THE SCARLET LETTER

    The Scarlet Letter is the tragic story of a woman's shame and the cruel treatment she suffers at the hands of the Puritan society in which she lives.
A settler in New England,Hester Prynne has waited two years for her husband,an ageing English scholar,to join her.He arrives to find her in the pillory,a small baby in her arms.She must,as a punishment for her adultery,wear a scarlet A embroidered on her breast and is consequently ostracized by her contemptuous neighbours.

作者简介
Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-64)was born at Salem in Massachusetts to one of New England's oldest Puritan families.He was a direct descendant of William Hawthorne ,notorious for his persecution of the Quakers,and of his son John,a prominent figure in the late-seventeenth-century witch hunts.The sins of his fathers lay heavily on Hawthorne's conscience and he suffered great guilt on their behalf,which is reflected in the vigorous attacks on Puritanism found in much of his work.

Preface to the Second Edition of The Scarlet Letter
the custom house,introductory sketch
1 THE PRISON DOOR
2 THE MARKET PLACE
3 THE RECOGNITION
4 THE INTERVIEW
5 HESTER AT HER NEEDLE
6 PEARL
7 THE GOVERNOR'S HALL
8 TH ELF-CHILD AND THE MINISTER
9 THE LEECH
10 THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT
11 THE INTERIOR OF A HEART
12 THE MINISTER'S VIGIL
13 ANOTHER VIEW OF HESTER
14 HESTER AND THE PHYSICIAN
15 HESTER AND PEARL
16 A FOREST WALK
17 THE PASTOR AND HIS PARISHIONER
18 A FLOOD OF SUNSHINE
19 THE CHILD AT THE BROOKSIDE
20 THE MINISTER IN A MAZE
21 THE NEW ENGLAND HOLIDAY
22 THE PROCESSION
23 THE REVELATION OF THE SCARLET LETTER
24 CONCLUSION
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