num_pages: 241
description: Hailed by Henry James as "the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country," Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter reaches to our nation's historical and moral roots for the material of great tragedy. Set in an early New England colony, the novel shows the terrible impact a single, passionate act has on the lives of three members of the community: the defiant Hester Prynne; the fiery, tortured Reverend Dimmesdale; and the obsessed, vengeful Chillingworth. With The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne became the first American novelist to forge from our Puritan heritage a universal classic, a masterful exploration of humanity's unending struggle with sin, guilt and pride.
language: English
title: The Scarlet Letter
titlecomplete: The Scarlet Letter
characters: Roger Chillingworth, Mistress Hibbins, Arthur Dimmesdale, Governor Bellingham, Hester Prynne, Pearl Prynne
genres: Read For School, Historical Fiction, Historical, School, Novels, Literature, High School, Classic Literature, Classics, Fiction
ratings_count: 840847
places: Massachusetts, The United States of America, Boston, Massachusetts
publisher: Modern Library