The Scarlet Letter
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1850
- Form
- Novel
- Language
- English
- Length
- Medium · 240 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Moderate2 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Scarlet LetterPenguin Classics, 2003A reliable text with Nina Baym's introduction and the Custom-House sketch that opens the book.
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A novel of Puritan Boston in the 1640s. Hester Prynne, whose husband is presumed lost at sea, has borne a child and is condemned to wear a scarlet A for adultery. She refuses to name the father, the minister Arthur Dimmesdale, whose hidden guilt wastes him. Her husband arrives under the name Roger Chillingworth and devotes himself to tormenting the minister. After seven years Dimmesdale confesses on the scaffold and dies. The book opens with a long sketch of the Salem Custom-House.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Scarlet Letter are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
