<P> On the other hand, 20th - century writer D.H. Lawrence said that there could not be a more perfect work of the American imagination than The Scarlet Letter . Henry James once said of the novel, "It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary; it has in the highest degree that merit which I have spoken of as the mark of Hawthorne's best things--an indefinable purity and lightness of conception...One can often return to it; it supports familiarity and has the inexhaustible charm and mystery of great works of art ." </P> <P> The following are historical and Biblical references that appear in The Scarlet Letter . </P> <Ul> <Li> Anne Hutchinson, mentioned in Chapter 1, The Prison Door, was a religious dissenter (1591--1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the Puritans and exiled from Boston and moved to Rhode Island . </Li> <Li> Ann Hibbins, who historically was executed for witchcraft in Boston in 1656, is depicted in The Scarlet Letter as a witch who tries to tempt Prynne to the practice of witchcraft . </Li> <Li> Richard Bellingham, who historically was the governor of Massachusetts and deputy governor at the time of Hibbins's execution, was depicted in The Scarlet Letter as the brother of Ann Hibbins . </Li> <Li> Martin Luther (1483--1545) was a leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany . </Li> <Li> Sir Thomas Overbury and Dr. Forman were the subjects of an adultery scandal in 1615 in England . Dr. Forman was charged with trying to poison his adulterous wife and her lover . Overbury was a friend of the lover and was perhaps poisoned . </Li> <Li> John Winthrop (1588--1649), second governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony . </Li> <Li> King's Chapel Burying Ground, mentioned in the final paragraph, exists; the Elizabeth Pain gravestone is traditionally considered an inspiration for the protagonists' grave . </Li> <Li> The story of King David and Bathsheba is depicted in the tapestry in Mr. Dimmesdale's room (chapter 9). (See II Samuel 11 - 12 for the Biblical story .) </Li> <Li> John Eliot (c. 1604--1690) was a Puritan missionary to the American Indians whom some called "the apostle to the Indians ." He is referred to as "the Apostle Eliot" at the beginning of Chapter 16, A Forest Walk, whom Dimmesdale has gone to visit . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Anne Hutchinson, mentioned in Chapter 1, The Prison Door, was a religious dissenter (1591--1643). In the 1630s she was excommunicated by the Puritans and exiled from Boston and moved to Rhode Island . </Li>

This is a story about a scarlet letter