The Novel The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story that takes place in New England Long ago. The book tells the story of a woman, who has committed a sin, which in the puritan society, where she resides, is cause for a severe punishment. This woman, Hester Prynne, has betrayed her husband and is marked with an emblem, the letter A, which shall reside on her heart for the rest of her life.

The book begins as Hester is being led from her prison cell through the town to face her public ignominy on the scaffold. As she stands on the scaffold facing her punishment for what she has done the preacher, Mr. Dimmesdale, from the balcony above begins to question the young lady. This woman refuses to reveal her partner in sin even after much interrogation by the priest. After her ordeal at the scaffold Hester, with her child in her arms, is led back to her prison cell. Later that night Hester and child alike are found in a state of nervous excitement from the public ordeal. To try and relieve this they send in a physician to take care of the child and mother. This isn’t an ordinary physician, but the betrayed husband of Hester Prynne to be known from this point on as Roger Chillingworth. He relieves Hester and her child and tells Hester that he will have revenge on the father of Hester’s child. He says he will look into people’s hearts to find Hester’s partner in sin.

When Hester is released from her confinement she chooses not to reside in town, but instead to isolate herself from society in a cottage on the outskirts of the town. Although Hester no longer fits in with the rest of the town she still has her place in society. Hester is very talented with her needle and provides articles of clothing for the inhabitants of the town. One day Hester and her child, Pearl, who was her constant companion, went to the Governor’s hall to deliver and pair of gloves that Hester had made for him. This is not the only reason Hester wanted to go to the Governor’s hall, she also intended to talk to the governor to try and convince him not to take her child away. At the Governor’s hall Hester not only meets the Governor but also the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale among others. She pleads to them not to take the child that God gave her away, and Mr. Dimmesdale helps to persuade the governor by speaking on the side of Hester. The reverend’s speech persuades the governor, and it is decided that Pearl will remain with her mother.

Roger Chillingworth did not just go back to leading an ordinary life, but instead devoted his entire existence to getting revenge on the man who was Hester’s partner in sin. Mr. Dimmesdale had become quite ill and was constantly seen with his hand over his heart. He was persuaded by others to seek the medical attention of the physician Roger Chillingworth, who then became his constant companion. The reverend could tell that their was something bad about the physician but could not put his finger on it, so for this reason continued to be the friend of Roger Chillingworth and even live under the same roof as him. It is true that the physicians intents were not good ones he was attempting to look at the interior of the reverend’s heart and find exactly what was ailing him. One night while the minister was walking through town he came to the scaffold where Hester had stood. As the reverend stood on the scaffold he envisioned that the scarlet letter was on his own chest and let out a loud shriek. He thought for sure that the whole town would have heard this and came out to discover the reverend and his sin, the sin that has been eating away at his heart. Only two people came out to see what the noise was, but they did not discover the reverend and soon put out their lamps and left. Later on in the night Hester and Pearl walked by to find Mr. Dimmesdale still standing on the scaffold. The reverend asked that Hester and Pearl stand with him on the scaffold, which they did. Pearl asked the reverend if he would stand with them, like he did now, tomorrow and the reverend said that he would not.

Hester, seeing the reverend in this state, went to talk with the physician about what he was doing to the poor sick man. Hester finds the physician in the woods collecting plants for his various medicines. Hester accuses the physician of making the reverend sick and asks him to stop because she thinks he has tortured him enough. The physician responds by saying that the reverend has only raised the debt, because the physician has been keeping the reverend alive all this time. Hester then decides that she must reveal the real identity of Roger Chillingworth to Mr. Dimmesdale. Hester and Pearl waited on the forest path so as to meet the reverend in private on his way home. When the pastor nears Hester tells pearl to go play so that the reverend and her may talk in private. Hester and the minister take a seat, and Hester begins to tell the pastor that there is an enemy living under his own roof. She tells the reverend that Roger Chillingworth is her husband, which causes the pastor to fall to the ground and weep. Hester begs the minister for forgiveness, which at first the minister refuses to do but he eventually does forgive her.

The two of them begin to make plans as to what they should do now. They both agree that it would be best for them to return to England, because the reverend, in his condition, could not possibly live in the forests of America. They decide to cast off their sin and leave it behind them so Hester removes her scarlet letter and tosses it to the ground and also the cap on her head. Her beauty seems to instantly return as if the scarlet letter had trapped her beauty deep inside and it was let loose when the scarlet letter was removed. The two, with their plans made out, were then ready to depart, so Hester called Pearl so that she may meet her father before they depart. Pearl comes as far as the brook but will not cross to where her mother and the minister sit. Hester commands Pearl to come over right now, but she just points at Hester’s chest and stomps her feet while screaming. Hester realizes that Pearl will not come because she has discarded her scarlet letter and hair cap. Hester is forced to put these marks of sin back on until she may throw them into the middle of the ocean.

They plan to go back to England together on a boat that leaves in four days, but in three days the reverend had to preach the election sermon. On the Election Day Hester and Pearl went into the town and watched the great ceremony that was going on. The captain of the boat came up to Hester and told her that her trip should be a safe one because there would be two doctors aboard, including Roger Chillingworth. The procession began and many important people walked by including the reverend, looking stronger than ever as if so deemed the strength to preach the election sermon to the people. Although Hester could not make out the words to the ceremony she could make out the meaning to the music and felt as though she knew exactly what it was about. As the reverend emerged, after the ceremony, he looked weaker than ever and he could barely stand but he refused to be helped. When he reached the scaffold he stopped and told Hester to help him up to the scaffold where the three of them, Hester, Pearl, and the reverend, stood together and the reverend with his last words admitted his sin to the whole crowd. It was soon after that Roger Chillingworth died too, leaving his fortune to Pearl. Pearl and Hester then left not to be seen for many years. One day many years in the future Hester returned home and once again wore the scarlet letter. Pearl was no longer with Hester, and it was thought that she had found a life for herself somewhere.