Classic
The Scarlet Letter
by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Summary
In Puritan Boston, Hester Prynne is forced to wear a scarlet letter A after giving birth to a daughter out of wedlock, while the identity of the child's father remains hidden and eats away at him in secret. Hawthorne examines guilt, hypocrisy, and public shame through Hester's quiet endurance and the slow unraveling of the men around her. The novel's moral seriousness and psychological depth made it one of the first great American novels.
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Historical Context & Significance
Hawthorne published the novel in 1850, drawing on his own Puritan ancestors, including a judge from the Salem witch trials. It established Hawthorne as a major American writer and remains a staple of American literature courses.