This is a story about a woman named Hester Prynne, a young woman who has committed adultery
and has birthed an illegitimate child while living in Boston during the Puritan period.
She is publicly shamed and forced to stand in public for all to see and must wear, as
part of her punishment, a red letter “A” for the rest of her life.
The townspeople question her as to the identity of the father of the child, but Hester does
not give up the name.
Hester and her baby, which she names Pearl, live in the forest away from town.
As Pearl grows up to a toddler, Hester notices that she begins acting strange, like overly
playful and imp-like.
Meanwhile, a stranger named Roger Chillingworth arrives in Boston, a doctor and learned man.
He reveals to Hester that he is, in fact, her husband, who was rumored to have died
at sea.
Chillingworth decides to stay in town for a while and gravitates toward Reverend Dimmesdale,
a young clergyman who is suffering from an unknown illness.
Chillingworth claims that Dimmesdale’s ailments are caused by spiritual conflicts.
The stress for Dimmesdale is beginning to build and boil over as guilt overwhelms him.
One night, he stands on the scaffold where Hester had stood alone in front of the townspeople,
and screams aloud, confessing that he is Pearl’s father.
Hester arrives with Pearl and the three of them hold hands and watch the stars.
Suddenly, Chillingworth approaches and suspects that Dimmesdale is Pearl’s father.
Hester talks with Chillingworth, pleading that he stop tormenting Dimmesdale.
She wants to tell Dimmesdale who Chillingworth really is and so she meets Dimmesdale and
tells him that Chillingworth is her husband.
Hester talks Dimmesdale into leaving Boston with her and Pearl by boarding a ship and
living far away.
This plan seems to relieve Dimmesdale, as he experiences joy and happiness at this news.
As Dimmesdale prepares for his last sermon, Hester makes arrangements on a ship for her,
Pearl, and Dimmesdale.
On the day of Dimmesdale’s last sermon, everyone is gathered in the marketplace.
Hester discovers that Chillingworth is also a passenger on the ship and so she doesn’t
know what to do.
After Dimmesdale gives his sermon, he sees Hester and Pearl in the crowd and leads them
to the scaffold to tell everyone their secret.
And as he dies on the scaffold, Hester and Pearl comfort him.
In the end, Hester and Pearl leave Boston, Pearl inherits Chillingworth’s wealth, and
Hester returns to live the remaining days of her life in her old cabin.