<Tr> <Th> Publication date </Th> <Td> 1850 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Dewey Decimal </Th> <Td> 813.3 </Td> </Tr> <P> The Scarlet Letter: A Romance, an 1850 novel, is a work of historical fiction written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne . It is considered his "masterwork". Set in 17th - century Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity . As she struggles to raise her rambunctious daughter, Pearl, on her own, the father of her child is revealed and is shown to be experiencing severe guilt . Through the scorn and judgment of the citizens and Roger Chillingworth (Hester's husband), the two decide to remain together . Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt . </P> <P> In June 1638, in Puritan Boston, Massachusetts, a crowd gathers to witness the punishment of Hester Prynne, a young woman who has given birth to a baby of unknown parentage . She is required to wear a scarlet "A" on her dress when she is in front of the townspeople to shame her . The letter "A" stands for adulteress, although this is never said explicitly in the novel . Her sentence required her to stand on the scaffold for three hours, exposed to public humiliation, and to wear the scarlet "A" for the rest of her life . As Hester approaches the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd are angered by her beauty and quiet dignity . When demanded and cajoled to name the father of her child, Hester refuses . </P>

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