The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Publisher: Race Point Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781631060717
• eBook ISBN:
  9781627886765
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

Delve into The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne's meditation on human alienation and its effect on the soul in this story set in seventeenth-century Massachusetts and be dazzled by literature.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's dark novel, The Scarlet Letter, a single sinful act ruins the lives of three people. None more so than Hester Prynne, a young, beautiful, and dignified woman, who conceived a child out of wedlock and receives the public punishment of having to always wear a scarlet "A" on her clothing.

She refuses to reveal the father of her child, which could lighten her sentence. Her husband, the aptly-named Roger Chillingworth, who Hester thought had died in a shipwreck but was actually being held captive by Native Americans, arrives at the exact moment of her deepest public shaming and vows to get revenge. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains safely unidentified, but is wracked with guilt.

Though originally published in 1850, the story is set in seventeenth-century Massachusetts among Hawthorne's Puritan ancestors. In The Scarlet Letter, he created a story that highlighted both their weaknesses and their strengths. His knowledge of their beliefs and his admiration for their way of life was balanced by his concerns about their rigid and oppressive rules.

Complete and unabridged, this edition features a new introduction by Mike Lee Davis.

The Knickerbocker Classics bring together the works of classic authors from around the world in stunning gift editions to be collected and enjoyed.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION
• PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
• THE CUSTOM-HOUSE
• THE CUSTOM-HOUSE—INTRODUCTORY
• THE SCARLET LETTER
• I. THE PRISON-DOOR
• II. THE MARKET-PLACE
• III. THE RECOGNITION
• IV. THE INTERVIEW
• V. HESTER AT HER NEEDLE
• VI. PEARL
• VII. THE GOVERNOR’S HALL
• VIII. THE ELF-CHILD AND THE MINISTER
• IX. THE LEECH
• X. THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT
• XI. THE INTERIOR OF A HEART
• XII. THE MINISTER’S VIGIL
• XIII. ANOTHER VIEW OF HESTER
• XIV. HESTER AND THE PHYSICIAN
• XV. HESTER AND PEARL
• XVI. A FOREST WALK
• XVII. THE PASTOR AND HIS PARISHIONER
• XVIII. A FLOOD OF SUNSHINE
• XIX. THE CHILD AT THE BROOK-SIDE
• XX. THE MINISTER IN A MAZE
• XXI. THE NEW ENGLAND HOLIDAY
• XXII. THE PROCESSION
• XXIII. THE REVELATION OF THE SCARLET LETTER
• XXIV. CONCLUSION
• ENDNOTES
• THE LIFE AND TIMES OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
• FURTHER READING