Quotes from book
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850.Set in Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne who conceives a daughter through an affair and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity. The book explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt.
Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter XX: The Minister in a Maze
Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter XXIV: Conclusion
Context: Among many morals which press upon us from the poor minister's miserable experience, we put only this into a sentence: — "Be true! Be true! Be true! Show freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait whereby the worst may be inferred!"
Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter XV: Hester and Pearl
Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter II: The Market-Place
“… if truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth on many a bosom…”
Source: The Scarlet Letter
Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter XVIII: A Flood of Sunshine
Source: The Scarlet Letter (1850), Chapter XXIV: Conclusion
Context: It is a curious subject of observation and inquiry, whether hatred and love be not the same thing at bottom. Each, in its utmost development, supposes a high degree of intimacy and heart-knowledge; each renders one individual dependent for the food of his affections and spiritual life upon another; each leaves the passionate lover, or the no less passionate hater, forlorn and desolate by the withdrawal of his object.
“The sorrow that lay cold in her mother's heart… converted it into a tomb.”
Source: The Scarlet Letter
