... are "The Minister's Black Veil," "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Young Goodman Brown," "Rappaccini's Daughter," "The Great Stone Face," and "Ethan Brand." Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is considered by many to be the greatest ccomplishment of an author hailed as the master of the American short story. It is set in Salem, Massachusetts. In this strictly controlled Puritan town the inhabitants live by ... a harsher judgment impose upon her, while the town beadle proclaims the virtue of a society in which sin was exposed and punished. Hester Prune has sinned, and society places the sca...

• Word Count: 2453
• Approx Pages: 10
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... and Concord, Massachusetts; late 1840. A young woman, Hester Pryne, is led from the town prison with her infant daughter, Pearl, in her arms and the scarlet letter "A" on her breast. A man in the crowd tells an elderly onlooker that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, a scholar much older than she ... , Hester has apparently had an affair, as she has given birth to a child. She will not reveal her lover's identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her public shaming, is her punishment for her sin and her secrecy. On this day Hester is led to the town scafo...

• Word Count: 1337
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... this understanding he will lead a life in which hypocrisy and guilt will be the chains that bind him. It is important to note that Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author, writes from a 2 Puritan frame of reference. He has been reared in a Puritan home. The Puritan view stressed rules and regulations with regard to leading ... than by the heart. Forgiveness was not in their vocabulary. It was more important to consider justice served by outward ridicule, mockery, and branding the letter "A" on a person's garment, which stood for Adulterer, than to try to redeem the person through forgiveness, pra...

• Word Count: 2000
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

... Dimmesdale is friends with Chillingworth as they should be enemies. When Chillingworth opens Dimmesdale's shirt, he is overjoyed. Obviously what he found should be the scarlet letter carved into his chest, it is the only thing that could bring so much joy to Chillingworth. This is disturbing as he has resorted to ... almost achieved full redemption at the end of the story as she moves back to Great Britain to help unfortunate women. However on her tombstone, the scarlet letter still exists showing how one can never escape sin. Pearl Pearl is described by Dimmesdale to be a constant remin...

• Word Count: 1619
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

... the time. It is human nature to sin, as no humans are perfect, but the degree of sin is measured individually. Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter suffered immensely for her sin as an adulteress, and her child from this sin, Pearl, suffered as well. But none suffered as did the secret ... idea of sin, the punishment that comes from it, and the repentance that some undergo to cleanse themselves of that sin. In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, the author uses the scaffold scenes to depict the idea of private versus public sin. The first scaffold scene establishes the tone for the ...

• Word Count: 1460
• Approx Pages: 6