The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published in 1850, is a classic of American literature set in seventeenth-century Puritan Boston. The story follows Hester Prynne, a young woman condemned for adultery and forced to wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest as a mark of shame. Refusing to reveal the identity of her lover, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Hester bravely endures public humiliation while raising her daughter, Pearl, alone. Meanwhile, her long-lost husband, disguised as Roger Chillingworth, secretly plots revenge. Through its exploration of sin, guilt, hypocrisy, and redemption, the novel powerfully examines the conflict between individual conscience and harsh social judgment.
