In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s seminal novel β€œThe Scarlet Letter,” Hester Prynne commits adultery with a Puritan minister, Arthur Dimmesdale. Prynne’s husband, Roger Chillingworth, is presumed to be lost at sea while crossing the Atlantic Ocean. When she gives birth to a baby of unknown paternity, Prynne is sentenced by the Puritan community to stand on the scaffold for three hours in public humiliation and to wear a scarlet letter β€œA” for the rest of her life.

β€œA” stands for β€œAdulteress,” but Hawthorne writes that to Hester Prynne, β€œA” rather means β€œArtist,” β€œAble” or β€œAngel” because she remains a warm-hearted, angelic woman who is excellent at embroidery even after the cruel sentence. Scholars of American literature say that β€œA” may symbolize β€œAmerica,” too.

In β€œThe Scarlet Letter,” Hawthorn

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