Book: The Scarlet Letter
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
Publication Date: 1850
Pages: 269
Completion Date: 4/14/25
I read this book because I read it in high school but did not retain much from it. This book is supposed to be an American classic, so I thought I would read it again. I enjoyed it way more this time than I did in Junior English class.
Main characters:
Hester Prynne – the woman who wore the Scarlet Letter A, which stands for adultery.
Pearl Prynn (her daughter) – the product of the adultery to her & Reverend Dimmesdale.
Reverand Arthur Dimmesdale – the pastor for the small New England Town
Roger Chillingsworth – the husband of Hester Prynne
The book starts with Hester leaving her prison cell with a baby. She has the scarlet letter A sewn into the chest of her dress. She has to stand on a stage in the town center holding her baby while they beseech her to name the father of the baby, which she never does. She came to New England almost two years ago and is expecting her husband to arrive from London, but he never came. As she is being chastised in public, an Indian brings forth a captive white man who he intends to sell back to his village. It turns out to be her husband, Roger Chillingsworth. When their eyes meet, he holds his fingers to his mouth so that she knows to be quiet about his arrival. Soon afterwards, she goes back to her home. Roger meets her there and again asks who the father is, but Hester will not say. He says to keep it a secret that he is there and that he is her husband. He stays in the town, acting as a trained doctor.
Hester survives by sewing clothes and she is very good at what she does. As Pearl grows, she appears to be somewhat of a wild child, especially when she is approximately three years old. While a beautiful child, some in town think that she may be the progeny of the devil, who supposedly visits the nearby woods at night. When she takes some clothes to Governor Bellingham, she sees Chillingsworth, Dimmesdale and another pastor there. They are discussing the possibility of removing Pearl from Hester’s care, but she fights back hard and they do not do it. It becomes apparent that Chillingsworth & Dimmesdale live together and Dimmesdale is celibate after the birth of Pearl. It also becomes apparent that Chillingsworth probably knows that Dimmesdale is the father. The guilt from the whole experience is eating Dimmesdale up and his health is not good. Meanwhile, Hester is seen as a sister of mercy, assisting the poor and downtrodden and helping those who are sick.
The book jumps ahead to when Pearl is about 7. Hester & Dimmesdale happen to meet in the forest and decide to run away together on a boat that is in the harbor and leaving in a few days. This drastically improves Dimmesdale’s health and as a result, Chillingsworth determines what is going on and also books passage on the boat – going so far as to tell the captain that he & Dimmesdale will be coming together via a small boat. Given that Dimmesdale thinks he is leaving & that this will be his last sermon there, he gives (by far) the most engaging & profound sermon. After he is finished, he leaves the church and walks past the stage in the center square. He decides to go up and announce that he is Pearl’s father – in front of everyone leaving the church. He opens his shirt, showing that he has a branded A on his own chest (although not everyone sees it). He wants to demonstrate that everyone is a sinner, even him. He dies immediately after, happy to have revealed his secret. Immediately after Dimmesdale’s death, Chillingsworth loses all his strength, energy and vital force – almost withering up and shriveling – and dying within the year. It was his evil nature and revenge that was keeping him alive. Once the secret was revealed, he had no more reason to live.
When Chillingsworth died, he actually leaves a sizeable fortune to Pearl. Pearl & Hester leave the village and are not seen for about fifteen years. Eventually, Hester returns to the village, still wearing the Scarlet Letter. She is seen sewing some baby clothes, so we are to believe that Pearl is married and has a baby somewhere.
I learned one main lesson from this book that will increase my prospective for success after prison:
1) If you commit a crime, you get a punishment. While I am not saying you should “wear your punishment with pride” as Hester did, I do think it is not healthy to be more ashamed about it than you have to be. The shame you already feel is not only real, but profound. You let down your friends, family, colleagues and in some crimes, there are very real victims involved. I think it is important to not let the shame overwhelm you so much that you come out of prison with so much shame that you cannot recover. That is what I am focusing on – keeping so much shame at bay so that I can resume a normal function when I get out.
