1-8 scarlet letter

Chapter 1

The Scarlet Letter opens with a description of the prison in which Hester has been incarcerated

for adultery. This prison is an ugly, necessary building constructed very early in the history of the

Boston colony. Boston lore holds that Anne Hutchinson, the infamous spiritual advisor and

“heretic,” once walked into this same prison and that a rosebush sprang up under her sainted

feet. The omniscient narrator hopes these roses will symbolize a kind of moral sweetness that

will otherwise be hard to find in this novel.

Chapter 2

Seemingly the entire city of Boston has gathered outside the prison. These Puritan men and

women have come to judge Hester Prynne, the protagonist of the novel, who’s on trial for

adultery. Hester’s crime was only discovered after the fact when she bore a child despite the

absence of her husband, whom everyone suspects to have been killed by Native Americans.

Most of the audience appears to have already decided what they think about her. Some wish

she had been branded with a hot poker. Others think the scarlet letter A sewn into her clothes is

enough.

Hester steps out onto the scaffold carrying her three-month-old daughter, Pearl. Hester is

described as a tall, beautiful woman with flowing hair and enormous vitality. She’s also a

talented seamstress, and the clothes she wears appear rich, even though she herself wouldn’t

be classed as such. In terms of appearance, Hester reminds the narrator of the Virgin Mary.

These Puritans, however, gaze upon her with an utter lack of sympathy. While standing before

these people, Hester thinks of her past in England and of her life up to this moment. She can

hardly believe what’s happening.

Chapter 3

While on the scaffold, Hester notices a Native American in the crowd. Next to him is a small

man, whom Hester recognizes as her husband, Mr. Prynne. She doesn’t reveal his identity,

however, and he lifts a finger to his lips to make sure she keeps quiet. He asks people in the

crowd why she is on the scaffold and learns of her crime. He also learns that, because of his

own presumed death and his long absence, she has been spared the harshest punishment (that

is, death) for adultery.

Governor Bellingham and several magistrates sit in the balcony over the scaffold. Upon looking

up at them, Hester pales, seeing no sympathy in their hearts. This clergyman wants Hester to

speak of her sin in the open, but his colleague, Reverend Dimmesdale, disagrees. In explaining

this, the first clergyman puts Dimmesdale on the spot, and the Reverend feels compelled to

stand and ask Hester for the name of her lover. He does this despite the fact that he is the

culprit. When Hester refuses to reveal the name of the baby’s father, the first clergyman to speak

delivers a sermon on the horrors of sin, focusing particularly on that symbolized by the scarlet

letter. Though aware of the crowd’s condemnation, Hester glazes over, unmoved by the sermon,

and is eventually taken back to prison.

Chapter 4

Following her ordeal on the scaffold, Hester grows agitated and must be placed on suicide

watch in prison. Finally, the jailer decides to call a doctor. Hester’s husband, a prisoner of a

Native American tribe, happens to be staying in the prison while awaiting the negotiation of his

ransom, so he comes to attend to Hester. He has taken an assumed name, Roger Chillingworth,

so the guards don’t know his true identity.

Chillingworth claims to have learned much from the Native Americans in terms of medicine. He

examines the infant, asking Hester to administer the draught since he isn’t the father and thus

won’t be able to soothe Pearl with his presence. He then gives Hester a draught. She briefly

suspects that it’s poison, but he assures her that this would be counter to his goal. He wants her

to live and suffer under the weight of the scarlet letter. He admits, however, that it was wrong

of him to marry her—a much younger woman—after she told him she didn’t love him. Both

parties apologize.

In the end, Chillingworth doesn’t want Hester back. He wants the name of her lover, but she

refuses to give him Dimmesdale’s name. If she gets to keep Dimmesdale’s secret, then

Chillingworth thinks it only fair that she should keep his. He makes her promise not to reveal his

true identity to anyone. She agrees but wonders aloud if she has made a pact with the devil.

Chapter 5

Upon her release from prison, Hester realizes that her entire life will henceforth be lived under

the infamy and the shame of the scarlet letter. She will be mocked daily. Ridiculed. Treated with

contempt in her own home—and yet she doesn’t leave Boston. She chooses to stay, in part

because Dimmesdale is there and she wants to be close to him. She moves into a small,

abandoned cottage on the edge of town, where she does good business as a seamstress. She

sews everything from gloves to dresses to baby linens—but never wedding veils.

Though Hester herself wears plain, simple garments, she dresses Pearl in “fanciful” clothes

displaying her ingenuity as a seamstress. This costs her little, however, and whatever she has

leftover she gives to charity. These two acts (sewing and charitable giving) seem to comfort her.

Her life has for the most part been stripped of passion, but she’s able to take pleasure in her

work. Still, life is hard, and Hester has no friends in town. She’s treated with the utmost

contempt, and she can’t walk down the street without someone lecturing her, making fun of

her, or looking at her with distrust.

Every once in awhile, Hester entertains the notion that there are others like her in

Boston—sinners and adulterers who, though they don’t bear the red mark, are guilty of the

same sin. She imagines a fellow adulteress looking upon her with sympathy and understanding;

but no one comes forward to befriend or comfort her. In fact, the rumor spreads through town. that the scarlet letter is itself a sort of fire and that it can be seen to glow in the dark. This is, of

course, untrue.

Chapter 6

Hawthorne’s narrator diverges from the narrative in order to devote this entire chapter to

discussing Pearl, Hester’s child, so named because she came at a “great price” and was Hester’s

“treasure.” The girl has no physical defects, but Hester fears that there’s a “dark and wild

peculiarity” about her and starts to think of her not as a human child but as an “elf” (meaning a

supernatural creature). Though she loves Pearl deeply, Hester has difficulty controlling and

teaching this elf child and doesn’t have the mettle to rebuke the child. As such, Pearl grows up a

willful but enchanting child.

Quickly enough, Pearl reaches the age where it’s customary for children to begin playing with

other children. Pearl, however, is just as much of an outcast as her mother and is consigned to

grow up in imposed loneliness. Luckily, Pearl’s character makes this easier than one would

expect. She doesn’t seem to mind playing alone and doesn’t like the other kids. In fact, she

hates them and lashes out at them whenever they gather round to make fun of her.

Hester worries that her daughter isn’t human because of her animosity toward the other

children. At times, she looks at Pearl and thinks of her as an elf creature rather than as her

human daughter. In a particularly striking moment, Hester asks, “Child, what are thou?” when

Pearl throws wildflowers at Hester’s scarlet letter. Hester fears that the devil sent Pearl to her.

When she asks if the Heavenly Father sent Pearl, the girl says, “Do thou tell me!” Hester can’t

come to a conclusion. Pearl’s origins remain a mystery.

Chapter 7

Hester visits the mansion of Governor Bellingham. She brings him a pair of gloves he ordered.

She takes this opportunity to speak to him about Pearl. There are rumors that some people in

town have conspired to take Pearl away from her, and Hester wants to make sure this won’t

happen. She finds it strange that Governor Bellingham would involve himself in this matter or

that anyone would try to undermine her rights as a mother.

When Hester and Pearl arrive, a group of Puritan children laugh and throw mud at them.

Enraged, Pearl charges at them, scattering the group. She and her mother are then free to enter

the mansion, which is a testament to the Governor’s great wealth. Inside, Hester speaks to one

of the Governor’s indentured servants, who tells her that the Governor is too busy to see her.

Nevertheless, Hester enters, intent on speaking with the Governor.

Hester and Pearl wait in a large room lined with many portraits. There’s also a giant suit of

armor, which is shiny enough to reflect and distort like a funhouse mirror. Hester’s scarlet letter

is blown up to exaggerated proportions in this reflection. After a while, Pearl and Hester see the

Governor and several ministers walking through the garden to house. Chapter 8

Governor Bellingham returns to the mansion with Pastor John Wilson, Reverend Dimmesdale,

and Roger Chillingworth. He remarks on Pearl’s scarlet clothes, thinking fondly of Christmases

back in England. Having never met Pearl before, it takes him a moment to recognize her as

Hester Prynne’s daughter. There has been some talk of taking Pearl away from Hester so that

she can be brought up right, without her mother’s sinful influence. The Governor asks Hester

point blank if she thinks this is a good idea.

Hester insists that she can raise Pearl as well as anyone else, if not better. She points directly to

the scarlet letter, saying, “I can teach my little pearl what I have learned from this!” Her public

shame, she insists, will be a lesson to her daughter, who will grow up aware of the dangers of

sin. Hearing this, the Governor asks John Wilson to examine the child. Despite hours of strict

teaching from her mother, Pearl isn’t able to quote her Catechisms or her Primer accurately.

Finally, she declares that she wasn’t made at all, but was instead plucked off the rose bush by

the prison door.

Wilson and the Governor find Pearl’s declaration reason enough to take her away from Hester.

She disagrees, however. Desperate to maintain custody of her child, Hester turns to

Dimmesdale, whom she knows to be sympathetic. He agrees that the bond between mother

and daughter is too strong or sacred to break. He argues that Pearl was given to Hester as “the

one blessing of her life” and that it would be wrong for them to take that blessing away after it

was bestowed by God Himself.

Dimmesdale convinces the other men that Pearl should remain with Hester. All agree that the

child will have to attend prayer meetings in addition to school. Dimmesdale withdraws a little,

tired, and Pearl takes the opportunity to approach him. This is quite possibly the first real

interaction between father and daughter, and it results in Pearl pressing Dimmesdale’s hand to

her cheek. Their moment of tenderness is fleeting, however, and Pearl quickly skips away down

the hall.

Wilson suggests that there might be some witchcraft in Pearl, because her feet hardly seem to

touch the ground. Chillingworth suggests that they undertake a philosophical investigation of

the child to determine the identity of her father. Wilson crushes this idea, however, saying it

would be a sin. He says they should leave it to Providence to reveal Pearl’s father. Satisfied,

Hester leaves the mansion only to be confronted by a known witch asking her to join in devil

worship. Hester says she would have gladly joined in had they taken Pearl with her; but since

they did not, she declines the offer.