Name: The Scarlet Letter review
Item: The Scarlet Letter
Rating: 4

Question 1

Is The Scarlet Letter worth reading?

Accepted Answer

A short, dense novel built around one symbol. The plot is thin and the language is formal, but the three scaffold scenes and Pearl's questions carry it. The long Custom-House introduction is skippable, and the book's own preface says so. Four out of five (draft). Read it if: you like novels about one symbol and how everyone reads it differently; you want a short classic with strong set pieces: the three scaffold scenes; you are curious about guilt, secrets and public shame. Skip it if: you want a fast plot: much of it is thought and description; long formal sentences wear you out; you expect the introduction to be part of the story: it is not.

Question 2

Is there a summary of The Scarlet Letter?

Accepted Answer

The Scarlet Letter summary, chapter by chapter, following the letter A through seven forms: three scaffolds, Pearl, Chillingworth and the ending. Full spoilers.

Question 3

What is The Scarlet Letter about?

Accepted Answer

Hester Prynne, in Puritan Boston, is made to stand on a scaffold and wear a scarlet A for life after bearing a child whose father she will not name, while her husband is away. The novel follows her, her daughter Pearl, the minister Arthur Dimmesdale and the doctor Roger Chillingworth, who is Hester's husband under another name.

Question 4

What does the A in The Scarlet Letter stand for?

Accepted Answer

The text never spells it out. By our search, the word adultery does not appear in the Gutenberg text. The book does give two other readings: the sexton says the A in the sky stands for Angel (chapter 12), and townspeople say Hester's A means Able (chapter 13).

Question 5

How many chapters and words is The Scarlet Letter?

Accepted Answer

The Gutenberg text, ebook number 25344, has 24 chapters plus a long introduction called The Custom-House. By our count the whole text is about 84,000 words, of which the introduction is about 15,000, or 18 percent. We left out the license, contents, preface and picture list.

Question 6

Do I need to read The Custom-House introduction?

Accepted Answer

The book's own preface to the second edition says the sketch could have been left out without loss to the book. It is also where the narrator says he found a red cloth A and old papers about Hester Prynne, which frame the story. Most of it is portraits of Custom-House officers and can be skimmed.

Question 7

What are the three scaffold scenes?

Accepted Answer

Scaffold one (chapters 2 and 3) is Hester's public punishment at noon. Scaffold two (chapter 12) is Dimmesdale standing there at midnight with Hester and Pearl. Scaffold three (chapter 23) is Election Day, when Dimmesdale confesses before the town and dies.

Question 8

How does The Scarlet Letter end?

Accepted Answer

Dimmesdale confesses on the scaffold and dies. The book will not describe what he reveals on his chest, and the Conclusion gives three accounts of what the crowd saw. Chillingworth dies within the year and leaves his property to Pearl. Hester later returns alone and wears the letter again.

The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter: summary

The Scarlet Letter Summary: Seven A's, Tracked

What is The Scarlet Letter about?

The Scarlet Letter review scorecard

The Scarlet Letter: questions people ask

Related books explained