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The Scarlet Letter | Historical Concerns and the Emblem
In the following essay, Pearl James explores the historical concerns that shaped The Scarlet Letter and how Hester Prynne's emblem serves as several types of imagery.
Nathaniel Hawthorne envisioned The Scarlet Letter as a short story to be published in a collection, but it outgrew that purpose. Most critics accept Hawthorne's definition of it as a "romance," rather than as a novel. It usually appears with an introductory autobiographical essay, "The Custom House," in which Hawthorne describes working in his ancestral village, Salem, Massachusetts, as a customs officer. Hawthorne describes coming across certain documents in the customs house that provide him with the basis for The Scarlet Letter. But this essay fictionalizes the...
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- The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
- The Scarlet Letter: Overview
- The Scarlet Letter: Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography
- The Scarlet Letter: Summary
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The Scarlet Letter: Summary and Analysis
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- Chapter 2 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 4 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 5 Summary and Analysis
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- Chapter 15 Summary and Analysis
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- Chapter 18 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 19 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 20 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 21 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 22 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 23 Summary and Analysis
- Chapter 24 Summary and Analysis
- The Scarlet Letter: Quizzes
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- The Scarlet Letter: Essays and Criticism
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