Description
First published in 1850, The Scarlet Letter/em is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s masterpiece and one of the greatest American novels. Its themes of sin, guilt, and redemption, woven through a story of adultery in the early days of the Massachusetts Colony, are revealed with remarkable psychological penetration and understanding of the human heart. Hester Prynne is the adulteress, forced by the Puritan community to wear a scarlet letter A on the breast of her gown. Roger Chillingworth, Hester’s husband, revenges himself with calculating assaults on the frail mental state of the man he believes to have wronged him.The result is an American tragedy of stark power and emotional depth that has mesmerized critics and readers for nearly a century and a half.Lexile Measure:/ 940LCopyright 1994, Unabridged Dover Thrift Edition. Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne. Paperback, 180 pages, 5 x 8 inches. Middle/high school.
