Genre: Romantic, Historical

Publication date: 1850

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Stage	Plot Event	Explanation
Prologue	Custom House discovery	Hawthorne finds the scarlet letter and learns Hester’s story.
Exposition	Hester’s punishment	Hester is shamed for adultery and forced to wear the letter “A.”
Rising Action	Chillingworth’s revenge and Dimmesdale’s guilt	Chillingworth secretly tortures Dimmesdale, while Hester and Dimmesdale suffer in silence.
Climax	Dimmesdale’s public confession	Dimmesdale confesses his sin on the scaffold in front of everyone.
Falling Action	Dimmesdale dies	He dies after confessing, and Chillingworth loses his purpose.
Resolution	Hester’s later life	Hester returns to Salem, helps others, and dies later.

In the Prologue, Hawthorne tells how he came up with The Scarlet Letter. He claims to have discovered some historical papers about a woman named Hester Prynne, as well as an embroidered letter A, while working at the Salem Custom House, which he considered to be dreadfully boring. After losing his job at the Custom House, Hawthorne decided to publish a book on his discoveries since they piqued his interest.

The major story takes place outside a prison in Salem, Massachusetts, in the mid-17th century. Hester, a young woman, flees the local jail with her infant daughter. She then makes her way through the crowd to a scaffold. She is required to wear a red letter A for the rest of her life, identifying her as an adulterer.

Hester is taken aback when she sees her spouse in the crowd from the scaffold. The man, now known as Roger Chillingworth, has experience with both Western and indigenous medicine after spending the previous year as a captive of a Native American tribe.

The following evening, he pays her a visit in her prison cell, pretending to care for Hester and the infant. He assures her of his forgiveness but asks that she keep his identity private. Hester concurred.Hester raises her daughter Pearl while working as a seamstress for the next few years.

Pearl is a fickle, sensitive, and wicked kid, and at one point, Hester must beg Governor Bellingham not to give her up for adoption by another family. Hester is successful in maintaining custody of Pearl, and her reputation improves over time as a result of her countless charitable efforts.

Meanwhile, Chillingworth has grown close to and moved in with Arthur Dimmesdale, a young but ailing clergyman. Although he does so ostensibly to alleviate Dimmesdale’s ailment, Chillingworth becomes increasingly convinced that Dimmesdale’s suffering is the result of a secret that has yet to be revealed. Chillingworth once notices something on the minister’s chest as Dimmesdale is nodding out.

It appears to be a brandishing letter A. Chillingworth uses his conviction that Dimmesdale was Hester’s lover to quietly torture the pastor.Dimmesdale sees Hester’s execution scaffold one evening, plagued with guilt. Hester and Pearl, who are now seven and have been keeping watch at a sick house, join him there.

The three are watching as a meteor appears to light up the sky in the shape of an A. Almost immediately, they catch Chillingworth gazing vengefully at Dimmesdale. Hester then calls Chillingworth on Dimmesdale’s behalf after noticing his obvious fear. She cannot persuade Chillingworth to forsake his vengeful schemes, but she does threaten to tell the truth about him to Dimmesdale.

As a result, Hester prepares to meet Dimmesdale in the woods. Hester tries to calm and console Dimmesdale as she sends Pearl off to play before convincing him to start a new life abroad. She agrees to accompany him and attempts to properly introduce him to Pearl, but Pearl rejects him.

The day after Dimmesdale preaches in honor of Election Day, Hester and Dimmesdale plan to sail for Bristol. Hester learns from the ship’s captain that Chillingworth has also made travel plans while she is participating in the festivities. Dimmesdale departs the church before she has had a chance to make a decision.

He asks Hester for help as he climbs the scaffold after spotting her, where he frankly admits his crime and shows the letter on his chest. He subsequently dies in the arms of Hester and Pearl, as Chillingworth looks on fiercely.

The story concludes that Chillingworth died soon after Dimmesdale and gave Pearl his money. It is believed that Pearl married when she and Hester were in Europe.

Later, Hester returned to Salem, where she continued to wear the scarlet letter and assist others in need, offering comfort and direction. They shared a headstone with the letter A after she died as an elderly woman and was buried near Dimmesdale.