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StoryPDFThe Scarlet LetterNathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Complete text
NovelEnglish

Hester Prynne is publicly punished in a Puritan settlement and required to wear a scarlet letter. Raising her daughter Pearl, she faces a community intent on reading her character through that sign. Hidden connections involving the minister Dimmesdale and the physician Chillingworth complicate the relationship between public judgment and private knowledge.

25 sections83,584 wordsAbout 6 h 20 min
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About The Scarlet Letter

The letter’s significance changes as different observers bring their own needs to it. Hester’s visible punishment contrasts with forms of concealed suffering and scrutiny that do not receive the same public name. Follow the scaffold scenes and the narrator’s interpretive hesitation, noticing how a community’s certainty about symbols can coexist with limited understanding of the people who bear them.

Reading focus

Compare visible punishment with concealed suffering as the scarlet letter acquires meanings that exceed the community’s original verdict.

This reading edition contains 83,584 words in 25 original sections. Read the text online with adjustable type and three colour themes, or keep a printable PDF.

Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne. Language: English. Reading edition: 28 October 2026.

Opening excerpt

INTRODUCTORY TO “THE SCARLET LETTER”

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Contents

All sections
  1. THE CUSTOM-HOUSE68 min
  2. I. THE PRISON DOOR3 min
  3. II. THE MARKET-PLACE16 min
  4. III. THE RECOGNITION15 min
  5. IV. THE INTERVIEW11 min
  6. V. HESTER AT HER NEEDLE16 min
  7. VI. PEARL16 min
  8. VII. THE GOVERNOR’S HALL12 min
  9. VIII. THE ELF-CHILD AND THE MINISTER15 min
  10. IX. THE LEECH16 min
  11. X. THE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT16 min
  12. XI. THE INTERIOR OF A HEART12 min
  13. XII. THE MINISTER’S VIGIL18 min
  14. XIII. ANOTHER VIEW OF HESTER14 min
  15. XIV. HESTER AND THE PHYSICIAN11 min
  16. XV. HESTER AND PEARL11 min
  17. XVI. A FOREST WALK11 min
  18. XVII. THE PASTOR AND HIS PARISHIONER15 min
  19. XVIII. A FLOOD OF SUNSHINE10 min
  20. XIX. THE CHILD AT THE BROOKSIDE11 min
  21. XX. THE MINISTER IN A MAZE18 min
  22. XXI. THE NEW ENGLAND HOLIDAY15 min
  23. XXII. THE PROCESSION17 min
  24. XXIII. THE REVELATION OF THE SCARLET LETTER15 min
  25. XXIV. CONCLUSION10 min

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Is this the complete The Scarlet Letter?

This edition contains the complete English literary text, with 25 sections and 83,584 words. This reading edition preserves the checked English text and its section order. No study notes have been added.

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