BOOK REVIEW: The Scarlet Letter (1840)

The Scarlet Letter, a classic American novel dealing with themes of sin and guilt, is a brilliantly written and meaningful novel. While it can be difficult to read for young people in the modern world, it is an interesting and entertaining novel after one gets past the archaic vocabulary and 1800s writing style. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, wrote this in the peak of his career, with impressive amounts of detail (although some detail, I find, is unnecessary). The imagery, similes, ad metaphors he used were used supremely.

Nathaniel conveys well lessons such as the consequences of seeking revenge and the importance of telling the truth rather than keeping secrets that burn inside oneself. He has created (or, in some places, conveyed) characters that are believable and show intense amounts of emotion. His descriptions of the highly religion-based structure of 1600s Boston is superb, and important scenes like that on the pillory, in the forest, and at the end on the scaffold, shine through as some of the most memorable scenes in American literature.

There are, however, some points which keep "The Scarlet Letter" from being perfect. First of all, the third person (sometimes limited, sometimes omniscient) point of view felt a bit jumpy at times, and I didn't think it had enough character development for characters like Roger Chillingsworth, or even heroine Hester Prynne, as I would like. The story of Hester seems to lose some importance when we find out (and it doesn't take long) that Arthur Dimmesdale has been hiding his half of the sin from the public. There just isn't enough suspense, it is too predictable. Also, it seemed that the character of Pearl wasn't used to full potential. It felt like she was just holding the plot back and had no real meaning. I'm not saying she was a character that was unneeded- she is the only reason the public knows of Hester's sin. But apart from that purpose, she was a   very underdeveloped character that could have played a more vital part in the plot.

Still, past the unused characters and easy to guess plot, the Scarlet Letter is a good book overall, a novel vital to American Literature that I am glad I read.