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    The Scarlet Letter
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    The Scarlet Letter
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    The Scarlet Letter
    Ebook298 pages4 hours

    The Scarlet Letter

    By Nathaniel Hawthorne

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Packaged in handsome and affordable trade editions, Clydesdale Classics is a new series of essential works made available again. The series features literary phenomena with influence and themes so great that, after their publication, they changed literature forever. From the musings of literary geniuses like Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn to the striking personal narrative of Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, this new series is a comprehensive collection of our history through the words of the exceptional few.

    The magnum opus of revered writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter is arguably one of the greatest novels written during the nineteenth century. It is the story of Hester Prynnea young woman accused of, tried for, and publicly punished for adultery. Set during the seventeenth century in Boston, she receives harsh ridicule from the radical Puritan community for her actions. From the affair she conceives a child, and struggles to rebuild her life and her reputation. Throughout the book Hawthorne explores controversial themes of sexuality, romance, guilt, shame, infidelityall of which are still pertinent topics more than 150 years after its initial publication.

    The Scarlet Letter is a timeless story of morality, legality, struggle, and shame in a world that was so intolerant of the very things that make us human.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherClydesdale Press
    Release dateMay 17, 2016
    ISBN9781945186134
    Author

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Nathaniel Hawthorne was born is Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. His father died when he was four years old. His first novel, Fanshawe, was published anonymously at his own expense in 1828. He later disowned the novel and burned the remaining copies. For the next twenty years he made his living as a writer of tales and children's stories. He assured his reputation with the publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850 and The House of the Seven Gables the following year. In 1853 he was appointed consul in Liverpool, England, where he lived for four years. He died in 1864.

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    Reviews for The Scarlet Letter

    3.5/5

    6,040 ratings141 reviews

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    • 4/5
      One of the best classic books I've read.This book seriously got me thinking about the terms of sexism and feminism. The story was very easy to follow, and just overall a great read.
    • 1/5
      No fan of this classic. I get why it's considered a masterpiece, but it also seems to me as if the biggest fans judge from a position where the moral of a story is more important than the story itself.Over the course of this novel, we sadly get to know nothing of the inner workings and conditions of the characters, nothing but what the few, very reduced and stilted lines of dialogue reveal of which each additionally gets commented on by the narrator. This narrator is so far detached from the events and the persons who were involved that the whole thing reads like a historical report, with the additional effect that the characters have no nuances or real personalities. Everyone, men and women alike (though apart from Hester, women don't play any important part anyway) are Puritans and nothing else - only concerned with their soul's salvation, their morals and most of all the morals of others, with nothing distinguishing them from each other or giving them individuality. Hester herself is obviously different, but even with her we get to know nothing about her motivations and development, the reasons why she acts like she acts. The only character who breaks the mould is Pearl, and only because she's consistently described as different and weird.These shortcomings are actually a real pity, because I really liked the story itself, as a thought experiment and insight into a society that is . The theme of shame, stigma and the way how a society is held together by common morals give the frame for a tale that is, with the view of a modern reader, unbelievably full of bigotry, mercilessness, sexism, self-pity and factitiousness. Unfortunately, the way Hawthorne handles it, it's more like a sermon to be preached from a pulpit than a story to be told at a campfire. Cautionary and lecturing instead of entertaining, and no effort was made to combine both.On the topic of style, I guess Hawthorne really loved to hear himself talk. The introductory "Custom House" sketch took 1,5 hours in the audio version and nearly caused a dnf tag. There was no substance, nothing with any tangible insight, just rambling and digressing and going off on tangents that ultimately went nowhere, preferrably in run-on sentences that put half a dozen ideas into a single paragraph.Yes, I know, it's the style of the time and I can't expect modern efficiency in storytelling in a novel from 1850. Actually, I don't even want to. And still, it's so far over the top that it becomes tedious very fast. Pride and Prejudice is from 1813, and stylistically it's so much more varied and interesting, with real dialogue where not every line gets a comment and real characters the reader can understand and relate to.
    • 4/5
      This mid 19th century American classic novel is very much set within the ethos and mores of the Puritan community in New England in the mid 17th century. A young woman Hester Prynne with a baby (Pearl) is humiliated by the community and marked with the eponymous letter A for adultery (though the word is never used in the book). The story is about her relationship with her daughter, with an old doctor who is revealed to be her ex-husband, and with the clergyman who is Pearl's father. The story is told within a framework narrative, with an over-long introduction describing the author's personal experiences working in a custom house, where he purported to have found old documents describing Hester's story. Hawthorne is clearly sceptical of the grim joylessness of extreme Puritanism, when he describes one of their rare festive events thus: "Into this festal season of the year ............the Puritans compressed whatever mirth and public joy they deemed allowable to human infirmity; thereby so far dispelling the customary cloud, that, for the space of a single holiday, they appeared scarcely more grave than most other communities at a period of general affliction." The novel is very well written and needs to be read in relatively small doses truly to appreciate the language, though it is short at only 138 pages.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the best books I "had" to read in high school. I think it had something to do with teaching me how wrong it is to judge others.
    • 2/5
      yawwwn, shutup hester. not hester.. shutup nathaniel.
    • 5/5
      This is one of the most beautifully and intelligently written works I have ever come across. It's just brilliant.
    • 3/5
      This was required reading for English class. Now that I think about it--it does seem odd that a school would have us reading about a woman being punished for adultery--well, the adultery part in a school book seems odd--though if they were going to have us read about adultery, I don't find it so odd that they would have it be this book. I remember our teacher saying "if you're reading the Cliff Notes, you already know who the baby's father is"--and it was true! The Cliff Notes did reveal the baby's father long before the book did. (But I won't reveal who it was here to avoid any spoilers.)
    • 3/5
      I'm not a big Classics fan but I do try to read a few each year. This time my Book Club chose A Scarlet Letter because of the Puritan connection and Thanksgiving time-frame. I had never read this book even in high school though I thought I knew the basics. There were aspects of the story to which I was unaware and it added a bit to the story IMO. However, the treatment of anyone - man, woman, or child - in manner, saddened me so I think that it did give me a greater reason to be thankful for the blessings I have.
    • 4/5
      It's been decades since I read Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, but I thought it would be interesting to listen to it while I cross stitch Christmas gifts. I had mercifully forgotten that Mr. Hawthorne had blathered on about his job and colleagues at the Custom House before he even started the story of Hester Prynne, Although the sketch of the Custom House and its employees isn't bad, I grew impatient to get to the real story. I'm not saying one should skip the entire first CD -- it does reach the point where our author finds the papers of Jonathan Pine and the old scarlet letter near the end. I just want to prepare you.The discussions about sin, guilt, remorse, and penance along the way are interesting, but the attitude of Salem townspeople toward Hester is infuriating, as is Pearl's father's cowardice and Hester's husband allowing the lust for vengeance to poison his soul. Hester was too self-sacrificing where Pearl's father was concerned. He wasn't worthy of her love. I don't care how guilty he felt because the town thought him a godly man when he was the sinner whose identity they tried to get from Hester. He still let her bear all the public infamy that belonged to both of them. Hester's husband was just as bad for placing all the blame for his behavior on her partner in adultery. He refused to take responsibility for freely choosing evil over forgiveness.You'll probably recognize human behavior that is still present, such as making up tidbits of gossip and refusing to believe the truth when told it.The book does provoke thought, but it also provoked considerable anger in this reader, at least.I liked Ms. Gibson's narration.
    • 1/5
      I *hated* this book - what a hugely overrated piece of work. But then, I think many of the 'classics' are boring and overrated anyway. I detested every moment when I was forced to read this for high school english class.
    • 5/5
      Nathaniel Hawthorne, in writing The Scarlet Letter, took that which was considered so very taboo in the society and placed it in the household. He took a simple woman trying to escape her past, and a lonely man, who was also a preacher, and made them the models for the "it could happen to anyone" story. Many may say that Hawthorne's writing is full of glitches, is slow, and perhaps too ornate and verbose at times - but I disagree. In my opinion, he was an author who employed almost every literary technique, and used it well. The first chapter is probably the most difficult to get through, since it seems so detached from the rest of the book, but for those who are looking closely, it is full of foreshadowing elements and in reproducing the structure of the society in which the story is about to take place - Hawthorne is forewarning us of the limitations of said society, of how these rituals will come to be bane of Hester Prynne's existence, as the story unfolds. The story begins with Hester's public shaming,and her being made to wear a 'Scarlet letter' upon her bosom as a sign of her adulterous ways. Amongst the crowd, watching, is her husband Dr. Prynne, who now goes by the name of Roger Chillingworth. The plot is simple, Hester Prynne comes to live in a village near Boston, and there, she finds herself inexplicably for the town preacher. The town preacher, Reverend Dimmesdale, also falls in love with Hester. The husband, who was to follow Hester, a cruel and conniving man, is captured and considered dead which further fuels the level of intimacy between the Reverend and Hester. The result is an illegitimate child - although, Hester continually refuses to name the father of the child, for fear of the persecution that will result from this confession of her lover, the Reverend. While Hester remains ostracized from the society, her daughter and her both treated like the Plague, the Reverend wastes away with the guilt that he allowed Hester to take the entirety of the blame. He pines away for his love, and for his child, and becomes weak and disturbed. This only serves to add to the suspicions of Dr.Chillingworth, who is seeking to exact revenge on the man who had left his wife astray, and when he confirms his suspicions serves to fuel the Reverends self-hatred. The relationship between Hester and Dimmesdale is ever tender, but the relationship between Dimmesdale and his daughter Pearl is, although seemingly calm, tense and tortuous. Hawthorne paints his characters with such intensity, Hester's love and her patience, Pearl's innocence, Dimmesdale's self-loathing and guilt, and Chillingworth's jealousy and anger - and above all, the townsfolk's constant judgments. The novel is a classic, written in the way of a classic, full of eloquent prose, rich commentary and extremely descriptive. It is a slow and meticulous read, but also a very satisfying one. If you can get past the slow pace, and the alliterations and allegory, you will find yourself reading of a beautiful tale about love, passion, guilt, redemption...and above all, faith.
    • 4/5
      Audio Book read by Anne Wauters

      This classic of American literature is an exploration of guilt, hypocrisy, revenge, and atonement. Full of psychological nuance and forcing the reader to weigh the merits of various arguments as to whose sin is worse and what punishment is appropriate. The ethical dilemmas presented are still debated today.

      Hester Prynne is a beautiful young woman who has been ostracized and outcast by her 17th-century Puritan community in Massachusetts for the unforgiveable sin of adultery. Her husband has been missing (and presumed dead) for several years and now she has a child, but she refuses to name Pearl’s father. She is forced to wear a scarlet ”A” on her breast, marking her as an adulteress and giving the community permission to scorn and ridicule her. But Hester holds her head high, lives quietly away from town with her child, and performs good works for those who are less fortunate even than she. The two men in her life however are continually present.

      SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

      Her husband has returned in disguise and stays incognito, calling himself Roger Chillingsworth so that he can punish the man who wronged him – the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale.

      Hester’s sin is the most obvious, and her punishment has become an iconic symbol of public outrage. But she, at least, owns up to her transgression, and remains in the community, wearing the scarlet letter almost proudly. Dimmesdale proves himself a weak, if tortured, man who fasts and prays but cannot bring himself to confess and share the blame that is rightly his. More than once he publicly urges Hester to name the child’s father, hoping that she will save him from himself and the hypocrisy he feels “forced” to live. Chillingsworth is a vengeful troll, hiding behind his adopted persona as a “learned physician” he probes and needles Dimmesdale, providing a far worse torture than any punishment the community might have imposed.

      The playaway portable audio version was read by Anne Wauters. I really did not like her performance and her voice was irritating to my ears. I almost lowered the rating, but in this case I didn’t think the book should be penalized for a poor audio performance.
    • 4/5
      After a very slow beginning, I really enjoyed this novel. There is a lot to it beyond the surface, but I can see why so many teens don't care for it.
    • 5/5
      This was a re-read for me as I read this when I was in high school. I think I enjoyed it even more the second time around. Although a little outdated for today's teenagers, the book is a good look at what it was like living in the 1600's and having to adhere to their moral codes. It is a deeply emotional book with lots of symbolism and does show that bad decisions do have consequences. I do highly recommend the book as it is one story that is very hard to forget.
    • 5/5
      A classic tale. Hester Prynne, accused by her community for adultery. Bearing a child, is a pariah of her community.

      I really don't know if there is much I can add to this story that hasn't already been said about it. It is a must read. It should be on everyone's bookshelf. What amazes me most about this book is that even back then Nathaniel Hawthorne showed the injustic of the double standard. Where women are treated as the chattel they were and men literary got away with murder when it comes to women. I also love the fact how the author points out that some men are just scum above and beyond how they treat women.

      This book is and will always be a classic for me. It is one of my favorites. I highly recommend it to be on everyone's bookshelf!
    • 4/5
      A dark, gothic tale that seeps into the conscious, perhaps wordy for modern readers, but satisfying.
    • 2/5
      Well, where do I start... I just finished it moments ago and am still a little baffled as to why I wanted to read this book. Granted it is on my Gilmore Girls Book Challenge and Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die list but.... I just don't know. I have to say I was mostly bored by this book. I'm normally pretty interested in Puritanical life in the New World but this just didn't catch my fancy. Finally towards the end when the Reverend was finally stepping up I thought it would get good but nooooooooooo. I won't say any more, spoilers and all that, but man oh man am I glad that book is over.
    • 2/5
      I can't say I liked it, but it was an interesting study on sin and guilt and how they work on the psyche. Props where they are due and Nathaniel Hawthorne gets one for that.
    • 4/5
      In this classic tale of adultery, Hawthorne presents sympathetic characters and a story that rings true today. The language, as in most classic novels, can sometimes be hard to understand, but the story should resonate with modern audiences nonetheless.
    • 3/5
      Setting: The theme of sin and hypocrisy is set in a small New England town during the Puritan Era.Plot: Hester Prynne sets out to make reparation for her sin while the town seeks the father of her baby.Characters: Hester Prynne (protagonist)- scarlet letter, not sorry; Rev. Dimmesdale- hides guilt, dies of it; Roger Chillingsworth (antagonist) Hester's husband, persecutes the Rev.; Pearl- Hester's daughter, not real without familySymbols: the scarlet letter, the rose, the forestCharacteristics: example of Romanticism, first novel to have woman protagonistMy Thoughts: I enjoyed reading it through, I disagree with Hester's lack of contrition.
    • 3/5
      One of the easier to read classics that I've encountered thus far. I enjoyed the imagery and the symbolism in the book, but the slow parts were a struggle to get through.
    • 3/5
      A good book. Hawthorne knew how to get into people's minds and make them think about things. At some points you feel for Hester, and then at others you just cuss at her (to yourself and hopefully under your breath or you get weird looks in the library) for just being so stupid.A lot of people don't like this book, but I found it oddly interesting. Good, evil, heaven, hell, what's right and what's not is such a slippery slope and can engender so much meaningful dialogue.
    • 5/5
      The bane of many a high school English class, Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter offers much to the reader who delves into its miasma of guilt, redemption, hypocrisy and zealotry. The plot is famous enough to be simply summarized as unmarried Hester Prynne gives birth to a child, refuses to name the father and is sentenced to wear a scarlet 'A' on her bosom, thus enabling the people of Puritan colonial Boston to ridicule and ostracize her. Hester's husband, long feared lost at sea, returns under the guise of a doctor with the name of Roger Chillingworth. He forgives Hester her adultery but is determined to find out the identity of the father. The father turns out to be the new, young minister, Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale, who between giving eloquent sermons on the nature of sin and redemption, battles the demons of his guilt and his inability to confess publicly to his sin, as was expected of all Puritans at the time.The internal battle between Dimmesdale's conscience and his ego, the descent from medical provider to almost demonic rapscallion of Chillingworth and the steely determination of Hester to raise her daughter in the face of trememdous indifference and outright hostility from the citizenry all combine to produce a story epic in scope, if not in size. The torturous indecisiveness depicted within Dimmesdale can be compared favorably with that experienced by Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment.The book would benefit greatly in its reading if a more mature audience were introduced to it than the average teenager. Most teenagers are unable to consider the consequences of their actions, let alone deal with the turbulent concept of guilt and its burden upon the soul. Through no fault of Hawthorne's do most readers come to loathe the novel. Quite the contrary, the book is exemplary in its treatment of its themes, rarely having been matched. The reader should approach the book with an understanding that secrets, and the keeping of them, have a cost that is often impossible to pay.
    • 3/5
      I know it may seem hard to believe, but I did not read The Scarlet Letter before reading it as a book club selection last month. I think this may be one of the hardest books I have ever read, as I tried to understand the story with it's old world language. It seems that Hawthorne used all of his characters to symbolize various characteristics and sins.Hester is the strong-willed heroine of this story who makes a moral error in judgement. She is persecuted for he wrong-doing, but accepts the punishment from her peers. The punishment will stamp a wound on Hester's heart and taint her mind and soul for the rest of her days. Hester's conviction turned out to be a lifelong persecution, from the entire township. It was interesting to watch the attitudes of the townspeople, as sometimes they would treat her with respect and friendship, while other times treating her like a thief. She often found it easier to live in solitude to avoid accusing stares that she was sure to find.This book seemed to have a bit of flavor that reminded me of the Salem Witch Trials. I'm not sure if this book takes place before or after that period, but witchcraft is briefly mentioned in the story. With themes of symbolism, love, and truth, this book made an interesting book club discussion. With that being said I think I also need to tell you that out of our group of nine ladies, only three of us actually finished the book. It was definitely not one of our favorites and not one that I would recommend for leisure reading. I am, however, glad that I finally read this classic.
    • 3/5
      As is often the case with novels from this period, Hawthorne prattles on a bit too much for my more modern tastes. A good tale, but each chapter takes too long to tell what it has to say. I prefer Dickens for period classics.
    • 4/5
      Great historical read.Two people's love that seemed destined to fail in great religious oppression in the town of Salem in Early America.
    • 4/5
      This novel follows the young, Hester Pine, as she struggles through the hardships of being casted out by her fellow town folk. She wears the mark of adultery, a large scarlet letter that A that proclaims to the world what she has done. Even though people continue to question her and for her to tell them who her lover was, she refuses, keeping the man she loves safe. We could continue to follow her and her cherished, pixie daughter, Pearl, though their lives and though it leaves one guessing towards the actually person whom Hester committed her “crime” with; it does not take long to realize this mysterious figures identity. This intriguing book leads us through an emotion and confusing trail through we learn just how it feel to be out casted from everyone. It shows us, especially high school students, just how much labeling effects people and the way we act towards them.
    • 4/5
      Passionate in pain- passionate in love; this is a story of people's reactions to mistakes not only regarding themselves but from the scornful, isolating behaviors of others.
    • 5/5
      I think this is a lucious book of symbolism, surpassed only in my mind by "The Grapes of Wrath."
    • 4/5
      An extremely well-written book about the tensions that rock a small puritan town. Though it may not be to everyone's taste, it is a definite must-read for any fan of the classics.