The scarlet letter
By: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Publisher: Borders Classics
Published: 2004
Place of publication: Ann Arbor, MI
Language: eng
Number of pages: 203
ISBN-13: 9781587260933
Subjects: Fiction; History; Triangles (Interpersonal relations); Illegitimate children; Women immigrants; Married women; Puritans; Adultery; Revenge; Clergy
Description: 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. Hester is a beautiful young woman. She is also an outcast. In the eyes of her neighbours she has committed an unforgivable sin. Everyone knows that her little daughter, Pearl, is the product of an illicit affair but no one knows the identity of Pearl{u2019}s father. Hester's refusal to name him brings more condemnation upon her. But she stands strong in the face of public scorn, even when she is forced to wear the sign of her shame sewn onto her clothes: the scarlet letter 'A' for adulteress.