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The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter is a profound book revealing a tale of sin, social identity, and humanity. The story displays some of the darkest elements of the human soul: guilt, revenge, and evil. With its complex, emotional plot and its rich symbolism, this masterpiece has become a highly prized classic in American literature. The book opens with a chapter called "The Custom House," in which the narrator of the book writes a long description recalling his days as the chief executive officer of the Customs House in Salem, Massachusetts. He describes the customs house as a run-down, half-finished building located on a rotting dock and characterizes his coworkers as elderly and incompetent. One day as he is exploring the vacant second story of the erection he discovers a red and gold piece of fabric in the shape of the letter "A." After he examines the material, he uncovers a manuscript wrapped in the cloth, which he later reads. Jonathan Pue, a customs surveyor, wrote the composition a hundred years before, about an account of events that happened in the mid-seventeenth century. The narrator reads it and subsequently decides to write a fictional story out of Hester Prynne's experiences. Though he knows his story will not be exactly accurate in facts, he trusts that his novel will remain true to the actual chronicle of the original manuscript. When a new customs officer is elected, he loses his job and begins the write his novel. "A throng of bearded men, in sad-coloured garments and grey steeple-crowned hats, inter-mixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes." First describing the prison, the first scene of the book sets the expression for the first parts of the book, a gray and gloomy environment with a multitude of people to match the mood. The crowd is apparently waiting in front of the prison door for someone to come out of the imposing building. The only light in the dark atmosphere is a rosebush growing by the prison door. The narrator uses this rosebush to symbolize a "sweet moral blossom" in his story, and to provide some relief in the "tale of human frailty and sorrow." The crowd watches as a beautiful young woman, Hester Prynne, steps out of the prison threshold into the sunshine, carrying a young infant in her arms. She slowly, almost defiantly, walks to the scaffold, where she is to stand and endure public taunts, remarks, and stares. The most remarkable feature of her, besides her beauty, is the elaborately sewn letter on her bosom; a scarlet "A" stitched with gold thread. Through the crowd's remarks and the narration of Hester's thoughts, it can be concluded that the scarlet letter stands for "adulteress." Hester has been accused of adultery and the small child in her arms is illegitimate. In the third chapter, a small, deformed man accompanied by an Indian is identified in the crowd. As Hester's eyes search the gathering of people, she recognizes him and a look of horror flashes across her face. Soon recognition appears in his face too, as he sees her standing plainly on the platform. As the book describes it, "…his look became keen and penetrative. A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed interpolations in open sight. His face darkened with some powerful emotion, which, nevertheless, he so instantaneously controlled by an effort of his will, that, save at a single moment, its expression might have passed for calmness." The latter turns away and begins inquiring about Hester. He kindly asks a townsman what offense Hester has committed, and why she must be punished. The townsman explains that the woman arrived two years ago in the town and was to wait for her husband, a learned Englishman, to join her. Her husband, however, never reached the town in time, and the town's consensus is that he has been lost at sea. The townsman then tells of Hester's sin, having an affair, and her punishment, to forever wear a scarlet letter on her breast as an eternal reminder of shame. The deformed stranger ends the conversation with the remark, "It irks me, nevertheless, that the partner of her iniquity should not at least, stand on the scaffold by her side." After this conversation, the magistrates, along with the reverends of the town, call Hester to look at them. They proclaim her sin and pressure her to reveal the identity of her illegal child's father. Hester stubbornly refuses to let the people know who her child's father is. Unable to get a hint out of her, the magistrates call on the Reverend Dimmesdale, the most popular minister of the town, to decide Hester's fate. Reverend Dimmesdale pleads to Hester to reveal the father's identity, but still, she refuses. She is led back to the prison with her infant in a stony demeanor. After Hester is guided back to the prison, she is reported to be in a state of high excitement and nervousness. The prison guard requests a doctor in order to prevent the woman from hurting herself or her child. The new stranger in town, the deformed man, enters the cell and opts to help Hester and her daughter. Hester refuses, for fear that he might poison her daughter or her, because, as it turns out, the deformed stranger is in fact her old husband.
Approximate Word count = 3654
Approximate Pages = 14.6
(250 words per page double spaced)
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