The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

A Summary

In The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, a young woman named Hester Prynne has to live her life in shame after she comitted adultery and gave birth to a baby girl named Pearl whose father was not Hester's husband. Hester's former husband, Roger Chillingworth, sent her from England to America with the promise that he would meet her there soon, but Chillingworth did not come to America for years. As punishment for having a child with a man she was not married to, Hester had to stand up on a platform in front of the entire town, holding her baby girl, for three hours. She also has to wear an embroidered red "A" on the breast of all of her dresses every single day. It just so happened that Roger Chillingworth arrived in America on the same day that Hester was serving her public punishment of standing in front of the whole town. Roger Chillingworth was held captive by Native Americans before being able to escape and come to America for Hester. While he spent time with the Native Americans, he learned about herbal medicines. Hester keeps the father of her baby girl, Pearl, a secret from everybody and Chillingworth was determined to find out who the father was no matter what it took. The town's priest, Arthur Dimmesdale, is in very poor medical and mental condition and Chillingworth becomes his physician that takes care of him 24/7. It didn't take very long for Chillingworth to find out for himself that Dimmesdale is Pearl's father after spending so much time with him. In my opinion, Dimmesdale is a huge coward. He wants to protect his name, and Hester agrees with that, so for years he lets Hester receive all of the public shame and takes no responsibilty for Pearl or the punishments Hester has to serve. Towards the end of the book, Dimmesdale and Hester grow closer and plan to run away to England together with Pearl. Before leaving, one day Dimmesdale finds the courage to tell the truth to the town and he confesses his sin. The book has a surprising, and controversial, ending; while up in front of the entire town, Dimmesdale rips his shirt open to reveal an "A" he cut into his chest. Hester and Pearl were brought up on the scaffold with him and Dimmesdale died up there in Hester's arms. No one knows for sure if it actually was an "A" that was cut into his chest or how the weird shaped incision got there. Chillingworth has no more mystery to solve and he died about a year later, leaving all of his money to Pearl. Hester didn't need to wear her scarlet "A" anymore on her breast, but she chose to keep on wearing it for the rest of her life.

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