The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is an intense exploration of morality, judgment, guilt, and sin as they affect the individual and society as a whole. Hester Prynne, a young woman sent to America ahead of her elderly husband, bears an illegitimate daughter. Condemned by her puritanical community and forced to wear a scarlet A on her clothing as a visible badge of her sinful nature, she nonetheless refuses to reveal the father's identity. Hawthorne's insight into lives of Hester, her estranged husband, her lover, and the surrounding community make The Scarlet Letter a psychologically intriguing literary masterpiece.