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The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne · 1850
In seventeenth-century Boston, Hester Prynne bears an embroidered scarlet A after a public sentence. She and her daughter Pearl build a life at the edge of the settlement as magistrates, ministers and a physician circle around questions of shame, silence and mercy.
Inside this edition
Every LitLab edition is illustrated from the text itself — the world of the book mapped, its people drawn, its scenes staged. 24 plates are open to everyone in this book; here are 8 of them.
The Principal Figures
The Town's Public Figures
The Town's Leaders in the Market-Place
Hester and the Physician by the ShoreHester confronts Roger Chillingworth while Pearl plays beside the tidal pools.
The Election-Day ProcessionHester and Pearl watch Reverend Dimmesdale pass with the stately procession through the market-place.
At the Prison Door
Boston at Massachusetts Bay
The Prison DoorAn iron-studded oak door stands beside a small wild rose bush.
This edition
- Title
- The Scarlet Letter
- Author
- Nathaniel Hawthorne
- First published
- 1850
- Illustrated plates
- 69 original artworks · 24 open to everyone
- Chapters
- 25 · about 82,949 words
- Reading time
- 5 h 32 min
- Language
- EN
- Formats
- Read online · EPUB and PDF download with a subscription
- Publisher
- LitLab — The Illustrated Classics
- On LitLab since
- October 2026
- Rights
- Text in the public domain. Illustrations and edition © LitLab.
Neighbours in the library
Chosen by what they share with The Scarlet Letter — the same years.