Part 1 of Essay
The novel opens with an explanation of how the romance of The Scarlet Letter came to be presented as a story in its existing form. Having always wanted to be a “literary man”, Nathaniel Hawthorne talks about his three-year stint as a Surveyor in the Salem Custom House. Mostly filled with older gentlemen, the ....

Part 2 of Essay
.... adultery. Hester is forced to wear the letter “A” on her gown at all times as punishment for her crime. She has stitched a large scarlet “A” onto her dress with gold thread, giving the letter an air of elegance. Hester carries Pearl, her daughter, with her. On the scaffold she is asked to reveal the name of Pearl’s father, but she refuses. In the crowd, Hester recognizes her husband from Amsterdam, Roger Chillingworth. Chillingworth visits Hester after she is returned to the pris ....