Book Report: The Scarlet Letter

Book Report / Novel Summary

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Boston. Ticknor: 1850.

Reason, Type and Setting: After consulting with the librarian and he recommended The Scarlet Letter I decided to explore one of Hawthorne’s famous pieces of literature. This book takes place in the 17^th century Boston, and is a dramatic mystery.

Plot: Hester, a young and beautiful woman is married to an older, yet brilliant, scholar. Unhappy, Hester seeks love in another man and commits adultery to her husband. After Hester has her baby the reader has no idea who the father is. The entire town comes to the meeting where the inform Hester that she will have to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest for the rest of her life. She is humiliated and no one respects her or her daughter Pearl. What the people of the town would like to know is who her husband is and who is the other adulterer? Hester’s husband arrives in the town as Mr. Chillignworth and makes Hester keep his identity a secret and Hester complies as well as remains steadfast in leaving her lover anonymous as well. In the end we find that Dimmesdale, the minister, was Hester’s lover and before they get to runaway to Europe, Dimmesdale confesses his sin and dies before the entire town. Pearl is very young and hardly understands the situation her mother is in and doesn’t know who her real father is.

Character: Hester, like I said earlier was a flawless and beautiful young woman. After her husband had sent her to America with the promise to soon follow, Hester met a new man. Dimmesdale and Hester fell in love and soon she became pregnant. This independent and strong woman began to be shot down by all of the people of the town. After the scarlet letter is permanently on her chest Hester becomes a sad and lonely and pathetic outcast. Her daughter often questioned why the sun never came up around Hester and every where she went the shadows would follow. Hester is the main character of this story and selected her because of her responsibility. She took full responsibility for her mistake despite the fact that she was unhappy with her husband but so happy with her lover. She lived with the scarlet letter and all the sneers that came along with it and still never revealed the name of her daughter’s father. By the end of the novel Hester had been volunteering and working where she could, doing everything she could to repent herself. She also met with Dimmesdale and made arrangements to run away with him because she wanted to finally be with the one person who makes her happy.

Evaluation: I didn’t enjoy this novel as much as I have enjoyed some of the other novels I have read for my outside reading books. Although, it was interesting to see how people handled that situation back in the 17^th century. Now in the 21^st century a situation like this would hardly be recognized and certainly not be the entire town but only by the people involved. In modern society it is hard to say whether or not we lost our morals that we had in the times the book was written or if we simply rearranged and reapplied our ideals to more or less important things that affect us now. I learned not only about the culture of that time but it gave me the insight to reflect on the culture I live in and thought I understood so well. I disagree with how harsh Hester’s punishment was, but maybe we are to lax on how we “punish” people who do the same thing now. I don’t think I would recommend this book, simply because it didn’t make a strong enough impact on my life to really feel the need to share this book with others.

If I were in Hester’s situation I may have acted the same way she had. I don’t believe, first of all, that I would cheat on my husband, but I also don’t plan on marrying someone I am not in love with. Hester didn’t commit adultery because she was “horny” but because she was in love with the minister. I couldn’t even try to compare myself to how Hester felt since I have never been in that type of situation at all. Hopefully I never will be.

Author, Context and Trivia: Hawthorne has also written the novels: Fanshawe, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance , The Marble Faun. I have never really read a book like this. If I happen to find another book by this author or like this one I may read it but I don’t believe I would look for another book like this one particularly.