Teachers and students may be interested in our Dark Romanticism - Study Guide and D. Featured in our collection of 25 Great American Novels. The Scarlet Letter is a true masterpiece of American Literature and a must-read for every student of literature. You will have plenty of time for the classroom considerations, but you will probably only read the story once. Enjoy the story as a reader instead of a student. Don't let the assignment intrude on the experience. If you are reading it for a class, please cast aside any and all academic considerations. I urge readers to study rather than skip over the two introductory chapters 'Preface to the Second Edition' and 'The Custom-House.' Those two works do not appear alongside the novel by accident, and I believe an appreciation of Hawthorne's experience at the Customs House is the key to a deeper understanding of the novel itself. The novel is classified under the Romantic genre and further classified as Dark Romanticism and Dystopian Fiction. We offer a useful The Scarlet Letter Study Guide for students and teachers. Illustration at right by Mary Hallock Foote, 1878. Hawthorne is at his best as he treats with the complexities of sin and redemption as the story progresses and carries Hester Prynne, Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl toward their respective destinies. In this story, the consequences of Hester Prynne's adulterous affair with the reverend Arthur Dimmesdale are borne out as she gives birth to their child and is forced to wear a Scarlet Letter A, embroidered on her bosom, as a sign of her adultery. This classic novel from the cannon of American Literature exemplifies the genre of Dark Romanticism. The short list of great American novels is often topped by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

The scarlet letter by nathaniel