Featured in our collection of 25 Great American Novels. The Scarlet Letter is a true masterpiece of American Literature and a must-read for every student of literature. You will have plenty of time for the classroom considerations, but you will probably only read the story once. Enjoy the story as a reader instead of a student. Don't let the assignment intrude on the experience. If you are reading it for a class, please cast aside any and all academic considerations. I urge readers to study rather than skip over the two introductory chapters 'Preface to the Second Edition' and 'The Custom-House.' Those two works do not appear alongside the novel by accident, and I believe an appreciation of Hawthorne's experience at the Customs House is the key to a deeper understanding of the novel itself. The novel is classified under the Romantic genre and further classified as Dark Romanticism and Dystopian Fiction. We offer a useful The Scarlet Letter Study Guide for students and teachers. Illustration at right by Mary Hallock Foote, 1878. Hawthorne is at his best as he treats with the complexities of sin and redemption as the story progresses and carries Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl toward their respective destinies. In this story, the consequences of Hester Prynne's adulterous affair with the reverend Arthur Dimmesdale are borne out as she gives birth to their child and is forced to wear a Scarlet Letter A, embroidered on her bosom, as a sign of her adultery. This classic novel from the cannon of American Literature exemplifies the genre of Dark Romanticism. The short list of great American novels is often topped by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Uncle Tom's Cabin - Harriet Beecher Stowe.The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett.The Red Badge of Courage - Stephen Crane.The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne.At the end, however, Hester decides to come back to the colony, and when she passes away, she is buried next to the reverend, with whom she had been in love.

Not long after, Hester's husband also passes away, leaving Hester and her daughter enough money to escape the colony and finally have some peace.

The pressure becomes too much for Dimmesdale, and after seven years of torture the reverend eventually admits what he has done and dies before a crowd of people. He discovers that it is Dimmesdale and tries to intimidate him. Hester's husband returns to the colony, where he finds out what has happened and makes it his personal goal to torment the father of Pearl. The father is actually Reverend Dimmesdale, a timid man who keeps his secret from the community. Her husband has been away for around two years, and she refuses to name the father of her daughter, Pearl. In the beginning of the novel, Hester is serving time in prison for having a child out of wedlock and is forced to wear a scarlet A on her clothing at all times, so she cannot run from her sin no matter where she goes. One of the most important novels in classic literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter tackles the subject of adultery, with the notorious Hester Prynne at the forefront of the scandal in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Scarlet letter