This perennially popular Norton Critical Edition has been revised to reflect the most current scholarly approaches to The Scarlet Letter--Hawthorne's most widely read novel--as well as to the five short prose works--"Mrs. Hutchinson," "Endicott and the Red Cross," "Young Goodman Brown," "The Minister's Black Veil," and "The Birth-mark"--that closely relate to the 1850 novel.

Hawthorne's story of the disgraced Hester Prynne (who must wear a scarlet "A" as the mark of her adultery), of her illegitimate child, Pearl, and of the righteous minister Arthur Dimmesdale continues to resonate with modern readers. Set in mid-seventeenth-century Boston, this powerful tale of passion, Puritanism, and revenge is one of the foremost classics of American literature. This Broadview edition contains a selection of historical documents that include Hawthorne's writings on Puritanism, the historical sources of the story, and contemporary reviews of the novel. New to the second edition are an updated critical introduction and bibliography and, in the appendices, additional writings by Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Henry James, and William Dean Howells.

Includes the unabridged text of Hawthorne's classic novel plus a complete study guide that features chapter-by-chapter summaries, explanations and discussions of the plot, question-and-answer sections, author biography, historical background, and more.

This perennially popular Norton Critical Edition has been revised to reflect the most current scholarly approaches to The Scarlet Letter—Hawthorne’s most widely read novel—as well as to the five short prose works—“Mrs. Hutchinson,” “Endicott and the Red Cross,” “Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “The Birth-mark”—that closely relate to the 1850 novel. This Second Norton Critical Edition also includes: · Revised and expanded explanatory footnotes, a new preface, and a note on the text by Leland S. Person. · Key passages from Hawthorne’s notebooks and letters that suggest the close relationship between his private and public writings · Seven new critical essays by Brook Thomas, Michael Ryan, Thomas R. Mitchell, Jay Grossman, Jamie Barlowe, John Ronan, and John F. Birk. · A Chronology and revised and expanded Selected Bibliography.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1864.

Set in 17th-century Puritan Boston during the years 1642 to 1649, The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives through an adulterous affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. The story begins during the summer of 1642, near Boston, Massachusetts, in a Puritan village. A young woman, Hester Prynne, has been led from the town prison with her infant daughter in her arms. On the breast of her gown is "a rag of scarlet The Scarlet Letter cloth" that "assumed the shape of a letter." It is the uppercase letter "A." The Scarlet Letter "A" represents the act of adultery that she has committed, and it is to be a symbol of her sin-a badge of shame-for all to see. The Scarlet Letter was published as a novel in the spring of 1850 by Ticknor & Fields, beginning Hawthorne's most lucrative period as a writer. When he delivered the final pages to Fields in February 1850, Hawthorne said that "some portions of the book are powerfully written" but doubted it would be popular. In fact, the book was an instant best-seller though, over fourteen years, it brought its author only $1,500. Its initial publication brought wide protest from natives of Salem, who did not approve of how Hawthorne had depicted them in his introduction "The Custom-House." A 2,500-copy second edition of The Scarlet Letter included a preface by Hawthorne dated March 30, 1850, that stated he had decided to reprint his introduction "without the change of a word... The only remarkable features of the sketch are its frank and genuine good-humor... As to enmity, or ill-feeling of any kind, personal or political, he utterly disclaims such motives." The Scarlet Letter was one of the first mass-produced books in America. Into the mid-nineteenth century, bookbinders of home-grown literature typically hand-made their books and sold them in small quantities. The first mechanized printing of The Scarlet Letter, 2,500 volumes, sold out within ten days, and was widely read and discussed to an extent not much experienced in the young country up until that time.