Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter with a man to whom she is not married and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. As punishment, she must wear a scarlet letter 'A' (for "adultery").

Dec 13, 2020 · The term scarlet letter designates a representation of the letter A in scarlet cloth which Hester Prynne, publicly disgraced for committing adultery and giving birth to an illegitimate child, is condemned to wear in The Scarlet Letter, A Romance (Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850), by the U.S. novelist and short-story writer Nathaniel ...

Feb 25, 2025 · The Scarlet Letter, novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. The work centers on Hester Prynne, a married woman who is shunned after bearing a child out of wedlock but displays great compassion and resiliency.

When he finds the strange scarlet “A,” he places it on his chest and experiences a sensation of burning heat “as if the letter were not of cloth, but red-hot iron.”

2 days ago · Decoding the Scarlet Letter: Symbolism, Shame, and Societal Transformation. The scarlet letter “A,” emblazoned upon Hester Prynne’s breast in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, is a potent symbol with a multifaceted meaning that evolves throughout the novel.Initially, it represents adultery, the sin Hester commits by conceiving a child, Pearl, out of …

The scarlet letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. The letter’s meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as an adulterer, the “A” eventually comes to stand for “Able.”

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, is a classic novel set in Puritanical 17th-century Massachusetts. The narrative revolves around Hester Prynne, a woman who is condemned by her community for committing adultery and forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her chest as a symbol of her sin.

Feb 16, 2019 · The story focuses on a married woman who gives birth to a daughter by another man through a love affair. She is condemned to wear a scarlet letter 'A' as a mark of shame for being an adulteress: She is required to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress when she is in front of the townspeople to shame her.

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, adulteress Hester Prynne must wear a scarlet A to mark her shame. Her lover, Arthur Dimmesdale, remains unidentified and is wracked with guilt, while her husband, Roger Chillingworth, seeks revenge.

The eponymous scarlet “A” is the most central symbol of the novel. Hester is initially made to wear it as punishment for her adultery and as a way for the community to publicly shame her supposed sin.