The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer. Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England, many works featuring moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His fiction works are considered part of the Romantic movement and, more specifically, dark romanticism. His themes often center on the inherent evil and sin of humanity, and his works often have moral messages and deep psychological complexity. His published works include novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend Franklin Pierce.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Novels• Fanshawe (published anonymously, 1828)• The Scarlet Letter (1850)• The House of the Seven Gables (1851)• The Blithedale Romance (1852)• The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni (1860) 

(as Transformation: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni, UK publication, same year)

• The Dolliver Romance (1863) (unfinished)• Septimius Felton; or, the Elixir of Life (Published in the Atlantic Monthly, 

1872)• Doctor Grimshawe's Secret: A romance (unfinished), with Preface and 

Notes by Julian Hawthorne (1882)

Short story collections• Twice-Told Tales (1837)• Grandfather's Chair (1840)• Mosses from an Old Manse (1846)• The Snow-Image, and Other Twice-Told Tales (1852)• A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys (1852)• Tanglewood Tales (1853)• The Dolliver Romance and Other Pieces (1876)• The Great Stone Face and Other Tales of the White

Mountains (1889)• The Celestial Railroad and Other Short Stories

The Scarlet Letter

Ah, but let her cover the mark as she will, the pangof it will be always in her heart.  ~Nathaniel

Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chapter II "TheMarket-Place"

A bodily disease, which we look upon as whole andentire within itself, may, after all, be but a symptom of

some ailment in the spiritual part.  ~NathanielHawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chapter X "The Leech and His 

Patient"

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter

Some writers and popular tradition claim that the gravestone of Elizabeth Pain, a settler in colonial Boston, was the inspiration for the grave of character Hester Prynne in the novel The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Plot summaryThis is a troubling story of crime, sin,

guilt, punishment and expiation, set inthe rigid moral climate of 17th centuryNew England. The young mother of anillegitimate child confronts her Puritanjudges.

However, it is not so much her harshsentence, but the cruelties of slowlyexposed guilt as her lover is revealed,that hold the reader enthralled all theway to the book’s poignant climax.

Main characters

Roger Chillingworth

Hester Prynne

Arthur Dimmesdale

Pearl

Major themes

SinThe experience of Hester and Dimmesdale recalls the story of Adam

and Eve because, in both cases, sin results in expulsion and suffering.

But it also results in knowledge—specifically, in knowledge of what it

means to be immortal. For Hester, the scarlet letter functions as "her

passport into regions where other women dared not tread", leading her

to "speculate" about her society and herself more "boldly" than anyone

else in New England.

Past and presentThe clashing of past and present is explored in various ways.

SymbolsThe Scarlet Letter

The MeteorPearl

The Rosebush next to the Prison Door

Film adaptations based on the novel

• The Scarlet Letter (1908 film), starring Gene Gauntier and Jack Conway• The Scarlet Letter (1911 film), starring Lucille Young and King Baggot• The Scarlet Letter (1913 film), (in color) starring Linda Arvidson and Murdock

MacQuarrie• The Scarlet Letter (1917 film), starring Mary Martin and Stuart Holmes• The Scarlet Letter (1920 film), produced by Selznick Pictures Corporation• The Scarlet Letter (1922 film), a British version starring Sybil Thorndike and Tony

Fraser• The Scarlet Letter (1926 film), starring Lillian Gish and Lars Hanson• The Scarlet Letter (1934 film), starring Colleen Moore and Hardie Albright• The Scarlet Letter (1973 film) (Der Scharlachrote Buchstabe), a German version

starring Senta Berger and Hans Christian Blech• The Scarlet Letter (TV miniseries) (1979) starring Meg Foster, Kevin Conway, and

John Heard• The Scarlet Letter (1995 film), starring Demi Moore, Gary Oldman, and Robert Duvall• Easy A (2010 film) (though not an exact adaptation, many aspects are similar and the

original story is referenced)