“Scarlet Letter” Book Report
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Characters:
– Hester Prynne was a beautiful, young woman living in Amsterdam with her husband, Roger Chillingworth. He sent her you America alone while he finished his business. In America she met Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale who she had a love affair with. Pearl was the name of their child. When the townspeople found out about her sin, they punished her by making her wear a scarlet letter A ,standing for adultery, on her bosom.
– Dimmesdale was a young reverend of the community. The people loved him, because of his emotional ways of speaking. He was Hesters secret lover. He couldnt live without being punished for his sins. Finally, he confess publicly, as soon as he did he died.
– Chillingworth was Hesters husband. While traveling to America to join his wife he was capture by Indians. He finally reached America 2 years later. When he got there, Hester was already standing on the scaffold. He was seeking revenge on Dimmesdale, so he pretended to be his good friend trying to think of ways to torture him.
– Pearl was Hester and Dimmesdales daughter. She was given her name because she was precious and valuable. She was very clever, imaginative, and bratty. Pearl was a very significant character, because she reminded Hester of her sins and love affair.
– Governor Bellingham was like the political authority in Boston.
– Mistress Hibbins was Governor Bellinghams sister. She was known as an evil witch. She had a bitter temper, because she worshiped the devil.
Summary:
“The Scarlet Letter” begins in the seventeenth century in Boston. Back then Boston was a Puritan settlement. Hester Prynne is being escorted out from the towns prison with her daughter, Pearl. Hester had a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom. Someone watching from the crowd was telling someone else that she is being punished for adultery.
Hesters husband sent her to America, while he finished some business in Amsterdam. While Hester waits for him, she obviously had an affair and a child with her lover. She wont tell anyone who her lover is. And her punishment is to wear the scarlet letter along with public humiliation for her sin and secret. Later, she is taken to the town scaffold and scolded by the town fathers. She still refuses to tell who the father of Pearl is.
Hesters missing husband, now known as Roger Chillingworth, is now living in Boston as a doctor to take revenge on Hesters secret lover. He doesnt reveal his true identity to anyone except Hester. He makes her promise to keep it a secret.
Hester works as a seamstress to support herself and Pearl. Pearl is starting to act like a mischievous and stubborn girl. Rejected by the community, they live in a small house in the suburbs of Boston. Governor Bellingham and other officials wanted to have Pearl taken away from Hester, but Arthur Dimmesdale helps to keep them together.
Dimmesdale who is a young minister of the town is dying and has mysterious heart trouble caused by mental pains. Chillingworth moves in with Dimmesdale to help aid him with his problems. Chillingworth also thinks that he something to do with Hesters secret. He starts to test Dimmesdale to see what he can get out of him. One day, Chillingworth sees a mark on the ministers chest, while he was sleeping. This mark makes him think that his doubts were right. People thought that Mistress Hibbins was a witch. So, they thought that she tempted Hester and Dimmesdale to become more than just acquaintances with evil practices. Late, she was executed.