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    The Scarlet Letter
    The Scarlet Letter
    The Scarlet Letter
    Audiobook (abridged)2 hours

    The Scarlet Letter

    Written by Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Narrated by Katinka Wolf

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The Scarlet Letter is one of the great classics of American literature, Set in the harsh Puritan environment of seventeenth century Boston, it describes the plight of Hester Prynne, an independent-minded woman who stands alone against society. Having given birth to a child after an illicit affair, she refuses to name the father and is forced to wear the letter ‘A’ for Adulteress embroidered on her dress.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherNaxos Audiobooks
    Release dateNov 1, 2006
    ISBN9789629545413
    Author

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

    Nathaniel Hawthorne was born is Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. His father died when he was four years old. His first novel, Fanshawe, was published anonymously at his own expense in 1828. He later disowned the novel and burned the remaining copies. For the next twenty years he made his living as a writer of tales and children's stories. He assured his reputation with the publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850 and The House of the Seven Gables the following year. In 1853 he was appointed consul in Liverpool, England, where he lived for four years. He died in 1864.

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    Reviews for The Scarlet Letter

    3.5/5

    178 ratings146 reviews

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    • 4/5
      This is a required reading in high school. The scarlet Letter is a book that is considered to be one of the most famous books of literature. This is not a piece of literature that is easy to read, and I understand why ninth graders have a hard time understanding it. It is the language that makes it so unique, yet still actual.
    • 1/5
      One of the more boring books I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Sure, I've heard the themes of being out casted are well portrayed, but it's hard to see them if the damn book puts you to sleep.
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed this short work more for its insights into the Puritan community (albeit overplayed) and lessons about humanity than for the quality of its writing. While the basic story is interesting, in my opinion Hawthorne's character development is remarkably weak. At times I felt as if I were reading a children's novel. That said, like it not, this is considered a classic hence is worth the read.
    • 5/5
      Complete story--covers every aspect of human existence which is important to the characters (religion, sex/gender, economy, politics, history, etc) and consequently to the reader. Has many parallels with Henry James' The Turn of the Screw--all of which begins with the 24-chapter structure, obviously modelled on The Odyssey. Stephen Crane also borrowed the structure for The Red Badge of Courage but used it much differently. The poisonous plant symbolism recurs through Hawthorne's work, especially "Rappaccini's Daughter."
    • 3/5
      I enjoyed the story but the writing was a chalenge at times. I do not mean that I could not comprehend it but the sentences were too long. This made the book drag on.
    • 1/5
      My review:I would have never read it unless Ms. Crabtree, my tenth grade English teacher, had not thrust it down my throat, gleefully--almost orgasmically--in a sick literary fit. What I learned from this book:Never ever have my students read it, and pray that Ms. Crabtree gets to see the lake of fire in Book I of Paradise Lost
    • 4/5
      Great historical read.Two people's love that seemed destined to fail in great religious oppression in the town of Salem in Early America.
    • 5/5
      This book is about a woman who has just been released from prison after being charged for adultery. She has to wear the letter "A" on her as her punishment so everyone will know. The story carries on to her being pregnant and explaining what happens to her and the baby within the next seven years.Teach how to not pass judge anyone without getting to know them. Not caving into what society wants.High School
    • 3/5
      A book that shows the great strength of one woman against the unfair opinions of the populace and the bias of that socity of men verus women.
    • 2/5
      When I think that high school students read this novel, along with such works as Moby Dick and Billy Budd, as an introduction to literature, it is no surprise that most teenagers never develop a love for reading. As a 50 year old man, with thousands of books behind me of all genres, including 17th and 18th century English and Russian classics, I was able to tolerate it, but just barely. In fact, I found it far less approachable than either Dickens or Dostoyevsky. The first half of the novel is painfully slow, improving only gradually near the end. I’m sure there are many who will laud this as a timeless classic, however as one who reads for pleasure, I can say that there is very little pleasure to be had in this novel.Hester Prynne conceives a child out of wedlock and is branded with the scarlet letter “A” by the Puritan settlement of New England. The novel follows her life in the settlement as her young child, Pearl, grows into a mischievous young girl and the paternity of the child is questioned. Several interesting characters appear, but the language is so tortured and florid, that it simply doesn’t read well in the present day, especially to Literature I high school students, by far the book’s largest readership.
    • 4/5
      What do you say about a classic like The Scarlet Letter? I'm going to skip the synopsis this time - trusting to pop culture to give you an adequate summary - but I will give you my thoughts on the novel.Modern readers will no doubt find that The Scarlet Letter drags in places, but if you can get past the ba-jillion commas, 15-letter words, and page long paragraphs, the quality of the plot is exceptionally good. The language is archaic, but the novel is in no way boring. Hawthorne uses intense symbolism and dizzying imagery to transport us back in time to Puritan New England, and gives us an insight into the life of Hester Prynne that we are not likely to forget.The Scarlet Letter is a brilliant, gripping, thoroughly human novel that's characters and themes continue to reverberate in our collective consciousness more than 150 years after its initial publication. The story is thoroughly compelling, the prose rich and poetic, and characters complex. The book moves rather slowly, but it does give the reader time to think about the timeless issues of love, betrayal, and deception.
    • 4/5
      Hawthorne takes us to puritanical New England, where a woman is outcast and forced to wear a letter "A" to mark her crime of adultery. However, the story is not primarily about evil social norms. Rather, it is an exploration of openness and guilt. The woman refuses to name her lover. She allows him to escape social stigma -- or much worse. On the face of things, it seems he did better of the two, but Hawthorne explores the notion that a life of constant pretense can wear a person down. How much more carefree is the woman who has nothing more to hide. Self-esteem is tied to openness about oneself. A man with much to hide, who keeps pretending to be something he isn't, constantly chips away at his sense of self. The woman's lover is tormented by this lack of visibility to other people. "Thou little knowest what a relief it is", he confides to her, "after the torment of a seven years' cheat, to look into an eye that recognises me for what I am! Had I one friend--or were it my worst enemy!--to whom, when sickened with the praises of all other men, I could daily betake myself, and be known as the vilest of all sinners, methinks my soul might keep itself alive thereby." Hawthorne makes his message explicit: "Be true!... Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred." Surely, interesting advice to ponder: honesty about your worst, sets you free from pandering to the expectations of others. In short: be yourself. It's a short, novel with a narrow theme, but well plotted, well written and well worth reading.
    • 2/5
      This was quite the book. Interesting. The opening thing (The Custom House) and a few of the chapters might seem like quite a bit for a younger person to chew on, but overall, I think most people could appreciate it if they really wanted to.The ending wasn't quite what I expected. I thought it would be intensely dark (especially since something I read about the book seemed to imply that all the protagonists died at the end; but, they don't: just one).It was quite refreshing that the witch lady didn't actually expose the guy, and he did what he did instead. The husband, though, he just seemed defeated pettily. It was weird. But, it worked.Anyway, using notes along with this can be insightful (especially for the aforementioned chapters, and if you miss something important, which could be easy to do in certain spots).
    • 3/5
      This is from a compendium I have of Hawthorne's works, so I don't know the date. I believe I already read this in school (HS) but I don't remember it being so sluggish. Holy cow!!! Took a lot to get thru this and I slogged away. It is written on a higher reading level than most current books are. Ok but not fantastic. Kinda depressing....
    • 3/5
      One of the easier to read classics that I've encountered thus far. I enjoyed the imagery and the symbolism in the book, but the slow parts were a struggle to get through.
    • 3/5
      I know it's a "classic", but I thought it was only average.
    • 4/5
      The scarlet letter, as it is used in today's speech refers to a mark of shame, not necessarily adultery, but something that would put you out of the favor of society. It is one of those phrases that derives from a book title (like "catch-22") that is altogether overused with people that I talk to.It's not that the people that I talk to are highly literate (though a few are). It's that they probably had English teachers who used a lot of vocabulary words derived from literature, and as such, after writing each word 25 times, and using it in a sentence, it magically became part of their vocabulary.This novel is part of the "you were forced to read it in high school, so naturally, you hate it" series. And if you hate it, I don't blame you. Many of my English teachers had a knack for sucking all things interesting out of a book.But, hey, read it again, please. You'll find a bizarre love triangle, and betrayal of more than one sort. You'll find parts to smile about, and parts to shed a tear about. And in the end, you'll probably be thinking: "Man, that was a pretty good book," unless you're not a "read-y" person, then you'll probably say "Man, why couldn't I have just watched the movie?!" (and then you're left with the choice of which one to see, but since you're not all that read-y, you'll probably pick the 1995 adaptation with Gary Oldman and Demi Moore.)The story, if you've been living under a rock since 1850, is about adultery. Hester Prynne is caught, pregnant, and shamed in front of her neighbors in Boston. She is forced to wear a scarlet letter in the shape of an A, for, of course, adultery. It's essentially a retelling of the "Let he who is without sin throw the first stone" part of the Bible, only set in New England, and raising questions of purity, even among the clergy.This is definitely one of those books you should read before you die (in fact, I think it's on that one list). I think that if you like classic literature, you'll definitely enjoy this book. Otherwise, you'll probably be "meh" about it. The smallest minority of people will hate this book, but they're just high school students with particularly dull teachers.
    • 5/5
      My favorite most favorite book ever. Thank you Coach for making us reading it in the 11th grade.
    • 1/5
      No fan of this classic. I get why it's considered a masterpiece, but it also seems to me as if the biggest fans judge from a position where the moral of a story is more important than the story itself.Over the course of this novel, we sadly get to know nothing of the inner workings and conditions of the characters, nothing but what the few, very reduced and stilted lines of dialogue reveal of which each additionally gets commented on by the narrator. This narrator is so far detached from the events and the persons who were involved that the whole thing reads like a historical report, with the additional effect that the characters have no nuances or real personalities. Everyone, men and women alike (though apart from Hester, women don't play any important part anyway) are Puritans and nothing else - only concerned with their soul's salvation, their morals and most of all the morals of others, with nothing distinguishing them from each other or giving them individuality. Hester herself is obviously different, but even with her we get to know nothing about her motivations and development, the reasons why she acts like she acts. The only character who breaks the mould is Pearl, and only because she's consistently described as different and weird.These shortcomings are actually a real pity, because I really liked the story itself, as a thought experiment and insight into a society that is . The theme of shame, stigma and the way how a society is held together by common morals give the frame for a tale that is, with the view of a modern reader, unbelievably full of bigotry, mercilessness, sexism, self-pity and factitiousness. Unfortunately, the way Hawthorne handles it, it's more like a sermon to be preached from a pulpit than a story to be told at a campfire. Cautionary and lecturing instead of entertaining, and no effort was made to combine both.On the topic of style, I guess Hawthorne really loved to hear himself talk. The introductory "Custom House" sketch took 1,5 hours in the audio version and nearly caused a dnf tag. There was no substance, nothing with any tangible insight, just rambling and digressing and going off on tangents that ultimately went nowhere, preferrably in run-on sentences that put half a dozen ideas into a single paragraph.Yes, I know, it's the style of the time and I can't expect modern efficiency in storytelling in a novel from 1850. Actually, I don't even want to. And still, it's so far over the top that it becomes tedious very fast. Pride and Prejudice is from 1813, and stylistically it's so much more varied and interesting, with real dialogue where not every line gets a comment and real characters the reader can understand and relate to.
    • 5/5
      'The Scarlet Letter' became a classic from the day it was published in 1850. This is a story of the sin of adultery and its consequences in the lives of the four main characters and the community in which they live. Set in Puritan New England during the c17th, it is a compelling tale of human frailty and sorrow and an indictment of harsh religious intransigence. Hawthorne's prose is so beautiful that this book is truly a work of art.
    • 2/5
      “Hawthorne is the most consummate literary artist in American literature, and The Scarlet Letter is the greatest book ever written in the Western Hemisphere. It is not relatively, but absolutely great; it holds its place among the fifteen best nevels of the world”- William Lyon Phelps, professor of English Literature at Yale and Methodist preacher, from the 1926 introduction to The Scarlet Letter.I can’t bring myself to offer praise as effusive as William Lyon Phelps does in the above quote. I find the book's overt moral judgement and tendency to “tell rather than show” to be detractions from its reputation for greatness. And, I suspect that even as the learned professor wrote his 1926 introduction, The Scarlet Letter was already firmly established as the bane of Literature classes. Its dense sentences and 17th century Puritan setting can work to make it remote and unwelcoming to readers. Yet it continues to be an established American classic, ranking high on many modern lists of great American novels, just as it is still taught in high schools and colleges even now.The story is a familiar one. In the Puritan settlement of Boston in the 1640s Hester Prynne is publicly shamed for her sin - conceiving and bearing a child outside of marriage. Hester refuses to identify the child’s father. For her sin and her obstinance she is publicly shamed and forced to forevermore wear a prominent mark to signify her shame - the scarlet letter A. In attendance at her shaming as the full story starts are the other three main characters. In her arms is her “sin born” daughter Pearl. Helping to preside over her sentence is the Puritan preacher Dimmesdale - Pearl’s father whose reputation Hester is shielding - who makes his own choice not to reveal himself. Lastly, there is a new arrival to town, recently escaped from bondage to the Indians, who is later revealed to be Hester’s husband Roger Chillingworth.As the book progresses, we see the impact of the repressive Puritan culture on Dimmesdale, Hester and Pearl, and the scheming designs of Chillingworth. Dimmesdale is riven with guilt and anguish at his sin. The Puritans were Calvinists and believed that only the “Select” will get to Heaven. Those who sin here on earth give evidence that they are not among the Select. Dimmesdale's sins, he is sure, have made him unworthy of his role as preacher, and marked him as bound for hell. Chillingworth, who no one knows is Hester’s husband, exacts his revenge by inveigling his way into Dimmesdale’s life, preying on his guilt. Pearl looks fated to grow up unhappily among a colony of people who will think the worst of her no matter what she may do, while Hester will surely die of shame.But instead, Dimmesdale and Chillingsworth wither away and pay the ultimate price for their sins. Pearl escapes the clutches of the colony with her mother and returns to Europe where she will be well wed. Hester, after seeing to Pearl’s future, returns to Boston to voluntarily take back up the wearing of the scarlet letter. Only now she wears it without the shame its sentence was meant to give. Hawthorne is considered a Romantic, and an anti-Puritan. His own family were early settlers in Salem and some of his anti-Puritanism was no doubt personal and familial. It’s no coincidence then, that the object of Puritan shaming should gain the strength to stand up for herself and her daughter. But the other sinners who were not ill-treated by the Puritans do not escape the consequences of their sins - Dimmesdale for his lack of purity and Chillingsworth for his acts of revenge. Hawthorne was also given to writing stories with strong moral metaphors, and that is certainly true with The Scarlet Letter. The metaphors basically hit you over the head in this novel.It has long been popular. On its publication in 1850 The Scarlet Letter became an instant hit. It was one of the first mass produced books in the US, and its initial print run of 2500 copies sold out in ten days. It has scarcely had a day out of print since.
    • 2/5
      I can't say I liked it, but it was an interesting study on sin and guilt and how they work on the psyche. Props where they are due and Nathaniel Hawthorne gets one for that.
    • 3/5
      I haven't read this since high school, and I hated it back then. However, it's our October book for book club. Hopefully I'll like it better this time around.
    • 3/5
      I agree with Jackkane, an LJ reviewer here of this book. For modern readers this could well be reduced and tightened up to a short story. I would have begun with two sentences from the introduction "When India was a new region and only Salem knew the way thither...I lay hands on a small package done yp in ancient yelloe parchment....Certain affair of red cloth, letter A" then jumped to Hester with child at the pillory, been more specific about the husband. The scenes in the woods, especially with Pearl using plants to make her own letter, and the wonderful final scene with an entire procession in the market place....I have an edition with an introduction by Kathryn Harrison, excellent notes that place characters and historical places in context, then an appendix with comments by Hawthorne himself ...sadness gave his wife a headache when she read it...and more by Howells and Van Doren.I spent a little over an hour on the book, but first got the synposis and context from a reference book.I question that this should be assigned reading for high school or even college student without a lot of context.
    • 3/5
      Somehow I'd never read this book in school, and recently picked it up. I was surprised at the sophistication of the characters' psychology.
    • 5/5
      This was a re-read for me as I read this when I was in high school. I think I enjoyed it even more the second time around. Although a little outdated for today's teenagers, the book is a good look at what it was like living in the 1600's and having to adhere to their moral codes. It is a deeply emotional book with lots of symbolism and does show that bad decisions do have consequences. I do highly recommend the book as it is one story that is very hard to forget.
    • 4/5
      On Nov 20, 1946, said: "Reading in The Scarlet Letter, which is pretty good." On Nov. 21 I said: "Finished Scarlet Letter." But no other comment! I remember I was reading the book when I saw at the Public Library Eric Savereid's book Not So Wild a Dream, which had just come out. I assumed that the title came from The Scarlet Letter, since that phrase I knew was therein. When I finally read the Savereid book, on Sep 14, 1988, I learned the title did not come from The Scarlet Letter, but from Norman Corwin, who probably did not know the words had been written by Hawthorne long before and put in the mouth of the sinner concerning his feeling for the girl he seduced..
    • 3/5
      I read "The Scarlet Letter". In this book, Hester Prynne has a child with a man that wasn't her husband. There are three main characters, Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, Roger Chillingworth, and Hester. Mr. Dimmesdale is haunted by his hidden guilt, and Mr. Chillingworth is Hester's husband from before America. I thought this book was okay. It wasn't my favorite book, but it wasn't the worst book I have read either.
    • 3/5
      It's a great historical reconstruction of the Puritan world in early New England, apart from its literary qualities which are also plenty. However, its fame owes a lot to the strong cultural lobby the ever powerful America carries over the world - for the same period there are hundreds of far more important and interesting authors in Europe.
      If high schoolers and obviously, American literature graduates, will be forcefed it, nineteenth century literature is maybe the quintessential era of writing.
    • 4/5
      I don't see why Chillingworth is presented as a "villain." He does nothing heinous that I've seen. He's merely getting revenge on his wife for being a cheating whore (I have zero sympathy for adulterers) and her lover. If she had shown any repentance or turned aside from her lover when he returned, I might be able to see him in a more negative light. However, she continued to protect his identity throughout the story and even goes back to him in the end. I enjoyed the story, but would have much preferred is Hester was not the focus and Chillingworth's quest for revenge (justice) had been.