The Scarlet Letter

A detailed Summary of The Scarlet Letter


The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorn, is a story about love, evil, revenge, and sin between four people. Two lovers, Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale commit adultery and were separated from their sin, but only Hester was caught. The husband of Hester, Chillingsworth, comes back from his voyage across the sea and finds she has a child from her lover and he devotes his life to seek revenge on him. Dimmesdale feels guilty to reveal his sin because of his position in the town so the story goes on for seven years before the secret comes out. There are many symbols throughout the story that become connected with the characters feelings and emotions.

In the story a scaffold is used for punishment. It is a symbol throughout the story and becomes the setting for the beginning and the end of the scenes in the story. Hester Prynne's punishment for committing adultery is to stand on the scaffold for three hours every day. In the beginning of the story Hester is let out of jail and is to stand


The Scarlet Letter was a gloomy story with a sad ending. Many symbols were connected throughout the story with the characters. The scaffold was a symbol of punishment for Hester, The letter "A" was a symbol of punishment and sin, and the rosebush was a symbol of hope. These symbols were only three out of many other symbols used to represent the characters and their emotions in the story. In the end, the two lovers are buried by eachother in Boston, together at last for eternity and their daughter, Pearl, is happily married with good fortune.

Hester wears the letter "A" on her bosom, which represents adultery. Because of this sin she is to wear it at all times as an example for other women to not make the same mistake. The letter "A" is a symbol of sin, humiliation, and a reminder to Hester of her mistake. The "A" appears throughout the story in different forms. It appeared on Dimmmesdales chest, Pearl made it out of seaweed to mimicking her mother, it appeared red in the sky, and at the end it was on the tombstone of Hester and Dim

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hester Dimmesdale, Scarlet Letter, Hester Chillingsworth, Pearl Hester, Hester Pearl, Pearl Towards, Hester Prynne's, Prynne Dimmesdale, Nathaniel Hawthorn, throughout story, story scaffold, symbol punishment, scarlet letter, scaffold symbol punishment, emotions story, rosebush symbol, stand scaffold, feels guilty, happily married, dimmesdale feels guilty, throughout story forms, daughter pearl,

Approximate Word count = 706
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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