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The Scarlett Letter Analysis and Summary
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Analysis of the characters, setting, motifs and symbols in The Scarlett letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Including a Summary and in-depth questions about the plot
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Socratic Seminar Anne van den Wassenberg V5EThe Scarlet letter
Summary
The story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan
settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison
with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter “A” on
her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is
being punished for adultery. Hester’s husband, a scholar much older than
she is, sent her ahead to America, but he never arrived in Boston. The
consensus is that he has been lost at sea. While waiting for her husband,
Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child. She
will not reveal her lover’s identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along
with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy. On
this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town
fathers, but she again refuses to identify her child’s father.
The elderly onlooker is Hester’s missing husband, who is now practicing
medicine and calling himself Roger Chillingworth. He settles in Boston,
intent on revenge. He reveals his true identity to no one but Hester, whom
he has sworn to secrecy. Several years pass. Hester supports herself by
working as a seamstress, and Pearl grows into a willful, impish child.
Shunned by the community, they live in a small cottage on the outskirts of
Boston. Community officials attempt to take Pearl away from Hester, but,
with the help of Arthur Dimmesdale, a young and eloquent minister, the
mother and daughter manage to stay together. Dimmesdale, however,
appears to be wasting away and suffers from mysterious heart trouble,
seemingly caused by psychological distress. Chillingworth attaches himself
to the ailing minister and eventually moves in with him so that he can
provide his patient with round-the-clock care. Chillingworth also suspects
that there may be a connection between the minister’s torments and
Hester’s secret, and he begins to test Dimmesdale to see what he can
learn. One afternoon, while the minister sleeps, Chillingworth discovers a
mark on the man’s breast (the details of which are kept from the reader),
which convinces him that his suspicions are correct.
Dimmesdale’s psychological anguish deepens, and he invents new
tortures for himself. In the meantime, Hester’s charitable deeds and quiet
humility have earned her a reprieve from the scorn of the community. One
night, when Pearl is about seven years old, she and her mother are
returning home from a visit to a deathbed when they encounter
Dimmesdale atop the town scaffold, trying to punish himself for his sins.
Hester and Pearl join him, and the three link hands. Dimmesdale refuses
Pearl’s request that he acknowledge her publicly the next day, and a
meteor marks a dull red “A” in the night sky. Hester can see that the
minister’s condition is worsening, and she resolves to intervene. She goes
to Chillingworth and asks him to stop adding to Dimmesdale’s self-
torment. Chillingworth refuses.
, Socratic Seminar Anne van den Wassenberg V5E
Hester arranges an encounter with Dimmesdale in the forest because she
is aware that Chillingworth has probably guessed that she plans to reveal
his identity to Dimmesdale. The former lovers decide to flee to Europe,
where they can live with Pearl as a family. They will take a ship sailing
from Boston in four days. Both feel a sense of release, and Hester removes
her scarlet letter and lets down her hair. Pearl, playing nearby, does not
recognize her mother without the letter. The day before the ship is to sail,
the townspeople gather for a holiday and Dimmesdale preaches his most
eloquent sermon ever. Meanwhile, Hester has learned that Chillingworth
knows of their plan and has booked passage on the same ship.
Dimmesdale, leaving the church after his sermon, sees Hester and Pearl
standing before the town scaffold. He impulsively mounts the scaffold with
his lover and his daughter, and confesses publicly, exposing a scarlet
letter seared into the flesh of his chest. He falls dead, as Pearl kisses him.
Frustrated in his revenge, Chillingworth dies a year later. Hester and Pearl
leave Boston, and no one knows what has happened to them. Many years
later, Hester returns alone, still wearing the scarlet letter, to live in her old
cottage and resume her charitable work. She receives occasional letters
from Pearl, who has married a European aristocrat and established a
family of her own. When Hester dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale.
The two share a single tombstone, which bears a scarlet “A.”
Characters;
Hester Prynne:
– The main character and the wearer of the scarlet letter (A for
Adultery)
– She was married to a man in England who was thought to be dead.
While waiting for him she had an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale
which resulted in Pearl, her daughter. Three months after Pearl’s
birth her former husband moved into her town under the name
Roger Chillingworth. We know very little about Hester prior to the
affair with Dimmesdale, only that she didn’t love Chillingworth.
– She endures years of shame and alienation from her community.
– Her character seems to be independent as she works to provide for
herself and Pearl, which was not common in this time period, as
every woman was dependent on a man.
– She comes across as a compassionate maternal figure, she is careful
with her actions because one wrong move could cause her to lose
Pearl.
– Hester is portrayed as an intelligent, capable, but not necessarily
extraordinary woman. It is the circumstances that make her such an
important figure.
Pearl:
– Daughter of Hester and Arthur, who she met years later just before
his death.
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