Cantitate/Preț
Produs
Total produse
Vezi coșul
The Scarlet Letter de Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter: The Penguin English Library

Autor Nathaniel Hawthorne
en Limba Engleză Paperback – 27 iun 2012
The Penguin English Library Edition ofThe Scarlet Letterby Nathaniel Hawthorne

'Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, - stern and wild ones, - and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss'

Fiercely romantic and hugely influential,The Scarlet Letteris the tale of Hester Prynne, imprisoned, publicly shamed, and forced to wear a scarlet 'A' for committing adultery and bearing an illegitimate child, Pearl. In their small, Puritan village, Hester and her daughter struggle to survive, but in this searing study of the tension between private and public existence, Hester Prynne's inner strength and quiet dignity means she has frequently been seen as one of the first great heroines of American fiction.

The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.
Citește tot Restrânge

Toate formatele și edițiile

Toate formatele și edițiile Preț Express
Paperback (115) 2170 lei  24 ore
  Wordsworth Editions – 30 apr 1992 2170 lei  24 ore
  Penguin Random House Group – 31 iul 2009 2414 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Bantam Classics – 31 ian 1981 2814 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Dover Publications – 30 apr 1994 3411 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Alma Books COMMIS – 14 iun 2015 3918 lei  3-5 săpt. +938 lei  6-10 zile
  Oxford University Press – 8 oct 2008 3964 lei  3-5 săpt. +1256 lei  6-10 zile
  Flame Tree Publishing – 15 iul 2019 4057 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 4090 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Readaclassic.com – 28 feb 2011 4143 lei  3-5 săpt.
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 11 sep 2023 4144 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Penguin Books – 27 iun 2012 4290 lei  23-34 zile +1660 lei  6-10 zile
  Penguin Books – 23 mar 2016 4290 lei  23-34 zile +1660 lei  6-10 zile
  Vintage Books USA – 30 apr 2008 4319 lei  23-34 zile +1704 lei  6-10 zile
  Simon&Schuster – 30 apr 2004 4498 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 4498 lei  3-5 săpt.
  KUPERARD (BRAVO LTD) – 9 mai 2000 4643 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 4740 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 4773 lei  3-5 săpt.
  VINTAGE BOOKS – 25 aug 2014 4785 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 4939 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 4939 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 4939 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Real Reads – 31 aug 2014 5043 lei  3-5 săpt. +598 lei  6-10 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5046 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 5069 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5171 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Random House – 6 sep 2023 5273 lei  23-34 zile +1919 lei  6-10 zile
  – 5425 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5426 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5471 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5494 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5646 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 5685 lei  3-5 săpt.
  www.snowballpublishing.com – 26 dec 2012 5709 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5747 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5747 lei  3-5 săpt.
  HarperCollins Publishers – 13 iun 2018 5748 lei  3-5 săpt. +933 lei  6-10 zile
  CREATESPACE – 30 apr 2010 5917 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Klett Sprachen GmbH – 11 ian 2015 6022 lei  17-23 zile +558 lei  6-10 zile
  Mint Editions – 31 oct 2020 6025 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 6081 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Pearson Education – 30 apr 2008 6183 lei  3-5 săpt. +281 lei  6-10 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6216 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6277 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6441 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Denton & White – 6474 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6496 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6609 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 6854 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Simon & Brown – 6 iun 2012 6859 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6870 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7012 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 7092 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7145 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7503 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 7524 lei  3-5 săpt.
  EMPIRE BOOKS – 31 oct 2011 7571 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 7598 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 8049 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 8488 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 9199 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9211 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6 dec 2015 9211 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7 dec 2015 9390 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Penguin Books – 31 iul 2009 9464 lei  3-5 săpt. +2029 lei  6-10 zile
  – 9707 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 9786 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 9834 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 10217 lei  3-5 săpt.
  – 10340 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Les prairies numériques – 31 iul 2020 10345 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Gröls Verlag – 5 ian 2023 10721 lei  17-23 zile +929 lei  6-10 zile
  – 10810 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 11438 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 11920 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 12491 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 13304 lei  3-5 săpt.
  HarperCollins Publishers – 21 noi 2011 3941 lei  6-8 săpt.
  12th Media Services – 29 oct 2019 5269 lei  6-8 săpt.
  – 6445 lei  6-8 săpt.
  – 7541 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 7560 lei  6-8 săpt.
  – 7734 lei  6-8 săpt.
  LIGHTNING SOURCE INC – 23 sep 2018 7774 lei  17-23 zile
  SC Active Business Development SRL – 13 oct 2016 7935 lei  38-44 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 29 noi 2015 8210 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 29 noi 2015 8311 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Tark Classic Fiction – 18 dec 2008 8427 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 8964 lei  6-8 săpt.
  1st World Library – 9330 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Waking Lion Press – 30 iun 2008 9426 lei  6-8 săpt.
  – 9816 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bottom of the Hill Publishing – 31 mai 2014 10247 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bibliotech Press – 20 iul 2019 10500 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Indoeuropeanpublishing.com – 30 iun 2010 10517 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Well Read Edition – 18 ian 2016 11328 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Simon & Brown – 18 sep 2018 12090 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 14 noi 2018 12249 lei  38-44 zile
  Ithink Books – 11 dec 2020 12296 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 31 aug 2011 12503 lei  38-44 zile
  SKYE RYAN – 31 oct 2010 12575 lei  38-44 zile
  Prabhat Prakashan – 13 iun 2017 12685 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Ithink Books – 14 dec 2020 12879 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 31 oct 2011 12898 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 31 dec 2011 12898 lei  38-44 zile
  Ithink Books – 6 dec 2020 13010 lei  38-44 zile
  NMD Books – 20 mar 2016 13244 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Maple Press – 31 dec 2013 13343 lei  6-8 săpt.
  – 13480 lei  17-23 zile
  Urban Romantics – 8 oct 2012 13829 lei  38-44 zile
  – 13880 lei  17-23 zile
  – 14182 lei  17-23 zile
  Book Jungle – 30 dec 2009 14513 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Garnsey Press – 24 aug 2008 16590 lei  38-44 zile
  TREDITION CLASSICS – 31 oct 2011 17998 lei  6-8 săpt.
Hardback (22) 4629 lei  3-5 săpt. +3012 lei  6-10 zile
  Pan Macmillan – 17 mai 2017 4629 lei  3-5 săpt. +3012 lei  6-10 zile
  Arcturus Publishing – 24 iun 2024 6920 lei  3-5 săpt.
  EVERYMAN – 7 oct 1992 7200 lei  23-34 zile +3074 lei  6-10 zile
  UNION SQUARE & CO – 21 iun 2023 7646 lei  3-5 săpt. +2124 lei  6-10 zile
  Mint Editions – 21 noi 2020 8268 lei  3-5 săpt. +1458 lei  6-10 zile
  Dover Publications Inc. – 29 aug 2024 8987 lei  3-4 săpt. +3295 lei  6-10 zile
  chiltern publishing – 20 noi 2023 12751 lei  3-5 săpt. +1959 lei  6-10 zile
  Everyman's Library – 31 oct 1992 13749 lei  3-5 săpt.
  12th Media Services – 31 dec 1849 10919 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Chump Change – 27 dec 2016 11499 lei  6-8 săpt.
  – 13196 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Suzeteo Enterprises – 21 iun 2020 14357 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Simon & Brown – 18 sep 2018 17338 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 29 oct 2018 17338 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 28 sep 2018 17402 lei  38-44 zile
  Ithink Books – 12 dec 2020 17470 lei  38-44 zile
  Ithink Books – 14 dec 2020 17989 lei  38-44 zile
  – 18084 lei  38-44 zile
  Simon & Brown – 14 noi 2018 18376 lei  38-44 zile
  1ST WORLD LIB INC – 31 oct 2006 18382 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bibliotech Press – 20 iul 2019 18546 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Mjp Publishers – 31 mai 2023 19904 lei  6-8 săpt.
CD-Audio (1) 13021 lei  3-5 săpt.
  LA Theatre Works – 31 mar 2010 13021 lei  3-5 săpt.

Din seria The Penguin English Library

Preț: 4290 lei

Preț vechi: 5109 lei
-16% Nou

Puncte Express: 64
Preț estimativ în valută:
821€ • 867$ • 686£

Carte disponibilă

Livrare economică 13-24 decembrie
Livrare express 26-30 noiembrie pentru 2659 lei

 Adaugă în coș

Wish list
Gift list
Am citit!
Adaugă în listă
Preluare comenzi: 021 569.72.76

Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780141199450
ISBN-10: 0141199458
Pagini: 288
Dimensiuni: 129 x 198 x 13 mm
Greutate: 0.2 kg
Editura: Penguin Books
Colecția Penguin Classics
Seria The Penguin English Library

Locul publicării:London, United Kingdom

Notă biografică

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, where he wrote the bulk of his masterful tales of American colonial history. His career as a novelist began with The Scarlet Letter (1850) and also includes The house of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, and The Marble Faun.

Descriere

Descriere de la o altă ediție sau format:
'Thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me.'With these chilling words a husband claims his wife after a two-year absence. But the child she clutches is not his, and Hester must wear a scarlet 'A' upon her breast, the sin of adultery visible to all. Under an assumed name her husband begins his search for her lover, determined to expose what Hester is equally determined to protect. Defiant and proud, Hester witnesses the degradation of two very different men, as moral codes and legal imperatives painfully collide.Set in the Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, The Scarlet Letter also sheds light on the nineteenth-century in which it was written, as Hawthorne explores his ambivalent relations with his Puritan forebears. The text of this edition is taken from the Centenary Edition of Hawthorne's works, the most authoritative critical edition. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Extras

Chapter 1

The Prison-Door

A throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments, and gray, steeple-crowned hats, intermixed with women, some wearing hoods and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.

The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. In accordance with this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built the first prison-house somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill, almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial-ground, on Isaac Johnson's lot, and round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchres in the old churchyard of King's Chapel. Certain it is, that, some fifteen or twenty years after the settlement of the town, the wooden jail was already marked with weather-stains and other indications of age, which gave a yet darker aspect to its beetle-browed and gloomy front. The rust on the ponderous iron-work of its oaken door looked more antique than anything else in the New World. Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have known a youthful era. Before this ugly edifice, and between it and the wheel-track of the street, was a grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pigweed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation, which evidently found something congenial in the soil that had so early borne the black flower of civilized society, a prison. But, on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rose-bush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems, which might be imagined to offer their fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner as he went in, and to the condemned criminal as he came forth to his doom, in token that the deep heart of Nature could pity and be kind to him.

This rose-bush, by a strange chance, has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness, so long after the fall of the gigantic pines and oaks that originally over-shadowed it,-or whether, as there is fair authority for believing, it had sprung up under the footsteps of the sainted Anne Hutchinson, as she entered the prison-door,-we shall not take upon us to determine. Finding it so directly on the threshold of our narrative, which is now about to issue from that inauspicious portal, we could hardly do otherwise than pluck one of its flowers, and present it to the reader. It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom, that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.

Chapter 2

The Market-Place

The grass-plot before the jail, in Prison Lane, on a certain summer morning, not less than two centuries ago, was occupied by a pretty large number of the inhabitants of Boston, all with their eyes intently fastened on the iron-clamped oaken door. Amongst any other population, or at a later period in the history of New England, the grim rigidity that petrified the bearded physiognomies of these good people would have augured some awful business in hand. It could have betokened nothing short of the anticipated execution of some noted culprit, on whom the sentence of a legal tribunal had but confirmed the verdict of public sentiment. But, in that early severity of the Puritan character, an inference of this kind could not so indubitably be drawn. It might be that a sluggish bond-servant, or an undutiful child, whom his parents had given over to the civil authority, was to be corrected at the whipping-post. It might be, that an Antinomian, a Quaker, or other heterodox religionist was to be scourged out of the town, or an idle and vagrant Indian, whom the white man's fire-water had made riotous about the streets, was to be driven with stripes into the shadow of the forest. It might be, too, that a witch, like old Mistress Hibbins, the bitter-tempered widow of the magistrate, was to die upon the gallows. In either case, there was very much the same solemnity of demeanor on the part of the spectators; as befitted a people amongst whom religion and law were almost identical, and in whose character both were so thoroughly interfused, that the mildest and the severest acts of public discipline were alike made venerable and awful. Meagre, indeed, and cold was the sympathy that a transgressor might look for from such by-standers, at the scaffold. On the other hand, a penalty, which, in our days, would infer a degree of mocking infamy and ridicule, might then be invested with almost as stern a dignity as the punishment of death itself.

It was a circumstance to be noted, on the summer morning when our story begins its course, that the women, of whom there were several in the crowd, appeared to take a peculiar interest in whatever penal infliction might be expected to ensue. The age had not so much refinement, that any sense of impropriety restrained the wearers of petticoat and farthingale from stepping forth into the public ways, and wedging their not unsubstantial persons, if occasion were, into the throng nearest to the scaffold at an execution. Morally, as well as materially, there was a coarser fibre in those wives and maidens of old English birth and breeding, than in their fair descendants, separated from them by a series of six or seven generations; for, throughout that chain of ancestry, every successive mother has transmitted to her child a fainter bloom, a more delicate and briefer beauty, and a slighter physical frame, if not a character of less force and solidity, than her own. The women who were now standing about the prison-door stood within less than half a century of the period when the man-like Elizabeth1 had been the not altogether unsuitable representative of the sex. They were her countrywomen; and the beef and ale of their native land, with a moral diet not a whit more refined, entered largely into their composition. The bright morning sun, therefore, shone on broad shoulders and well-developed busts, and on round and ruddy cheeks, that had ripened in the far-off island, and had hardly yet grown paler or thinner in the atmosphere of New England. There was, moreover, a boldness and rotundity of speech among these matrons, as most of them seemed to be, that would startle us at the present day, whether in respect to its purport or its volume of tone.

"Goodwives," said a hard-featured dame of fifty, "I'll tell ye a
piece of my mind. It would be greatly for the public behoof, if we women, being of mature age and church-members in good repute, should have the handling of such malefactresses as this Hester Prynne. What think ye, gossips? If the hussy stood up for judgment before us five, that are now here in a knot together, would she come off with such a sentence as the worshipful magistrates have awarded? Marry, I trow not!"

"People say," said another, "that the Reverend Master Dimmesdale, her godly pastor, takes it very grievously to heart that such a scandal should have come upon his congregation."

"The magistrates are God-fearing gentlemen, but merciful overmuch,--that is a truth," added a third autumnal matron. "At the very least, they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynne's forehead. Madam Hester would have winced at that, I warrant me. But she,-the naughty baggage,-little will she care what they put upon the bodice of her gown! Why, look you, she may cover it with a brooch, or such like heathenish adornment, and so walk the streets as brave as ever!"

"Ah, but," interposed, more softly, a young wife, holding a child by the hand, "let her cover the mark as she will, the pang of it will be always in her heart."

"What do we talk of marks and brands, whether on the bodice of her gown, or the flesh of her forehead?" cried another female, the ugliest as well as the most pitiless of these self-constituted judges. "This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it? Truly, there is, both in the Scripture and the statute-book. Then let the magistrates, who have made it of no effect, thank themselves if their own wives and daughters go astray!"

"Mercy on us, goodwife," exclaimed a man in the crowd, "is there no virtue in woman, save what springs from a wholesome fear of the gallows? That is the hardest word yet! Hush, now, gossips! for the lock is turning in the prison-door, and here comes Mistress Prynne herself."

The door of the jail being flung open from within, there appeared, in the first place, like a black shadow emerging into sunshine, the grim and grisly presence of the town-beadle, with a sword by his side, and his staff of office in his hand. This personage prefigured and represented in his aspect the whole dismal severity of the Puritanic code of law, which it was his business to administer in its final and closest application to the offender. Stretching forth the official staff in his left hand, he laid his right upon the shoulder of a young woman, whom he thus drew forward; until, on the threshold of the prison-door, she repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free will. She bore in her arms a child, a baby of some three months old, who winked and turned aside its little face from the too vivid light of day; because its existence, heretofore, had brought it acquainted only with the gray twilight of a dungeon, or other darksome apartment of the prison.

When the young woman-the mother of this child-stood fully revealed before the crowd, it seemed to be her first impulse to clasp the infant closely to her bosom; not so much by an impulse of motherly affection, as that she might thereby conceal a certain token, which was wrought or fastened into her dress. In a moment, however, wisely judging that one token of her shame would but poorly serve to hide another, she took the baby on her arm, and, with a burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a glance that would not be abashed, looked around at her townspeople and neighbors. On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold-thread, appeared the letter A. It was so artistically done, and with so much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony.

The young woman was tall, with a figure of perfect elegance on a large scale. She had dark and abundant hair, so glossy that it threw off the sunshine with a gleam, and a face which, besides being beautiful from regularity of feature and richness of complexion, had the impressiveness belonging to a marked brow and deep black eyes. She was lady-like, too, after the manner of the feminine gentility of those days; characterized by a certain state and dignity, rather than by the delicate, evanescent, and indescribable grace, which is now recognized as its indication. And never had Hester Prynne appeared more lady-like, in the antique interpretation of the term, than as she issued from the prison. Those who had before known her, and had expected to behold her dimmed and obscured by a disastrous cloud, were astonished, and even startled, to perceive how her beauty shone out, and made a halo of the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped. It may be true, that, to a sensitive observer, there was something exquisitely painful in it. Her attire, which, indeed, she had wrought for the occasion, in prison, and had modelled much after her own fancy, seemed to express the attitude of her spirit, the desperate recklessness of her mood, by its wild and picturesque peculiarity. But the point which drew all eyes, and, as it were, transfigured the wearer,-so that both men and women, who had been familiarly acquainted with Hester Prynne, were now impressed as if they beheld her for the first time,-was that Scarlet Letter, so fantastically embroidered and illuminated5 upon her bosom. It had the effect of a spell, taking her out of the ordinary relations with humanity, and enclosing her in a sphere by herself.

"She hath good skill at her needle, that's certain," remarked one of her female spectators; "but did ever a woman, before this brazen hussy, contrive such a way of showing it! Why, gossips, what is it but to laugh in the faces of our godly magistrates, and make a pride out of what they, worthy gentlemen, meant for a punishment?"

"It were well," muttered the most iron-visaged of the old dames, "if we stripped Madam Hester's rich gown off her dainty shoulders; and as for the red letter, which she hath stitched so curiously, I'll bestow a rag of mine own rheumatic flannel, to make a fitter one!"

"Oh, peace, neighbors, peace!" whispered their youngest companion; "do not let her hear you! Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt it in her heart."

The grim beadle now made a gesture with his staff.

"Make way, good people, make way, in the King's name!" cried he. "Open a passage; and, I promise ye, Mistress Prynne shall be set where man, woman, and child may have a fair sight of her brave apparel, from this time till an hour past meridian. A blessing on the righteous Colony of the Massachusetts, where iniquity is dragged out into the sunshine! Come along, Madam Hester, and show your scarlet letter in the market-place!"

Recenzii

"Something might at last be sent to Europe as exquisite in quality as anything that had been received" -- Henry James "No facile answers are provided here. Hester is, after all, guilty; Pearl the "Elfin" child, has devilish traits; the Puritans are given their due. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale are villains because of their hypocrisy but remain sympathetic because they are both self-destructive..." Independent "A defiant adulteress; a community of hypocrites who force her to wear a scarlet letter A around her neck as a badge of her shame; an evil husband, secretly stoking the fires of their moral fervour until it reaches boiling point; and, finally, a stunning public confession in which the woman reveals the identity of her lover, who is then promptly sent to the gallows" Sunday Times "In making fiction out of the excesses of his Puritan ancestors, Hawthorne anticipated the technique of a modern movie-director. He was a master of crowd scenes" Financial Times "[Nathaniel Hawthorne] recaptured, for his New England, the essence of Greek tragedy" -- Malcolm Cowley

Textul de pe ultima copertă

First published in 1850, "The Scarlet Letter" is Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterpiece and one of the greatest American novels. Its themes of sin, guilt, and redemption, woven through a story of adultery in the early days of the Massachusetts Colony, are revealed with remarkable psychological penetration and understanding of the human heart.
Hester Prynne is the adulteress, forced by the Puritan community to wear a scarlet letter A on the breast of her gown. Arthur Dimmesdale, the minister and the secret father of her child, Pearl, struggles with the agony of conscience and his own weakness. Roger Chillingworth, Hester's husband, revenges himself on Dimmesdale by calculating assaults on the frail mental state of the conscience-stricken cleric. The result is an American tragedy of stark power and emotional depth that has mesmerized critics and readers for nearly a century and a half.
A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.