Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, this tale of an adulterous entanglement that results in an illegitimate birth reveals Nathaniel Hawthorne's concerns with the tension between the public and the private selves. Publicly disgraced and ostracized, Hester Prynne draws on her inner strength and certainty of spirit to emerge as the first true heroine of American fiction. Arthur Dimmesdale stands as a classic study of a seld divided; trapped by the rules of society, he suppresses his passion and disavows his lover, Hester, and their daughter, Pearl. As Nina Baym writes in her Introduction, The Scarlet Letter was not written as realistic, historical fiction, but as a "romance", a creation of the imagination that discloses the truth of the human heart.
The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, is an American novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and is generally considered to be his magnum opus. Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who gives birth after committing adultery, refuses to name the father, and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity.Throughout the novel, Hawthorne explores questions of grace, legalism, sin and guilt.
Here you will find the complete novels of Nathaniel Hawthorne in the chronological order of their original publication.- Fanshawe- The Scarlet Letter- The House of the Seven Gables- The Blithedale Romance- The Marble Faun- The Dolliver Romance- Septimius Felton- Doctor Grimshawes Secret: A romance
