The most tedious read of my life what a waste of paper lol

Another book I absolutely loathed. I think I just really dislike American Lit (except Twain and Steinbeck) since I pretty much strongly disliked everything I read in that class in college.

I don't even remember why I hated it so much.

Read it in HS, I remember liking it even back then

Great story. Painful to get through.

The Scarlet Letter is a novel about Hester Prynne, a woman living in a small Puritan town in New England, and her shame from having an affair outside of her marriage.

Prynne's shame is represented by the scarlet letter that she must wear as punishment for her sin of adultery.

Prynne is discovered because she became pregnant from the affair. Since her husband was still in Europe, it would have been impossible for him to be the father. But Prynne refuses to tell who the real father is. She keeps his identity secret so that his life will be spared.

As the reader discovers, the death penalty would be likely to the real father because he is Minister Arthur Dimmsdale. As a man charged with guiding his congregation's morality he would have been seen as a hypocrite as well as a sinner. The people would have reacted even more strongly against him than another man of lower social rank had they known.

What adds more interest to the story is the arrival of Prynne's husband, who becomes known as Roger Chillingworth. Prynne is the only townsperson who recognizes him. The two enter into a pact not to reveal his identity. If Chillingworth acknowledged himself as Prynne's husband, he would be humiliated beside her. Prynne tries to offer him, the victim of her affair, the same courtesy she gives to her lover. Also, in this way, all the townspeople will assume her husband was lost at sea, thus making her act of adultery less severe.

Chillingworth resides in the same town and becomes its doctor. He tries to discover the man who slept with his wife. He thus becomes fixated on revenge.

Dimmesdale suffers alone. His sin is private and it galls him. Not only has he committed adultery with someone in his congregation, he refuses to own up to his acts. He is a coward and a hypocrite. And he watches in despair as Hester burdens all of the public shame. Dimmsdale lives a lonely life cut off from the rest of the community and his shame burdens him with real physiological consequences. He becomes frail and pale, despite his young age. He often places his hand over his heart as though it troubles him.

Dimmesdale's poor health incites Chillingworth to live with him. Thus the cuckolded husband is living shoulder to shoulder with the adulterer. Once Dimmsdale's sin is known, Chillingworth torments the poor man's sensitive soul. Rather than doing so openly, Chillingworth brings the minister's mind back constantly to the sin. This is much more painful than a swift public outcry.

I think of the three main characters as if there were involved in an inverted love triangle. Instead of each loving the other, each is harming the other. And it is not just one way.

That's broadly speaking what happens in the book.

As for the experience of reading, it's a pleasure!

Nathaniel Hawthorne is a master of phrase and description. Not only that but there are literary allusions galore. It is like an American version of the Garden of Eden yet there are layers beyond this.

Just getting into the main part of the story, Hawthorne takes the reader through centuries of Massachussets history. He pokes fun at the old men who spend their idle time at the customs house where supposedly the story was inspired. And his descriptions from the first chapter alone wander wildly from sumptuous meals to petty corruption to dreamscape explorations in the moonlight.

Anyone who's looking for a good American novel, and who isn't too intimidated by long sentences and descriptions from the 1850s, should enjoy the Scarlet Letter. If you weren't forced to read it in high school at least.

I had to read this for AP Language and Composition and I hated it. Hate is a bit too strong, but it is powerful enough to describe how much I DISLIKED this book. I'll admit it, a couple times I was interested to see what happened next, but that was ALWAYS when their was dialogue and not just freaking analyzing! I love little Pearl in all honestly, but God, a whole chapter dedicated to analyzing her--when she was but a child? No. Stop. You're describing EVERY feature on her stupid face and over-analyzing more than I do with boys. God just stop.
I get all the themes that Hawthorne was trying to show in the work. I do! So why did he have to over-complicate it and just...analyze? That was over half the book--just analyzing and describing. Did he ever hear the rule, "Show, don't tell"? Probably not, because all he did was tell. -_-
Hm...what els

e. I don't know. I just know that my feelings for this book are closer to hate than strong dislike. It was especially difficult because I am a fast reader and constantly had to go back--that's not his fault, necessarily, but it was an extra problem I experienced.
Ha, now I'm analyzing everything. In the end, I don't recommend this book unless you enjoy Hawthorne/classic literature/over-analyzing in fiction works. Otherwise you're better off with more modern works. But it's up to you. I most likely never would have touched it if I had the choice and honestly, the only thing that kept me from sparknoting it is the fact that I know it won't help me with the work regarding this book (in class) and then the test.