"The Scarlet Letter"

The Scarlet Letter takes place in the Puritan Mass Bay Colonies, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and centers on Hester Prynne. Hester is an outsider in her puritan community, because she has committed a horrific crime in her neighbor's eyes. She has broken one of the Ten Commandments adultery, and is therefore going to hell. She has an illegitimate child outside of her marriage and this child has no known father. As such, the puritan leaders make an example of her by forcing her to wear a scarlet letter, and ignominious brand that separates her from the community. …