The Scarlet Letter Analysis

The prison door is described as having never known "a youthful era," i.e., innocence (1.2). It’s made of iron and is a little worse for wear, if you catch our drift. Yet, the wild rosebush th...

The Puritans had settled in New England to practice their religious beliefs after leaving the Old World, where they had been persecuted. The Puritans were a legalistic sect of Protestant Christians...

The narrator follows the activities of all the characters from chapter to chapter, revealing their internal thoughts and secret actions. The narrator reveals much about each character that they do...

Gothic tales contain a mystery or elements of a mystery at their hearts. For most of the novel, we do not know who Hester’s lover is. This mystery man haunts the story. As for romance, Pearl...

The narrator fakes an unbiased point of view (even though it’s obvious he doesn’t think much of Puritans), and frequently spends a paragraph or two moralizing about the problems with Pu...

Upon first dipping our toes into The Scarlet Letter, we almost want to run and grab our passports, so strange is Hawthorne’s style to our modern ear. Going with the flow is difficult at first...

Back in the day (colonial times, that is), law and religion were inseparable, like peanut butter and jelly. When a woman cheated on her husband, she had to be punished by law. Even if her husband h...

But everything’s been going so well! Hester and her daughter Pearl can, at long last, escape the iron gaze and judgy ways of Massachusetts Bay colonists. In fact, they’ve been able to p...

A description of the market place and the prisonWelcome to the Massachusetts Bay Colony (later known as Boston). We’re in the mid 17th century, and there are lots of buildings in this town, n...

Roger Chillingworth seeks revenge. He will reveal the source of his wife’s shame.Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are both guilty of the sin of adultery. Hester alone knows that her husban...

Hester is publicly shamed for her sin. Her husband returns, discovers her adultery, and plots his revenge.Roger Chillingworth becomes possessed by his need for vengeance while Reverend Dimmesdale g...

Hawthorne knew John Milton’s Paradise Lost really well and would have arguments with his big sister about the ways in which Satan is portrayed in the poem. (Source)In 1854 Hawthorne wrote: "I...

Yes, despite the sex we’re sure Hester Prynne and the Reverend Dimmesdale had, it is all in the past as far as this book goes. None of it occurs on these pages. Instead, get ready for lots of...

Matthew 13:45-46, the Pearl of Great Price: The reference to the "pearl of great price" (8.16) is an allusion to parable found in the Gospel of Matthew: "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a...