Hawthorne's novel about Hester Prynne forced to wear an "A" for adultery is ostensibly about Puritan Boston but really about how communities scapegoat desire and how secrets destroy more surely than any public shame. The novel's real villain isn't Hester's lover or even the vindictive Roger Chillingworth but the system that makes human passion into unforgivable sin. Hawthorne writes sin and redemption with a darkness that makes most moral fiction look simplistic. This American classic explores Puritan morality, social hypocrisy, and female resilience in 17th-century New England.
 
 
 
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Part of The Essential Library series. This series is offered by LearnMore under a reseller license. Interior formatting of texts may vary.
 
 
 
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Part of The Essential Library series. This series is offered by LearnMore under a reseller license. Interior formatting of texts may vary.