The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne Study Guide

Set in a Puritan community in the Massachusetts Bay colony during the 1640s, this novel follows Hester Prynne, a young woman forced to face public judgment after bearing a child outside marriage. Her refusal to name the child's father turns the town against her, and she must wear a red letter stitched to her clothing as a sign of her shame. Around her stand a respected minister privately wrestling with a secret of his own, and an older physician whose interest in the case grows obsessive. Hawthorne uses this small, closely watched community to explore sin, guilt, and the weight of public morality, asking what a society gains and loses when it punishes and when it forgives.