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The Scarlet Letter is an 1850 romantic work of fiction in a historical setting, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

It is considered to be his magnum opus.

Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity.

Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.

In June 1642, in the Puritan town of Boston, a crowd gathers to witness an official punishment.

A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been found guilty of adultery and must wear a scarlet "A" ("A" is a symbol of adultery and affair) on her dress as a sign of shame.

Furthermore, she must stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation.

As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity.

When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses.

As Hester looks out over the crowd, she notices a small, misshapen man and recognizes him as her long-lost husband, who has been presumed lost at sea.

When the husband sees Hester's shame, he asks a man in the crowd about her and is told the story of his wife's adultery.

He angrily exclaims that the child's father, the partner in the adulterous act, should also be punished and vows to find the man.

He chooses a new name – Roger Chillingworth – to aid him in his plan.

Reverend John Wilson and the minister of her church, Arthur Dimmesdale, question Hester, but she refuses to name her lover.

After she returns to her prison cell, the jailer brings in Roger Chillingworth, a physician, to calm Hester and her child with his roots and herbs.

Dismissing the jailer, Chillingworth first treats Pearl, Hester's baby, and then demands to know the name of the child's father.

When Hester refuses, he insists that she never reveal that he is her husband. If she ever does so, he warns her, he will destroy the child's father.

Hester agrees to Chillingworth's terms even though she suspects she will regret it.

Following her release from prison, Hester settles in a cottage at the edge of town and earns a meager living with her needlework.

She lives a quiet, somber life with her daughter, Pearl. She is troubled by her daughter's unusual character.

As an infant, Pearl is fascinated by the scarlet "A". As she grows older, Pearl becomes capricious and unruly.

Her conduct starts rumors, and, not surprisingly, the church members suggest Pearl be taken away from Hester.

Hester, hearing the rumors that she may lose Pearl, goes to speak to Governor Bellingham. With him are Reverends Wilson and Dimmesdale.

When Wilson questions Pearl about her catechism, she refuses to answer, even though she knows the correct response, thus jeopardizing her guardianship.

Hester appeals to Reverend Dimmesdale in desperation, and the minister persuades the governor to let Pearl remain in Hester's care.

Because Reverend Dimmesdale's health has begun to fail, the townspeople are happy to have Chillingworth, a newly arrived physician, take up lodgings with their beloved minister.

Being in such close contact with Dimmesdale, Chillingworth begins to suspect that the minister's illness is the result of some unconfessed guilt.

He applies psychological pressure to the minister because he suspects Dimmesdale to be Pearl's father.

One evening, pulling the sleeping Dimmesdale's vestment aside, Chillingworth sees a symbol that represents his shame on the sleeping minister's pale chest.

Tormented by his guilty conscience, Dimmesdale goes to the square where Hester was punished years earlier.

Climbing the scaffold, he sees Hester and Pearl and calls to them to join him. He admits his guilt to them but cannot find the courage to do so publicly.

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