writing style I thought was very interesting, and in some sections hard to understand. Yes, I would recommend this book if you were into this type of story.
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