Write a short note on The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne in his renowned novel The Scarlet Letter tells a tragic tale of sin guilt and punishment in Puritan Boston The novel shows how strict religion controls people s lives and destroys human happiness The story begins with Hester Prynne a young woman punished for adultery She is forced to wear a scarlet letter A on her chest as a sign of shame Her lover Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale hides his sin and suffers from inner guilt Hester s husband Roger Chillingworth secretly takes revenge on Dimmesdale The scarlet letter becomes a powerful symbol At first it stands for sin and shame Later it comes to mean Able showing Hester s strength and kindness The novel also shows her daughter Pearl as a living symbol of love and sin together Hawthorne uses the Puritan society to explore moral hypocrisy and human weakness