The Scarlet Letter

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

Narrated by: Shelly Frasier

It is 1642 in the Puritan town of Boston. Hester Prynne has been found guilty of adultery and has born an illegitimate child. In lieu of being put to death, she is condemned to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her dress as a reminder of her shameful act.

Hester's husband had been lost at sea years earlier and was presumed dead, but now reappears in time to witness Hester's humiliation on the town scaffold. He becomes obsessed with finding the identity of the man who dishonored his wife. To do so, he assumes a false name, pretends to be a physician and forces Hester to keep his new identity secret. Meanwhile, Hester's lover, the beloved Reverend Dimmesdale, publicly pressures her to name the child's father, while secretly praying that she will not. Hester defiantly protects his identity and reputation, even when faced with losing Pearl, her daughter.

Hailed by Henry James as, "the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country", Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is a masterful portrayal of humanity's continuing struggle with sin, guilt, and pride.

Studying Hawthorne? Don't miss the SparkNotes Guide for The Scarlet Letter.Public Domain (P)2002 Tantor Media, Inc. Originally published 1850.

Would read again

The narrator talked very slowly so I had to speed it up, the story was great. Although very little actually happened.

A fine reading

Shelly Frasier does fine: clear diction and slow pace, which are appropriate for more challenging prose. But why so many complaints about Hawthorne's language? "Thees and thous"? He was writing in the 1840s, not the 1600s (the era of the fiction, which he emulates in his characters' speech), so it's not that far from our own era. Or is this nation now only capable of reading TV GUIDE listings for the next JERSEY SHORE?

Hasts and Thous

An amazing early American novel. I have never read before. I actually can't wait to read again. Stongly recommend. It was so good that I wanted to know someone who had just read it so we could talk about it! The reader was very good. Her voice was VERY versatile. The only drawback is with all "hasts and thous" you REALLY have to pay attention to every word...not a good "drivng" book.

Not bad...

Which character – as performed by Shelly Frasier – was your favorite?

Tie. Reverand Dimmesdal and Pearl were my favorites.

If you could rename The Scarlet Letter, what would you call it?

"Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the word 'tremulous' about 800 times."

Any additional comments?

Good reading of a classic. Unfortunately, since Hawthorne's prose wanders like a caffeine addled child, it can be hard to track what's going on at certain points in the narration.

Deservedly a classic

This is the classic text of scapegoating and what we would now refer to as relational aggression among the Puritans. A powerful novel. The narrator was good, although I disagreed with a few of her pronunciations.