description: Nathaniel Hawhthorne’s most famous novel was published in 1850 and takes place in Puritan New England, focusing on a community where a beautiful young woman, Hester Prynne, and her illegitimate child are subject to persecution and ostracism; while the mother refuses to name her co-conspirator in adultery, and the father of her child burns up with secret guilt and shame. Hawthorne’s family history caused much of his interest in this time period, but his spiritual leanings toward the popular Transcendental movement precipitated this classic novel where oppression, injustice and intolerance – and their consequences – are explored in turn.
language: English
title: The Scarlet Letter
titlecomplete: The Scarlet Letter (Adult Classics)
characters: Pearl Prynne, Governor Bellingham, Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, Mistress Hibbins
genres: Fiction, Classics, Historical, Read For School, Classic Literature, Historical Fiction, High School, Literature, Novels, School
ratings_count: 840838
places: Boston, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, The United States of America
publisher: In Audio