... is harmful and should be held with contempt through the character Arthur Dimmesdale, the unholy minister whose guilt of being an adulterer eventually kills him. Hawthorne's story begins in seventeenth-century Boston, then a Puritan settlement. A young woman, Hester Prynne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. Hester's husband, a scholar ... they respect him so highly. While a person might think that the shock of the ministers secret life provokes the crowd to consider their castigatory organization. But, sadly...

• Word Count: 1146
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate