`The Scarlet Letter` Nathaniel Hawthorn

Historical Context Versus Human Behavior in The Scarlet Letter

The Scarlet Letter ' was set in Boston , Massachusetts in the mid 1600 's and follows the backlash of the sinful act between Hester Prynne and Boston 's own Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale . In an ironic and masterfully executed red-herring type twist , Dimmesdale himself publically calls for Hester to name her sinner-in-crime in the beginning of the story , which she adamantly declines to do . The reader , at this point , does not know that Dimmesdale is her adulterer , but knows that the game is afoot . Hester

is given a scarlet A ' to wear upon her chest for her sin and bears the A ' with a sense of purpose and dignity , even embroidering it with gold thread . Hester and her daughter of sin , Pearl , end up living in a small cottage where Hester earns a living with her skillful needlework . And , in an attempt to show her shame , yet revel in it , Hester only dresses Pearl in scarlet dresses

Hester 's long-lost and presumed dead husband , Roger Chillingworth returns to find Hester in prison for her deed and informs her that she is to tell no one of his identity . Much later , once he establishes himself in society with a false identity as a physician , he is summoned to help the ailing Dimmesdale . Chillingworth begins to believe that Dimmesdale might be suffering from a malady beyond the physical which brings him to discover that Dimmesdale is an adulterer and Pearl 's father . Enraged and seeking...