The Scarlet LetterBy: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Main Characters• Hester Prynne-punished for committing adultery by having to wear

a scarlet A• Roger Chillingworth-Hester’s husband from her earlier years

although she didn’t love him and went to live in Boston to wait for him. Asks her to not tell anyone they were married.

• Dimmesdale-The minister who Hester has an affair with which is not revealed until the end of story right before he cleanses his soul by admitting his sin and dies in front of the town

• Pearl-Hester and Dimmesdale’s daughter. The name Pearl has a lot of meaning. Even after something bad and sinful came a beautiful treasure. A symbol throughout the story just like the Scarlet “A.”

The Letter• Hester make’ her letter A beautiful and flourished with

gold threads as if to say that she will make the best of things and has no regrets

• Throughout the story she becomes a very good person and the “A” starts to get known more for “Able” rather than “Adulterer”

• When she takes the “A” off at one point it is like a huge cloud has been lifted, a huge relief for her and Dimmesdale when they have plans to runaway together

Dimmesdale&Chillingworth

• Chillingworth, as the husband is hurt and out looking for revenge. Figures out Dimmesdale is the father and gets him to trust him.

• Silently tortures Dimmesdale and throughout the years Dimmesdale becomes sicker and sicker with his secret that is eating at him

• Starts to torture himself as a way to serve his punishment for his sin but does no good

• Right before Dimmesdale and Hester and Pearl plan to runaway together Chillingworth figures out a way to go with them

• Dimmesdale admits his sin and is no longer a prisoner in his own body and to Chillingworth. Dies on the podium in front of the town

How does this have to do with History??

• All goes back to Puritan times, with their beliefs and punishments

• Believed in grace of God and they always had to prove themselves to God

• Was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne as an apology for what his ancestors had done to innocent people during the Salem Witch Trials. (Put to death and blamed innocent townspeople who were not witches.)