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The Scarlet Letter

• Where Written: Salem, Massachusetts
INTR
INTRO
O • When Published: 1850
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE • Literary Period: Transcendentalism
Hawthorne's father died at sea when Hawthorne was just four • Genre: Novel
years old. His mother raised him alone in Salem. He went on to • Setting: Boston, Massachusetts in the 1640s
attend Bowdoin College, from which he graduated in 1824. He • Climax: Dimmesdale's confession and death
married Sophia Peabody in 1842, and the two enjoyed a long • Antagonist: Roger Chillingworth; the Puritans
loving marriage that produced three children. Hawthorne could
• Point of View: Third person omniscient
not support the family as a writer, so he worked as a surveyor
for the Custom House in Salem from 1846-1849. Hawthorne
befriended other now-famous writers throughout his life, EXTRA CREDIT
including Longfellow, Thoreau, and Melville. He died in 1864 Hawthorne and the Salem Witch Trials: Nathaniel Hawthorne
after spending six of his last years in Europe. was a direct descendent of John Hathorne, (1641-1717), a
Puritan justice of the peace. Justice Hathorne is best known for
HISTORICAL CONTEXT his role as the lead judge in the Salem Witch Trials, in which he
sentenced numerous innocent people to death for allegedly
The Scarlet Letter paints a very unflattering portrait of the
practicing witchcraft. Nathaniel added a "w" to his name to
Puritans, a religious group that dominated late seventeenth-
distance himself from his infamous ancestor.
century English settlement in Massachusetts. Puritanism began
in England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603).
The name "Puritanism" came from the group's intent to purify PL
PLO
OT SUMMARY
the Church of England by making government and religious
practice conform more closely to the word of God. The The Scarlet Letter begins with a prelude in which an unnamed
Puritans were often persecuted in England, and a group of narrator explains the novel's origin. While working at the Salem
them sailed to the New World on the Mayflower in 1620 in Custom House (a tax collection agency), the narrator
search of a place to practice their religion without interference. discovered in the attic a manuscript accompanied by a beautiful
Though today Puritans are often thought of as the foundation scarlet letter "A." After the narrator lost his job, he decided to
of American society, Hawthorne criticizes the Puritans' harsh develop the story told in the manuscript into a novel. The Scarlet
religion and society. Letter is that novel.
The novel is set in seventeenth-century Boston, a city governed
RELATED LITERARY WORKS by strict Puritan law. The story begins as Hester Prynne, the
The literary movement known as Transcendentalism flourished novel's protagonist, is led out of a prison carrying an infant,
during the 1830s and 1840s, primarily in Massachusetts. The named Pearl, in her arms. A bright red "A" is embroidered on
Transcendentalists believed in the power of the human mind to her chest. A crowd waits expectantly as Hester is forced to
shape and determine experience. They favored a more personal climb up a scaffold to endure public shame for her sin. While on
view of religion in which people could connect directly with the scaffold, Hester is terrified to recognize her estranged
God. The Transcendental view of religion stood in stark husband, Chillingworth, in the crowd. He recognizes her too,
contrast to the practices of groups like the Puritans, who and is shocked. Chillingworth pretends not to know Hester, and
believed in strict societal governance of religion. learns her story from a man in the crowd: she was married to an
Transcendentalism's most famous works are Thoreau's Walden English scholar who was supposed to follow her to Boston but
(1854) and Emerson's Essays, most notably "Nature" (1836). never showed up. After two years she fell into sin, committing
Though Hawthorne is not considered a Transcendentalist, the adultery that resulted in her baby and the scarlet "A" on her
many of the movement's central tenets appear in his work. breast. Chillingworth predicts the unknown man will be found
out, but when the beloved local Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale
commands Hester to reveal the man's name, she refuses and is
KEY FACTS
sent back to her prison cell. Chillingworth poses as a doctor to
• Full Title: The Scarlet Letter get inside the prison to speak with Hester, and there forces her
• When Written: 1848-1850 to promise never to reveal that he's her husband.

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Three years pass. Hester is let out of prison and moves to the plays many roles in The Scarlet Letter: devoted mother,
outskirts of Boston, near the forest. She makes a living as a abandoned lover, estranged wife, religious dissenter, feminist,
seamstress, though the people who employ her still shun her. and outcast, to name just a few. Perhaps her most important
Hester refuses to tell Pearl what the scarlet letter signifies, and role is that of an iconoclast, one who opposes established
Pearl becomes obsessed with the letter. Meanwhile, conventions. Hester is not just a rebel, she's a glorified rebel,
Chillingworth is working in Boston as a physician, though he and Hawthorne uses her to criticize the Puritan's strict society.
has no formal medical training. One of his patients is He portrays Hester fondly, as a woman of strength,
Dimmesdale, who has fallen ill with heart trouble. Chillingworth independence, and kindness, who stands up to the judgments
moves in with Dimmesdale to care for him full-time and begins and constraints of her society. Though society tries to demean
to suspect a connection between Dimmesdale's heart ailment and disgrace her, Hawthorne emphasizes that Hester never
and Hester's crime. When he discovers that Dimmesdale has looked more attractive as when she first emerged from prison
carved a mark over his heart that resembles Hester's scarlet wearing the scarlet letter.
letter, Chillingworth realizes that Dimmesdale is Hester's lover. Pearl — The illegitimate daughter of Hester Prynne and Arthur
Chillingworth decides to torment and expose Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale. Pearl serves as a symbol of her mother's shame
Under Chillingworth's cruel care, Dimmesdale's health and triumph. At one point the narrator describes Pearl as "the
deteriorates. Dimmesdale's guilt for committing and concealing scarlet letter endowed with life." Like the letter, Pearl is the
adultery causes him profound emotional suffering. He even public consequence of Hester's very private sin. Yet also like
starves and whips himself as punishment. One night the scarlet letter, Pearl becomes Hester's source of strength.
Dimmesdale mounts the same scaffold upon which Hester was Pearl defines Hester's identity and purpose and gives Hester a
publicly shamed. At just that moment, Hester and Pearl pass by companion to love. Although she often struggles to understand
and join Dimmesdale on the scaffold. A meteor lights the sky in Pearl's rebelliousness and devilish spirit, Hester never wavers
the shape of a red "A" and illuminates Chillingworth standing in her loving devotion to Pearl. Pearl, an outcast, is drawn to
nearby. other outcasts, such as Mistress Hibbins and her witch friends.
Hester decides she must help Dimmesdale, and pleads with Pearl's affinity for the occult associates her character with sin
Chillingworth to stop tormenting him. Chillingworth and evil, but Pearl is first and foremost a product of love, not
acknowledges that he's become cruel and wicked, but argues just sin. Her rumored happiness and success as an adult in
that he's actually protecting Dimmesdale by not revealing his Europe make her character a symbol of the triumph of love
secret to the public. Hester then takes matters into her own over a repressed and oppressive society.
hands: she intercepts Dimmesdale in the forest and tells him Arthur Dimmesdale — A well respected Boston reverend who
Chillingworth's true identity. She convinces Dimmesdale to flee has an affair with Hester Prynne and is the secret father of
with her and Pearl to Europe, and they make plans to take a Pearl. Shy, retiring, and well loved and respected by his public,
ship the day after Dimmesdale is scheduled to deliver an Dimmesdale is too frightened and selfish to reveal his sin and
important sermon. Dimmesdale delivers the sermon (the best bear the burden of punishment with Hester. Yet at the same
of his life). However, he realizes he's dying and won't make it to time, Dimmesdale secretly punishes himself for his sin by
Europe. He mounts the scaffold and asks Hester and Pearl to fasting and whipping himself. Ultimately the suffering and
join him. He confesses his sin to the crowd and bares his chest, punishment he endures, though self-inflicted, proves far worse
revealing a scarlet letter carved into his own skin. He dies as than Hester's or Pearl's, suggesting that betrayal and
Pearl kisses him for the first time. selfishness are greater sins than adultery. Dimmesdale's guilty
Hester and Pearl leave Boston. Chillingworth dies a year after conscience overwhelms him like a plague, robbing him of his
Dimmesdale, leaving Pearl a small fortune as an inheritance. health and preventing him from raising his daughter. His
Many years later, Hester returns to her cabin on the outskirts eventual confession comes too late, and he dies a victim of his
of town. She still wears her letter "A." Pearl has married into own pride.
money in Europe and writes to Hester on occasion. Hester Roger Chillingworth — The old scholar who Hester Prynne
remains in Boston until her death and is buried alongside met and married before coming to Boston. Chillingworth is a
Dimmesdale. Their shared tombstone bears a letter "A." forbidding presence. Even his name reflects his haunting, ice-
cold aura. Hester's relationship with Chillingworth, her actual
husband, contrasts sharply with her relationship with
CHARA
CHARACTERS
CTERS Dimmesdale, her lover. Chillingworth is an older man whom
she married for reasons other than love. Dimmesdale is a
Hester Prynne — The protagonist of the novel, Hester is
beloved reverend with whom she had an affair out of love and
married to Roger Chillingworth and has an affair with Arthur
irrepressible desire. Chillingworth recognizes this difference
Dimmesdale. The affair produces a daughter, Pearl. Hester
and punishes Hester and Dimmesdale covertly by tormenting

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Dimmesdale almost to the point of killing him. Meanwhile, he 1 SIN
hypocritically makes Hester swear not to reveal his true
The Puritans believed people were born sinners. Puritan
identity as her husband in order to avoid the humiliation of
preachers depicted each human life as suspended by a string
being associated with their scandalous affair. In the end, by
over the fiery pit of hell. As a result, the Puritans maintained
tormenting Dimmesdale, Chillingworth transforms himself into
strict watch over themselves and their fellow townspeople, and
a sick and twisted man, a kind of fiend.
sins such as adultery were punishable by death. Hester is
The Narr
Narrator
ator — The unnamed narrator is inspired to write The spared execution only because the Puritans of Boston decided
Scarlet Letter after discovering the scarlet letter and fragments it would benefit the community to transform her into a "living
of its story in an attic of the Custom House. He describes the sermon against sin." But just as Hester turns the physical
novel as a tale of "human frailty and sorrow" and encourages scarlet letter that she is forced to wear into a beautifully
the reader to heed its moral. Throughout the novel, the embroidered object, through the force of her spirit she
narrator favors Hester against the Puritans who persecute her. transforms the letter's symbolic meaning from shame to
His writing often reads as if he's pained to have to tell such a strength.
sad story that involves the downfall of innocent victims at the Hester's transformation of the scarlet letter's meaning raises
hands of an oppressive society. one of The Scarlet Letter's most important questions: What does
Mistress Hibbins — Governor Bellingham's sister. She invites it mean to sin, and who are the novel's real sinners? Hester's
Hester to a witches' meeting in the woods and becomes the defiant response to her punishment and her attempts to
object of Pearl's fascination. She speaks often of the "Black rekindle her romance with Dimmesdale and flee with him to
Man," another name for the Devil. She is executed for practicing Europe shows that she never considered her affair with
witchcraft about a year after Dimmesdale dies. Her death Dimmesdale to be a sin. The narrator supports Hester's
shows how merciless Puritan society had become in the name innocence and instead points the finger at the novel's two real
of piety and propriety: the Governor would even order the sinners: Dimmesdale and Chillingworth. Chillingworth's sin
execution of his own sister. was tormenting Dimmesdale almost to the point of death;
Go
Govvernor Bellingham — The governor of Boston and the Dimmesdale's was abandoning Hester to lead a lonely life
brother of Mistress Hibbins. Bellingham conducts himself like without the man she loved.
an aristocrat, enjoying money, luxury, and the privileges of
power. Yet when it comes to the actions of others, Governor 2 INDIVIDUALITY AND CONFORMITY
Bellingham punishes any behavior that does not fit with the As an adulterer, Hester has broken Puritan society's harsh and
strict Puritan rules of behavior. This makes him a hard-hearted strict rules. Puritan society demanded conformity because it
hypocrite. For instance, even while employing Hester to do considered any breach of that conformity a threat to its
fancy needlepoint for him, he tries to take Pearl from her, security and its religion. Hester doesn't conform and she
arguing that as an adulterer she's an unfit mother. Later, he suffers the consequences: the townspeople punish, shun, and
convicts and executes his own sister of practicing witchcraft. humiliate her. The town seeks to use Hester as an example to
John Wilson — A jovial and grandfatherly English pastor who is frighten any other would-be nonconformists from breaking the
loved for his kindness and benevolence. He serves as a mentor strict moral rules of Puritanism. Yet Hester's unshakable faith
to Dimmesdale, though his somber and severe preaching style in herself, her love for Dimmesdale, and her devotion to her
differs sharply from Dimmesdale's calm compassionate daughter empower her to resist and transcend enforced
approach. Puritan conformity.
Jonathan Pue — The narrator's predecessor as Surveyor of the In general in The Scarlet Letter, the conflict between
Salem Custom House. Pue wrote the original narrative about individuality and conformity is also a battle between
the scarlet letter, which the narrator discovered and turned appearance and reality. Because the Puritan government is so
into The Scarlet Letter. harsh, all Puritans are always concerned about looking like
conformists to best fit in. This means that they hide the reality
of their human flaws, frailties, and sins in order to avoid
THEMES punishment. The result are secrets that are the embodiment of
the disconnect between private individual reality and the need
In LitCharts each theme gets its own color and number. Our
to maintain the appearance of public conformity. And though
color-coded theme boxes make it easy to track where the
keeping secrets provide a short-term solution for the sinner to
themes occur throughout the work. If you don't have a color
avoid punishment, the novel argues that repression of the
printer, use the numbers instead.
individual behind a mask of secret-keeping conformity will
ultimately warp and destroy a person's soul.

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3 PURITANISM repressive society and therefore sentenced all witches, like
Mistress Hibbins, to death.
The Scarlet Letter presents a critical, even disdainful, view of
Puritanism. The narrator depicts Puritan society as drab,
confining, unforgiving, and narrow-minded that unfairly
victimizes Hester. In the scene in which Hester is released from
SYMBOLS
prison, the narrator describes the town police official as Symbols appear in red text throughout the Summary and
representing the "whole dismal severity of the Puritanical code Analysis sections of this LitChart.
of law," which fused religion with law. In contrast, he describes
Hester as a woman marked by "natural dignity…force of
RED AND BLACK
character…[and] free will." It is precisely these natural
strengths, which the narrator holds in high esteem, that Puritan Red symbolizes the glow of Hester's passion. Black represents
society suppresses. In The Scarlet Letter, the Puritans appear as the devil and sin. Chillingworth, for instance, refers to their
shallow hypocrites whose opinion of Hester and Pearl shared fate as a "black flower." The inscription on the
improves only when they become more of an asset to the tombstone Hester and Dimmesdale share says "On a field,
community, most notably when Hester becomes a seamstress sable, the letter A, gules," which means "On a black background,
and Pearl inherits a fortune from Chillingworth. the scarlet letter burns."

4 NATURE THE SCARLET LETTER

In The Scarlet Letter, nature stands in contrast to Puritanism. The Puritans mean for the scarlet letter to be a symbol of
Where Puritanism is merciless and rigid, nature is forgiving and Hester's shame. But the narrator describes the letter as a
flexible. This contrast is made clear from the very first page, "mystic symbol" that means many things. The letter does
when the narrator contrasts the "black flower" of the prison represent Hester Prynne's adultery, but as she grows and
that punishes sin with the red rose bush that he imagines changes in the novel, the letter's symbolism evolves as well. For
forgives those sentenced to die. The theme of nature continues example, it comes to mean "able" when she becomes a
with the forest outside Boston, which is described as an successful seamstress, and Dimmesdale refers to Hester twice
"unchristianized, lawless region." In the dark forest, wild, as "angel," giving the letter yet another meaning. In the end, the
passionate, and persecuted people like Hester, Pearl, Mistress letter comes to symbolize Hester's triumph over the very
Hibbins, and the Indians can escape from the strict, repressive forces that meant to punish her.
morality of Puritan society. The forest, which provides a
measure of comfort and protection that exists nowhere in PEARL
society, is also the only place where Hester can reunite with
Pearl is a living symbol, the physical embodiment of Hester and
Dimmesdale. When Hester moves to the outskirts of Boston,
Dimmesdale's sin. In Chapter 19, the narrator even calls Pearl
the narrator says she would have fit in better in the forest.
a "living hieroglyphic." Yet Pearl, from her name to her comfort
Hester's choice to live on the border of society and nature
with nature, is also the most pure character in the novel. While
represents her internal conflict: she can't thrive entirely within
the Puritans see her as a demon, the reader comes to see her as
the constraints of Puritanism, but because of her attachment to
a kind of nature-sprite, cast out by a society that cannot accept
society and to Dimmesdale, she also can't flee.
her "sinful" origins.

5 THE OCCULT
The first association most people have with the town of Salem, QUO
QUOTES
TES
Massachusetts is the infamous "Salem Witch Trials." Set in and
around Boston, The Scarlet Letter also deals with the specter of The color-coded and numbered boxes under each quote below
make it easy to track the themes related to each quote. Each
witchcraft and the occult. But the novel treats witchcraft and
color and number corresponds to one of the themes explained
the occult sympathetically. By associating Pearl with other
in the Themes section of this LitChart.
outcasts like Mistress Hibbins, Hawthorne suggests that
witches were created by, and victims of, the excessively strict
Puritan society. Puritan society created the witches by being so THE CUSTOM HOUSE QUOTES
intolerant that people became interested in witchcraft as a way It is a good lesson - though it may often be a hard one - for a
of expressing natural human feelings that Puritanism man... to step aside out of the narrow circle in which his claims
repressed. Puritanism then viewed witches as a threat to its are recognized, and to find how utterly devoid of significance,
beyond that circle, is all that he achieves, and all he aims at.

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•Speak
•Speaker
er: The Narrator beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the
•Related themes
themes: Individuality and Conformity colony.
•Theme T
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code: •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism
2
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CHAPTER 1 QUOTES 1 2 3
On one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold,
was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its CHAPTER 3 QUOTES
delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance
When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own,
and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the
and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and
condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that
calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and
the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.
laid it on his lips.
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Nature
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne, Roger
•Theme T
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code: Chillingworth
1 2 4 •Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity
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The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue 1 2

and happiness they might originally project, have invariably
recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a
portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as "Be not silent from any mistaken pity and tenderness for him;
the site of a prison. for, believe me, Hester, though he were to step down from a
high place, and stand there beside thee, on thy pedestal of
•Speak
•Speaker
er: The Narrator shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity life. What can thy silence do for him, except it tempt him--yea,
•Theme T
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code: compel him, as it were--to add hypocrisy to sin?"
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Arthur Dimmesdale
1 2
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne
CHAPTER 2 QUOTES •Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism

Stretching for the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right •Theme T
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upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew 1 2 3
forward; until, on the threshold of the prison door, she repelled
him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of
character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free CHAPTER 4 QUOTES
will. As he spoke, he laid his long forefinger on the scarlet letter,
which forwith seemed to scortch into Hester’s breast, as if it
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne
had been red-hot. He noticed her involuntary gesture, and
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity smiled. “Live, therefore, and bear about thy doom with thee, in
•Theme T
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code: the eyes of men and women—in the eyes of him thou didst call
thy husband—in the eyes of yonder child! And, that thou mayst
1 2 live, take off this draught.”
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Roger Chillingworth
On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne, Pearl,
elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, Arthur Dimmesdale
appeared the letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity
much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it ... was of
a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly

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•Theme T
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code: CHAPTER 8 QUOTES
1 2 “Wilt thou go with us tonight? There will be a merry company in
the forest; and I well-nigh promised the Black Man that comely
Hester Prynne should make one.”
CHAPTER 5 QUOTES
Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with •Speak
•Speaker
er: Mistress Hibbins
the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne
honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would •Related themes
themes: Nature, The Occult
hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent,
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—as the figure, the body, the reality of sin.
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne, Pearl 4 5
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism
•Theme T
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code: After putting her finger in her mouth, with many ungracious
refusals to answer good Mr. Wilson's questions, the child finally
1 2 3 announced that she had not been made at all, but had been
plucked by her mother off the bush of wild roses that grew by
CHAPTER 7 QUOTES the prison-door.

Little Pearl—who was as greatly pleased with the gleaming •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Pearl, John Wilson
armour as she had been with the glittering frontispiece of the •Related themes
themes: Sin, Nature, The Occult
house—spent some time looking into the polished mirror of the
•Theme T
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breastplate.
1 4 5
"Mother," cried she, "I see you here. Look! Look!"

Hester looked, by way of humoring the child; and she saw that, CHAPTER 11 QUOTES
owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet Would not the people start up in their seats, by a simultaneous
letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic impulse, and tear him down out of the pulpit which he defiled?
proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of Not so, indeed! They heard it all, and did but reverence him the
her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind more. They little guessed what deadly purport lurked in those
it. Pearl pointed upward, also, at a similar picture in the head- self-condemning words. "The godly youth!" said they among
piece; smiling at her mother, with the elfish intelligence that themselves. "The saint on earth!
was so familiar an expression on her small physiognomy. That
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Arthur Dimmesdale
look of naughty merriment was likewise reflected in the mirror,
with so much breadth and intensity of effect, that it made •Related themes
themes: Sin, Puritanism
Hester Prynne feel as if it could not be the image of her own •Theme T
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child, but of an imp who was seeking to mould itself into Pearl's
shape. 1 3

"Come along, Pearl!" said she, drawing her away, "Come and CHAPTER 12 QUOTES
look into this fair garden. It may be, we shall see flowers there;
more beautiful ones than we find in the woods." "Nay; not so, my little Pearl!" answered the minister; for, with
the new energy of the moment, all the dread of public exposure,
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Hester Prynne, Pearl that had so long been the anguish of his life, had returned upon
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Nature, The Occult him; and he was already trembling at the conjunction in
which—with a strange joy, nevertheless—he now found himself.
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"Not so, my child. I shall, indeed, stand with thy mother thee
1 4 5 one other day, but not to-morrow!"
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Arthur Dimmesdale
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne, Pearl
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism

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•Theme T
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acker
er code
code: "Doth the universe lie within the compass of yonder town,
which only a little time ago was but a leaf-strewn desert, as
1 2 3 lonely as this around us? Whither leads yonder forest track?
Backwards to the settlement, thou sayest! Yes; but onward too!
CHAPTER 15 QUOTES Deeper it goes, and deeper, into the wilderness, less plainly to
be seen at every step! until, some few miles hence, the yellow
"Be it sin or no," said Hester Prynne bitterly, as she still gazed
leaves will show no vestige of the white man’s tread. There thou
after him, "I hate the man!"
art free! So brief a journey would bring thee from a world
where thou hast been most wretched, to one where thou
[…]
mayest still be happy! Is there not shade enough in all this
boundless forest to hide thy heart from the gaze of Roger
"Yes, I hate him!" repeated Hester, more bitterly than before.
Chillingworth?"
"He betrayed me! He has done me worse wrong than I did
him!" •Speak
•Speaker
er: Hester Prynne
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Hester Prynne •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger
Chillingworth
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Roger Chillingworth
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism,
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism
Nature
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1 2 3
1 2 3 4

CHAPTER 16 QUOTES
CHAPTER 18 QUOTES
“'Mother,' said litter Pearl, 'the sunshine does not love you. It
But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity,
runs away and hides itself, because it is afraid of something on
and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed,
your bosom.... I am but a child. It will not flee from me, for I wear
from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of
nothing on my bosom yet!' 'Nor ever will, my child, I hope,' said
speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman. She
Hester. 'And why not, mother?' asked Pearl, stopping short, just
had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral
at the beginning of her race. 'Will not it come of its own accord,
wilderness.... The scarlet letter was her passport into regions
when I am a woman grown?'
where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude!
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Hester Prynne, Pearl These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Puritanism had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.

•Theme T
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characters
acters: Hester Prynne
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism
1 3
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CHAPTER 17 QUOTES 1 2 3
The judgment of God is on me," answered the conscience-
stricken priest. "It is too mighty for me to struggle with!" CHAPTER 19 QUOTES
"Doth he love us?" said Pearl, looking up with acute intelligence
"Heaven would show mercy," rejoined Hester, "hadst thou but
into her mother's face. "Will he go back with us, hand in hand,
the strength to take advantage of it."
we three together, into the town?"
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Puritanism "Not now, dear child," answered Hester. "But in days to come he
will walk hand in hand with us. We will have a home and fireside
•Theme T
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code: of our own; and thou shalt sit upon his knee; and he will teach
1 3 thee many things, and love thee dearly. Thou wilt love him; wilt
thou not?"

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
"And will he always keep his hand over his heart?" inquired and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and
Pearl. looked upon with awe, and yet with reverence, too.
•Speak
•Speaker
er: Hester Prynne, Pearl •Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne, Pearl
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Arthur Dimmesdale •Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Nature •Theme T
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1 2
1 2 4
SUMMARY AND ANAL
ANALYSIS
YSIS
CHAPTER 22 QUOTES
“Mother," said [Pearl], “was that the same minister that kissed The color-coded and numbered boxes under each row of
me by the brook?" Summary and Analysis below make it easy to track the themes
“Hold thy peace, dear little Pearl!" whispered her mother. “We throughout the work. Each color and number corresponds to
must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us one of the themes explained in the Themes section of this
in the forest. LitChart.

•Speak
•Speaker
er: Hester Prynne, Pearl
THE CUSTOM HOUSE
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Arthur Dimmesdale
A nameless narrator (who has Setting the story in Salem, the
•Related themes
themes: Individuality and Conformity a similar biography to site of the Salem Witch Trials,
•Theme T
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code: Hawthorne) describes his job begins the novel's critique of
as chief executive officer of a Puritan severity. The narrator's
2 Custom House, the place negative description of his
where taxes were paid on colleagues shows his feelings
CHAPTER 23 QUOTES imported goods. The narrator about conformity.
describes his Custom House
Pearl kissed his lips. A spell was broken. The great scene of 2 3
colleagues as "wearisome old
grief, in which the wild infant bore a part, had developed all her
souls" and Salem, the town
sympathies; and as her tears fell upon her father's cheek, they
where it was located, as old
were the pledge that she would grow up amid human joy and
and run-down.
sorrow, nor for ever do battle with the world, but be a woman
in it. Towards her mother, too, Pearl's errand as a messenger of One rainy day, the narrator Note that the scarlet letter
anguish was all fulfilled. discovered a peculiar package survives hundreds of years after
in the upstairs storage area of Hester Prynne and the Puritans
•Mentioned or related char
characters
acters: Hester Prynne, Pearl, the Custom House. The have perished. The symbol
Arthur Dimmesdale package contained a piece of endures even after those who
•Related themes
themes: Sin, Individuality and Conformity, Puritanism, fabric with a red letter "A" created it have vanished.
Nature, The Occult affixed to it along with several
pages explaining the history of 1
•Theme T
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the letter. The narrator says
1 2 3 4 5 this discovery formed the core
of the story that he will now
tell in The Scarlet Letter.
CHAPTER 24 QUOTES
But there was a more real life for Hester Prynne here, in New
England, than in that unknown region where Pearl had found a
home. Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was
yet to be her penitence. She had returned, therefore, and
resumed,—of her own free will, for not the sternest magistrate
of that iron period would have imposed it,—resumed the
symbol of which we have related so dark a tale. Never
afterwards did it quit her bosom. But ... the scarlet letter ceased
to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness,

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
The narrator mentions that The narrator's split public and The narrator describes the The Scarlet Letter's moral is that
he's since lost his job at the private identity mirrors Hester rose bush as sitting on the people must accept and forgive
Custom House. He draws a and Dimmesdale's experience of threshold of the story he plans their own and other people's
distinction between his the pressure to conform to the to tell. He then plucks one of worst qualities. To deny those
"figurative self," whom the public expectations of the the rose blossoms and offers it qualities, as the Puritans do, is to
public would expect to be community. to the reader. He describes the deny one's identity.
dismayed by the lost job, and gesture and the blossom as a
the "real human being" who 2 symbol of the moral that the 1 2 3 4
welcomed the changes in his reader might learn in reading
life that allowed him to his "tale of human frailty and
become "again a literary man." sorrow."
The narrator says he now has The narrator writes with a sense
the time to write The Scarlet of purpose: he hopes to teach the CHAPTER 2
Letter, a story he feels lessons of Hester's ordeal to The crowd outside the prison Puritans, like the prison, are
obligated to tell the world. He generations of readers. He also grows restless waiting for supposed to hate sin, but seem to
hopes to make his own mark as seeks fame. Hester Prynne to appear. The thrive on it. They gather with a
a writer and be remembered faces in the crowd are grim, kind of grim fascination to watch
as a "scribbler of bygone days." 2
yet familiar, since Puritans sinners get punished and even
gathered often to watch executed.
CHAPTER 1 criminals be punished. The
narrator says that the Puritans 3
A crowd of men and women Prisons are a "black flower"
considered religion and law to
assembles near a dilapidated because though they are meant
be almost identical.
wooden prison. The narrator to punish sin (represented by the
remarks that the founders of color black in the novel), they Some of the Puritan women The comments about Hester
every new settlement have would not exist without sin. waiting outside the prison say paint the Puritans as cold and
always sought first to build a Prisons feed on sin in order to Hester deserved a harsher harsh. The mention of
prison and a graveyard. He grow. sentence. One states that Dimmesdale's shame
adds that this particular prison Revered Dimmesdale, foreshadows his association with
was most likely built upon the 1 Hester's pastor, must be Hester and her crime.
founding of Boston and ashamed that a member of his
describes prisons as the "black congregation committed such 1 3
flower of civilized society." an awful sin. Another says that
Hester should have been
Next to the prison door stands The prison, a "black flower,"
executed for her sin.
a blooming wild rose bush. The contrasts with the beautiful rose
narrator imagines that perhaps bush, which grows naturally. The Hester exits the prison holding In contrast to the crowd, Hester,
the rose bush grows in such an prison punishes, Nature and the a three month-old infant. The the sinner, is natural and
unlikely place to offer comfort rose bush forgive. prison guard puts a hand on beautiful. She faces the crowd
to prisoners entering the jail her shoulder, but she shrugs alone, as an individual.
and forgiveness from Nature 3 4 him off and goes out alone,
to those leaving it to die on the with "natural dignity," looking 1 2 3 4
scaffold. proud, radiant, and beautiful.

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
On her chest Hester wears a By embroidering the letter, Hester thinks about her past in Hester overcomes being shamed
scarlet letter "A," affixed with Hester transforms a badge of order to endure her time on by retreating into her own mind.
beautiful embroidery that shame into a symbol of the scaffold. Lost in Her sense of self serves as a
strikes some women in the individuality. The narrator reminiscence, the harrowing shield against the Puritans'
crowd as inappropriate. The connects the letter to nature with scene before her eyes seems judgments.
narrator describes the letter in the word "fertile." to vanish. Hester thinks about
detail, noting that its "fertility" her youth spent in poverty in 2
and "gorgeous luxuriance" 1 2 3 4 England. She envisions her
pushed it beyond the Puritans' parents' faces and sees also
boundaries of acceptable the face of a "misshapen
dress. scholar," her husband.
Hester is tall, with a head of Hester's appearance again Finally Hester's thoughts Hester is surrounded by symbols
dark glossy hair, and a contrasts with the drab Puritans. return to the present. She of sin: herself, the letter, Pearl.
beautiful face with deeply set Despite her sin, or perhaps looks out at the menacing The letter splits her identity into
black eyes. She has a lady-like because of it, she is a vibrant crowd assembled before her. a public self that the Puritans
dignity, which the narrator individual. Hester touches the scarlet dominate and a private self she
says never was more letter and squeezes her baby, controls.
powerfulor beautiful than 1 2 3 Pearl, so tightly that Pearl
when she emerged from cries. Hester then realizes that 1 2
prison. the letter and her baby are her
only reality.
As the crowd stares at Hester, The letter isolates and
the crowd focuses on the distinguishes Hester. In a sense, it
scarlet letter, which transfixes defines her identity. CHAPTER 3
everyone. The letter sets Suddenly as Hester looks out The person who should most
Hester apart, enclosing her in 1 2
into the crowd she recognizes comfort Hester (her husband)
"a sphere by herself" outside Roger Chillingworth, her makes her feel uneasy and alone.
the watching crowd. husband, standing beside an
Indian at the edge of the 2
As part of her punishment, Divine Maternity is a name for
Hester must stand before the the Virgin Mary. Hester suggests crowd. She clutches her baby
crowd on the scaffold for this symbol of purity to the in alarm. It cries out in protest.
several hours. Her walk to the crowd only by contrast. But the Chillingworth is "civilized and Civilized, savage, and deformed,
scaffold is inwardly agonizing, narrator seems to imply the savage." He is small, intelligent Chillingworth contrasts with the
though Hester never reveals symbol really does fit her. looking, and somewhat nature.
her suffering. The narrator deformed, with one shoulder
observes that once upon the 1 2 3 2 4
higher than the other.
scaffold, the beautiful Hester
took on the image of "Divine Chillingworth's face becomes Chillingworth silences Hester in
Maternity," and yet her beauty horrified when he sees that the order to protect his reputation.
also had the "taint of deepest woman on the scaffold is He ensures he isn't associated
sin." Hester, his wife. Chillingworth with Hester's sin.
and Hester's eyes lock. He
Governor Bellingham, a judge, Hester wants to rebel, whereas quickly places his fingers to his 1 2
and other officials observe the the Puritans all remain quiet lips to silence her.
"spectacle" of Hester's conformers. The Puritans make
punishment on the scaffold. Hester suffer to create a
The crowd, aware of the "spectacle" to scare people away
presence of authority, remains from sinning.
serious and grave. Hester feels
the urge to scream at the 1 2 3
crowd and leap off the
scaffold, but she restrains
herself.

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
Chillingworth asks a man Chillingworth seems almost cold- CHAPTER 4
about Hester's identity and blooded, lying about his past
When Hester and Pearl return Though Chillingworth and
crime. The man is surprised while watching his wife suffer on
to prison, Pearl cries Dimmesdale both sin by
Chillingworth hasn't heard the scaffold just to protect his
uncontrollably. The prison abandoning Hester, only Hester
about Hester's notorious sin. reputation.
guards allow a doctor in to endures punishment for sin.
Chillingworth lies that he's
2 help calm her. Posing as a Outcast and alone with Pearl,
been held captive by Indians.
physician, Roger Hester can't even trust her own
He asks the man to explain
Chillingworth enters and gives husband.
Hester's crime.
healing concoctions to Pearl
The stranger tells Hester's Hester's independence results in and Hester. Hester fears 1 2
history. She had been married part from her living on her own Chillingworth might actually
to a scholar from England for years. Chillingworth be poisoning her, but drinks his
(Chillingworth), but had essentially abandoned her. remedy.
arrived in Massachusetts
2 Chillingworth forgives Hester Hester hides Dimmesdale and
alone while he remained in
for betraying him. He asks her Chillingworth's identities to
Amsterdam. She lived alone in
to tell him the identity of the protect them. Dimmesdale and
Boston for two years before
father, but once again she Chillingworth conceal their own
falling into sin and scandal.
refuses. He then asks Hester identities to protect themselves.
Chillingworth asks who The man's suggestion is fulfilled: to protect his identity by Though a "sinner," Hester is
fathered Hester's child. The Chillingworth has arrived, swearing never to identify him selfless.
man says that the child's father aligned himself with the Puritans' as her husband. Hester
remains a mystery and perspective on Hester's crime, remains suspicious of 1 2
suggests that Hester's and speaks as if he has no Chillingworth and thinks she
husband come from Europe to connection to his own wife. The might be sealing her own
investigate the matter himself. mention of "righteous law" doom by agreeing to keep his
The man also notes that emphasizes the Puritan fusion of secret, but does it anyway.
Hester did not receive the full religion and law.
"extremity of righteous law,"
1 2 3 CHAPTER 5
which would have punished
her with death. Chillingworth About three years pass. Hester's sin drives her to the
says Hester's sentence makes Hester, now free from prison, border of society and nature.
more sense because now decides not to leave Boston.
She takes Pearl to live in an 1 2 3 4
Hester will serve as a living
"sermon against sin." abandoned cabin on the
outskirts of town.
Chillingworth predicts that Chillingworth condemns lying to
the man who fathered protect oneself, but he's doing it Hester supports herself as a Puritan hypocrisy: they'll employ
Hester's child will eventually too! seamstress. The same people a "sinner" to suit their own needs.
be revealed and repeats the who pay her for her work,
1 2 3 including Governor 3
phrase, "he will be known!"
Bellingham, continue to shun
Mr. Wilson, an elderly local Dimmesdale conforms to public her.
reverend, addresses Hester expectation and demands that
and calls on her pastor, Arthur Hester divulge her lover's Hester grows increasingly Like Chillingworth and
Dimmesdale, to question her identity, but he lacks the courage lonely. Pearl, her only Dimmesdale, Hester conceals a
about her sin. Dimmesdale to reveal that he's her lover. Like companion, is a constant secret. These secrets harm those
demands that she reveal the Chillingworth, he abandons her reminder of the source of her who keep them and those from
identity of her baby's father, to protect himself. alienation: sin. Hester is whom they're kept.
but she says she will never determined to keep the
1 2 meaning of the scarlet letter a 1 2
reveal his name. Mr. Wilson
then delivers a fiery sermon secret from Pearl.
about sin, after which Hester
returns to her prison cell.

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
CHAPTER 6 At one point, Pearl points out The Puritan community's
Hester's distorted reflection in treatment of Hester is beginning
The narrator describes Pearl Hester has passed on her own
the breastplate of a suit of to overwhelm her. She now starts
as the human manifestation of defiant "sinful" spirit to her
armor: Hester appears to be to believe the town gossip that
Hester's sin: Pearl is filled with daughter. Pearl is an individual,
completely hidden behind the Pearl is possessed, an
a sense of defiance and not a Puritan conformer.
scarlet letter. Hester seems to embodiment of sin.
deviance, and does not fit in
1 2 3 feel Pearl's distance as they
among the other children of 1 2 3 5
gaze in the mirror, and she
the community.
again suspects that Pearl
Like Hester, Pearl is painfully Pearl's obsession with the letter might be possessed by
aware of her isolation. She has makes Hester think Pearl is demons.
an innate sense that Hester's possessed. But it's the secret
Pearl spots a garden with soil The garden soil is hard, just like
scarlet letter is linked to their surrounding the sin that obsesses
too hard to support the the Puritans. Pearl's request for a
rejection by society. She pleads Pearl .
"ornamental gardening" rose is a symbolic request that
with her mother to explain the
3 4 popular in England, but which Hester forgive her "sinful" origins.
letter's origin.
contains some rose bushes.
The townspeople consider The Puritans condemn Pearl, an Pearl begs for a rose just as the 1 3 4
Pearl the physical embodiment innocent child. Governor approaches with
of sin, an "imp of evil." other gentleman.
3 5
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 7
John Wilson, Chillingworth The Puritans are hypocrites: they
Rumors surface that the More Puritan hypocrisy. After and Dimmesdale arrive at the enjoy playing with Pearl until
authorities are planning to shunning them for so long, Governor's residence. The they realize she's Hester's child.
take Pearl from Hester suddenly they care about Hester men tease Pearl, calling her a
because they fear that Pearl is and Pearls' welfare? demon-child because of her 1 3 5
possessed and dangerous to scarlet clothing, but stop when
Hester. And if Pearl isn't 2 3
they realize that she's Hester's
possessed, they think she daughter and that Hester must
deserves a less sinful mother. be present.
Hester goes to visit Governor Hester serves people who The Governor asks Hester Bellingham sees the letter as the
Bellingham to inquire about persecute her. Like the scarlet how she can justify keeping symbol of sin the Puritans mean
these rumors and to deliver a letter, Pearl represents her Pearl. Hester says she'll teach it to be, not the symbol of
pair of gloves that she has mother's sin but also her Pearl what she's learned from individuality Hester has made it.
sewn for him. Children taunt individuality. wearing the scarlet letter. The
Hester and Pearl on their walk Governor says that the letter 1 2 3
to the Governor's. Pearl fends 1 2 3
is her badge of shame.
them off.
Mr. Wilson asks Pearl who Wilson wants Pearl to answer
They arrive and find the Bellingham, a Puritan, lives like made her. Pearl says that she God, but instead she answers
Governor's residence an aristocrat. More Puritan was plucked from the rose Nature.
decorated with armor and dark hypocrisy. bush just outside the prison
formal portraits, relics from door. 3 4
Bellingham's English roots. 2
The Governor, alarmed by this If a three-year old doesn't say
response, suggests that they God made her, the rigid Puritans
conduct a closer investigation think her soul is in danger.
into Hester's fitness as a
mother. Hester says she will 2 3
die before giving up Pearl.

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
Hester begs Dimmesdale to Dimmesdale "defense" of Hester As Dimmesdale's health Both Chillingworth and
defend her. Dimmesdale paints her as a sinner deserving wanes, the locals notice that Dimmesdale suffer physically for
argues that Pearl was sent by punishment. Chillingworth's has their inner turmoil. In keeping
God to serve as Hester's one transformed from a kind, secrets to hide their sins and
true punishment and to guard 1 2 3 elderly, and somewhat conform to social pressure, they
her from sinning again. He misshapen gentleman into an cause their bodies, their natures,
points out that Hester even ugly evil old man. The to wither and die.
dresses Pearl in red, likening transformation makes them
her to the scarlet letter. suspect that Chillingworth's 1 2 3 4 5
intentions in getting so close to
Chillingworth notes that Chillingworth suspects
Dimmesdale might not be
Dimmesdale spoke with an Dimmesdale.
entirely charitable: they fear
unusual amount of passion and
1 3 he might have been sent by the
conviction.
devil.
Pearl approaches Dimmesdale Pearl shows a connection to
and grasps his hand. She then Dimmesdale. Wilson links her to CHAPTER 10
runs down the hall. Mr. Wilson the occult.
remarks that, like a witch, her While serving as Chillingworth recognizes the
feet barely touch the ground. 2 5 Dimmesdale's "leech" (a term effect of secret sins. Yet he hides
for a doctor) Chillingworth things too, and becomes an
Dimmesdale's speech After the Puritan leaders almost begins to suspect that actual "leech" feeding off
convinces the Governor not to take Pearl away for being a Dimmesdale's condition may Dimmesdale's sin.
take Pearl from Hester. On "demon-child," it turns out that stem from stress caused by
their way out of the Bellingham's sister is a witch. The some kind of secret. He tries to 1 2 4 5
Governor's residence, Hester occult exists at the core of find out this secret, but
and Pearl see Mistress Puritan culture, but can only be Dimmesdale refuses to divulge
Hibbins. She invites Hester to exposed in the woods. it.
a witches' gathering in the
woods with the Black Man, but 2 3 4 5 One day, Chillingworth and Pearl's connection to the occult
Hester declines, saying she Dimmesdale notice Hester is here linked to her fixation on
must care for Pearl. and Pearl in the cemetery the scarlet letter. This fixation
outside Dimmesdale's home. results from Hester's secrecy.
Pearl is playing on the
CHAPTER 9 headstones and attaching 1 2 5
The Boston settlement lacks Chillingworth fakes being a good burrs to Hester's scarlet letter.
skilled physicians, so the Puritan. It's a sin to lie, but lying
Pearl throws one of the burrs Identifying Dimmesdale as a
Puritans welcome fools the authorities.
she is carrying toward sinner, Pearl throws him an
Chillingworth enthusiastically
1 2 3 Dimmesdale. She tells Hester extension of the scarlet letter.
for his apparent knowledge of
that they should leave since But is his sin adultery or silence?
both traditional medicine and
the Black Man has possessed
Indian medical remedies. 1 4
Dimmesdale and will get them
Dimmesdale's health worsens The novel's two worst sinners too.
and he is seen often with his now live together. Sin feeds sin.
hand over his heart.
Chillingworth treats 1
Dimmesdale and soon the two
move in together.

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
Dimmesdale's health gets Chillingworth, like the Puritans in CHAPTER 12
worse. Chillingworth general, maintains the
One night, Dimmesdale It's clear now that Dimmesdale
attributes his illness to his appearance of righteousness but
mounts the town scaffold shares Hester's "sin." But he can
secret, but Dimmesdale still is actually a sinner, and feeds off
where Hester and Pearl once only bring himself to experience
refuses to reveal it. When the sins of others.
stood to be shamed. He privately what Hester endured
Dimmesdale falls asleep,
1 2 3 4 imagines the scene filled with publicly.
Chillingworth pushes aside
townspeople. He cries out in
Dimmesdale's shirt and sees 1 2
anguish, but Mr. Wilson, who
something there that gives him
was walking by in the distance,
joy. The narrator likens
doesn't see Dimmesdale.
Chillingworth's touch to Satan
stealing a soul. Hester and Pearl, returning Dimmesdale hides behind
from the deathbed of the religion ("judgment day") to
CHAPTER 11 colony's first governor, do spot evade Pearl's invitation to escape
Dimmesdale, and join him on from his secrets. "Witchcraft"
Convinced that Dimmesdale is The two secret sinners, the scaffold. Her eyes alive offers salvation while religion
Pearl's father, Chillingworth Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, with "witchcraft," Pearl asks offers sin.
embarks on a campaign to become lost in a vicious cycle of Dimmesdale to appear on the
make his patient as miserable suspicion and hatred. scaffold with them in front of 1 3 5
as possible. Dimmesdale everyone. Dimmesdale says he
continues to suffer greatly and 1 2
will only do that on "judgment
comes to hate Chillingworth day."
for mistreating him.
A meteor lights up the sky in Nature celebrates the scarlet
Dimmesdale continues to Dimmesdale's sin lets him what Dimmesdale thinks is the letter. Yet Dimmesdale's goes
preach and delivers some of empathize with other sinners. shape of an "A." Pearl notices with the "arch-fiend," He's chosen
his most passionate sermons, The Puritans, though they are so Chillingworth watching them. secret sin over punishment,
which focus mostly on the concerned with sin, can't Chillingworth, looking like an repentance, and internal truth.
topic of sin. He describes recognize a sinner. "arch-fiend," urges
himself as a "pollution and a Dimmesdale to get down from 1 2 4 5
lie" to his parishioners, yet he 1 2 3
the scaffold. He and
does not confess and they Dimmesdale return home.
continue to view him favorably.
The next day Dimmesdale More hypocrisy: Dimmesdale's
Dimmesdale's guilt makes him Dimmesdale's secrets reduce his delivers his most powerful sermons against sin get more
hate himself. He punishes identity to a shadow of doubt sermon ever. Afterward, the powerful as his own sins
himself physically and and self-hate. His secrets, kept to church sexton returns to increase, and the Puritans
emotionally, staying up nights protect his public reputation, Dimmesdale a black glove he continue to be blind to the
thinking about confessing, and have made him internally found on the scaffold, saying sinning in their midst. Note how
starving and whipping himself. "untrue." By this point it's Satan must have left it there. the letter "A" means only what
His health crumbles, as does obvious that relief can only come He mentions that other popular opinion says it means.
his sense of self. As the from confession of his sin. townspeople reported seeing a
narrator observes, "To the letter "A" formed by a meteor, 1 5
untrue man, the whole 1 2
which they took to stand for
universe is false." Yet the "angel" and to mean the dead
chapter ends with the governor has ascended to
suggestion that Dimmesdale heaven.
has come up with a plan that
might help him ease his
suffering.

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
CHAPTER 13 Hester tells Chillingworth he Chillingworth, and other
holds Dimmesdale's life in his Puritans, equates reputation
Seven years have now passed The symbol of Hester's
hands. Chillingworth says he with life. But Hester knows
since Pearl's birth. Hester has punishment now is a mark of her
saved Dimmesdale's life by not prioritizing reputation over the
become more accepted by the personal skill as a seamstress.
revealing his link to Hester soul is killing Dimmesdale.
community, and the
1 2 from the start. Hester says he
embroidered scarlet letter has 1 2 3
would be better off dead than
evolved into a "symbol of her
forced to endure
calling," not just her sin.
Chillingworth's torture.
Nonetheless, Hester still lives Hester's reputation improves,
Chillingworth admits that he's Unlike anyone else in the novel,
on the outskirts of town, her but because of her sin Puritanism
become a "fiend." He blames Hester is "true." She admits her
hard life has stolen her beauty says she'll never reach heaven.
Hester for his downfall. Hester mistakes and sins and takes
and spirit, and she now dwells By withholding forgiveness,
agrees, pleading with responsibility for them.
in the realm of thought and Puritanism makes it pointless for
Chillingworth therefore not to
solitude, not passion. She sinners to stop sinning. 1 2
blame and abuse Dimmesdale
doubts whether her own life is
1 2 3 any further.
worth living, and contemplates
murdering Pearl and then Hester says she must tell Prisons are black flowers
committing suicide. Dimmesdale about because they arise out of sin,
Chillingworth. He responds which they're intended to
Hester decides that she must Hester, the "sinner" intends to
that their fate, a "black flower," contain. Similarly, Chillingworth
help Dimmesdale by save Dimmesdale, though
is no longer in anyone's hands. intended to punish sin, but has
confessing that Chillingworth "innocent" Dimmesdale never
He apologizes to Hester for instead become sinful himself.
was her husband, thereby tried to save her.
not having offered her the love
revealing the vengeful motive 1 2
2 that would have prevented
behind his harsh treatment of
their collective ruin.
Dimmesdale.

CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 14
As Chillingworth departs, Hester prioritizes her happiness
Hester decides to ask Hester will remove the letter only
Hester thinks that though it's a over fear of sin.
Chillingworth to stop on her own terms. Her remark
sin, she hates Chillingworth for
tormenting Dimmesdale. about being worthy of its 1 2
tricking her into thinking she'd
When she and Pearl encounter removal is a sarcastic jab at the
be happy as his wife.
him on a beach near the sea, he Puritans, who seek to define her
tells her the council has worthiness. She rejoins Pearl by the Pearl senses that understanding
recently discussed allowing seaside. Pearl has arranged the letter's significance is crucial
her to remove the scarlet 1 2 seaweed to form a letter "A" on to understanding herself and her
letter from her chest. She says her own chest. She pleads with connection to Dimmesdale.
the letter should stay until Hester to tell her what the
she's worthy of its removal. scarlet letter means, and asks 1 2
if Hester wears it for the same
Hester notices that Chillingworth's secrets and his
reason Dimmesdale covers his
Chillingworth has changed. quest for revenge have made him
heart with his hand.
He's now a wretched, vengeful inhuman, unable to forgive, and
old man. Chillingworth also miserable. Hester lies and says she wears After advocating that
notes the change, the letter because of its Chillingworth be honest, Hester
remembering when he was a 1 2 4 5 beautiful gold thread. Pearl, is "false" to her daughter.
kind scholar. He says that he's knowing better, seeks the real
lost his "human heart." reason, and Hester threatens 1 2
to punish her.

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CHAPTER 16 Dimmesdale says living under Hester gives Dimmesdale a
Chillingworth's control is solution to save himself that isn't
Hester plans to intercept In the forest, in nature, Hester
worse than death, but he sees confession: leave Boston and the
Dimmesdale along a forest can be honest with Dimmesdale.
no way out. Hester tells him to Puritans with her. But note that
path as he returns to Boston
4 consider a life beyond Boston, this solution involves running
on his way back from visiting
in the safety and anonymity of from secrets, not confessing
an apostle.
Europe. Dimmesdale says he them.
As Hester waits for Pearl's fascination with the Black lacks the strength and courage
Dimmesdale, Pearl asks to Man is motivated by the secrets to venture out alone. Hester 1 2 3
hear the story of the Black around the scarlet letter. In this says he wouldn't have to go
Man, a nickname for the devil. way, suppression creates what is alone.
Pearl adds that the Black Man being suppressed.
haunts the forest with a book CHAPTER 18
that his converts must sign in 1 4 5
blood. The Black Man then Dimmesdale decides to flee In the forest, free from the
places a mark on his followers' Boston with Hester. He calls pressures of Puritan society,
bosoms. her his "angel" and says he's Dimmesdale and Hester escape
been renewed. Hester flings their sins and are free to love.
Hester asks how Pearl heard Like Dimmesdale's lie about his away her scarlet letter and
this story and she responds glove on the scaffold, Hester uses feels an enormous swell of 1 2 3
that an old woman told her the the devil to hide her sin. relief.
Black Man put the scarlet
letter on her mother. Eager to 1 2 5 Dimmesdale and Hester Unity with nature shows purity.
settle the matter, Hester discuss Pearl, whom Hester The implication is that Pearl, and
confirms the false story of the says she barely understands. therefore her parents' affair, are
letter's origin. Pearl, meanwhile, has been not sinful against God. They only
playing alone in the forest, sin against Puritanism.
Dimmesdale approaches. He Pearl has identified the link where she fits in well among
appears weak, and walks with between her father's sin and her the wild animals. Hester calls 1 4
his hand over his heart, where mother's sin. her to come meet
Pearl suspects the Black Man Dimmesdale, her father.
has also left his mark. 1 5

CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 17
Dimmesdale says he feared Pearl's refusal to return to her
Hester and Dimmesdale meet Dimmesdale knows that his that Pearl's resemblance to mother suggests that sin, the
in the forest and hold hands. secret sin and the split identity it him would give away his scarlet letter, is a part of her
Dimmesdale says life with a creates in him is actually killing secret—the narrator says Pearl mother's identity and cannot just
scarlet letter would be him. is a "living hieroglyphic." Yet be thrown away. It can't be run
preferable to his life of Pearl refuses to come to her from.
deception, since Hester is the 1 2 4
parents when they call. Hester
only person with whom he can attributes her reluctance to 1 2
be himself. The rest is the absence of the scarlet
emptiness, falsehood, and letter on her bosom. Hester
death. puts the letter back on and
Hester reveals to Dimmesdale Hester and Dimmesdale kept Pearl accepts her.
that Chillingworth was her secrets to protect themselves. Pearl asks if Dimmesdale will Pearl won't accept Dimmesdale
husband. Dimmesdale, furious, Chillingworth kept secrets in return with them hand in hand as her father unless he will
blames her for his suffering. order to harm others. to town. Hester says he won't publicly accept her. Pearl, at one
But he then forgives her and join them in public yet. with nature, always favors
says Chillingworth's sin was 1 2
Dimmesdale kisses Pearl. She honesty and openness.
far worse than theirs. runs to the brook to wash off
his kiss. 2 4

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
CHAPTER 20 Chillingworth walks over to Chillingworth has been devoured
and converses with the by hate and the need for revenge.
Hester and Dimmesdale agree Dimmesdale's decision to flee
commander of the vessel He is no longer human. His
to flee with Pearl to Europe. As has changed him, and even
bound for England. The secrets and lies in the service of
Hester makes plans for them Mistress Hibbins recognizes his
commander leaves his side and righteous revenge have made
to leave on a ship bound for newfound freedom. But note that
walks by Hester. He him worse than any "witch."
England in four days, while his repression is breaking
recognizes her and says that
Dimmesdale feels changes down, he doesn't act on it. 1 2 5
Chillingworth will also be
coming over him, including the
1 2 3 4 5 aboard the ship. Hester looks
urge to speak blasphemously
across the crowd and sees
to strangers. He encounters
Chillingworth smile
Mistress Hibbins. She
menacingly at her.
suggests they go to see the
Black Man.
CHAPTER 22
At home, Dimmesdale tells Dimmesdale takes charge of his
Chillingworth that the "free own identity and well being by Dimmesdale appears in the Hester quiets Pearl and shows no
air" outside has done him so dismissing Chillingworth, but to procession of officials and recognition of Dimmesdale
much good that he no longer do so he lies. Chillingworth lies looks more energetic than because she thinks she needs to
needs the help of his right back. Not everything has ever before. Pearl barely keep her love secret in order to
medications. Chillingworth changed. recognizes him as the man who preserve it. But that's the same
suspects instead that kissed her in the forest. Hester logic that leads to lying to cover
Dimmesdale talked with 2 tells Pearl not to mention the up sin, and which never works.
Hester, but feigns relief that forest in the town. When
Hester and Dimmesdale see 1 2
his remedies have finally
helped restore Dimmesdale's each other no gesture of
health. recognition passes between
them. Hester fears that the
Dimmesdale throws the draft Dimmesdale's wants to start his bond she felt had been
of his most important sermon sermon, and his life, anew. restored in the forest was an
into the fire and starts from illusion.
scratch. 2
Mistress Hibbins approaches The Scarlet Letter flips
Hester. She says she can conventional ideas about religion
CHAPTER 21 always tell a servant of the and the occult. The occult stands
It's inauguration day for the The derogatory descriptions of Black Man, and that both for honesty, while Puritanism
new governor. Hester and the Indians and crew members Hester and Dimmesdale are creates repressed liars.
Pearl await the procession of make clear the intolerance of the such servants. Hibbins also
government officials, and Puritans toward outsiders. compares Hester's scarlet 1 5
stand near a bunch of Indians letter to Dimmesdale's habit of
("painted barbarians") and 3 covering his heart.
some crew members
Pearl asks Mistress Hibbins if Pearl is the daughter of the devil
("desperadoes") from the
she has seen what lies beneath in the sense that she is
vessel that Hester will board
Dimmesdale's hand. Mistress unconstrained by Puritanism,
with Dimmesdale. not in the sense that she's evil.
Hibbins invites her to ride to
The narrator remarks that the Puritans are always depicted in see the Black Man (who she
Puritan style of celebration the novel as somber and severe. calls Pearl's father) to learn 5
lacks the grandness and gaiety what Dimmesdale conceals.
that events like this had in 3
Some Indians standing in the The scarlet letter contains no
England.
gathered crowd think Hester's innate badge of shame.
scarlet letter is a mark of
distinction. 1 2 3

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
CHAPTER 23 Hester tells Dimmesdale they The Puritan God is a punisher of
will meet again in the afterlife. sin. But by confessing, which
Dimmesdale awes the crowd The Puritans think Dimmesdale's
Though Dimmesdale is not so none of the hypocritical Puritans
with a powerful sermon that sermon is inspired by God, but
sure, he dies crying out that do, Dimmesdale discovers the
predicts Puritan New England remain blind to his sin.
God is merciful and thanking mercy of God and dies content,
will flourish as a chosen land of Meanwhile, Dimmesdale now
Him for putting him through thankful even for his suffering.
God. The crowd thinks that realizes that he is going to die.
the terrible trials and ordeals
Dimmesdale's performance is 1 2 3
1 2 3 that led to this moment, his
made even more powerful by
confession. The watching
the weakness that has once
crowd murmurs in awe.
again settled on him and made
it clear he was verging on
death. CHAPTER 24
After his triumphant sermon, This is the third scene on the People came up with various The first three rumors are all
Dimmesdale sees Hester and scaffold. Dimmesdale has gone explanations for the origin of true: Dimmesdale carved it
Pearl in front of the scaffold. from denial to secret confession Dimmesdale's scarlet letter. himself as punishment for his
He asks them to approach him to public confession. Some thought Dimmesdale guilt; Chillingworth's poisonous
at the scaffold. Chillingworth carved it himself, as a penance. hate increased its power; it
warns Dimmesdale not to 1 2 3 Others that Chillingworth, burned him through remorse.
"blacken" his fame. through magic poisons, The authorities' version is a
brought it into being. Still blatant lie designed only to
On the scaffold, Dimmesdale By protecting his reputation, others thought it developed protect their own reputations.
turns to Hester and says: "Is Dimmesdale sentenced himself naturally, from remorse. The
this not better than what we to suffering far worse than the town authorities stated that 1 2 3
dreamed of in the forest?" He public punishment he would there had been no letter on his
tells her God is merciful, and have shared with Hester. By skin at all, and that
begs her to let him take confessing, he escapes the prison Dimmesdale confessed not for
responsibility for his shame. he built for himself, and the one a personal sin, but simply to
Supported by Hester and Chillingworth built for him. teach his flock that all men are
Pearl, Dimmesdale turns to born sinners.
the crowd and announces that 1 2 3
he is guilty of the same sin for The narrator says the story To hide your flaws to protect
which they have punished he's told has one moral: be your reputation destroys your
Hester. As Chillingworth looks true, and show the world your soul.
on in despair, Dimmesdale worst, or at the least, "some
trait whereby the worst may 1 2
tears away his clothing to
reveal a scarlet letter carved be inferred."
into his breast. After Dimmesdale's death, Chillingworth was a "black
Dimmesdale falls to the floor Dimmesdale's confession Chillingworth lost his vitality flower" feeding on sin. With sin
couldn't save his life, but it does and died within a year, leaving gone, he withered. Pearl ceased
and asks Pearl for a kiss. She
save Pearl. It connects her to Pearl a share of his property in battling society and found a
kisses him and cries, and
humanity by revealing "human England and New England. No joyful life within society.
narrator says her tears were a
pledge that "she would grow joy and sorrow." one knew for sure what
happened to Pearl, but clues 1 2 3 5
up amid human joy and sorrow,
nor forever do battle with the 1 2 5 point to her having married a
world, but be a woman in it." man, for love, in Europe.

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 LitCharts The best way to study, teach, and learn about books.
Hester returned years later to Hester accepted the scarlet letter
her cabin in Boston. She lived as part of her. In death, the
there for many years before symbol's meaning changed
her death and still wore the again: carved in stone, the letter
scarlet letter, which had taken symbolizes her eternal union
on its own legend over time. with Dimmesdale.
She was buried next to
Dimmesdale. Their shared 2
tombstone bore a single
scarlet letter on a field of black.

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MLA CIT
CITA
ATION
Kestler, Justin. "The Scarlet Letter." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 22 Jul
2013. Web. 26 Oct 2016.

CHICA
CHICAGO
GO MANU
MANUAL
AL CIT
CITA
ATION
Kestler, Justin. "The Scarlet Letter." LitCharts LLC, July 22, 2013.
Retrieved October 26, 2016. http://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-
scarlet-letter.

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