The Scarlet Letter
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The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
The scarlet letter: plot summary, the scarlet letter: detailed summary & analysis, the scarlet letter: themes, the scarlet letter: quotes, the scarlet letter: characters, the scarlet letter: symbols, the scarlet letter: literary devices, the scarlet letter: quizzes, the scarlet letter: theme wheel, brief biography of nathaniel hawthorne.
Historical Context of The Scarlet Letter
Other books related to the scarlet letter.
- Full Title: The Scarlet Letter
- When Written: 1848-1850
- Where Written: Salem, Massachusetts
- When Published: 1850
- Literary Period: Transcendentalism
- Genre: Novel
- Setting: Boston, Massachusetts in the 1640s
- Climax: Dimmesdale's confession and death
- Antagonist: Roger Chillingworth; the Puritans
- Point of View: Third person omniscient
Extra Credit for The Scarlet Letter
Hawthorne and the Salem Witch Trials: Nathaniel Hawthorne was a direct descendent of John Hathorne, (1641-1717), a Puritan justice of the peace. Justice Hathorne is best known for his role as the lead judge in the Salem Witch Trials, in which he sentenced numerous innocent people to death for allegedly practicing witchcraft. Nathaniel added a "w" to his name to distance himself from his infamous ancestor.
The Scarlet Letter
106 pages • 3 hours read
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Introduction
Chapters 1-4
Chapters 5-8
Chapters 9-12
Chapters 13-16
Chapters 17-20
Chapters 21-24
Character Analysis
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Discussion Questions
One of the defining characteristics of Romantic literature is an appreciation of nature’s beauty and an association of the natural world with inspiration, authenticity, and freedom. How does The Scarlet Letter reflect these broader Romantic trends?
Although the novel takes place prior to the Salem witch trials, Hawthorne references the trials in the Introduction with the assumption that readers are already familiar with them. How does knowledge of these trials color the novel’s meaning?
Compare and contrast the scene of Hester’s punishment on the scaffold with Dimmesdale’s confession and death. What do these similarities and differences reveal about the novel’s characters or themes?
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- The Scarlet Letter
Background of the Novel
“The Scarlet letter” is a Romance written by an American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was published in 1850. When it was published it earned great fame. Today it is considered a classic work. Different films and stage dramas got inspired by it. It was among the first mass-produced books of America. It is considered a masterpiece by critics. Moreover, it is regarded as a “Perfect work of American imagination” by the novelist D.H Lawrence.
The novel is written in third-person narration. It is told by an unnamed narrator who worked in the Custom House. He decided to write the story when he found a scarlet letter along with some parts of its story from the attic of the Custom House. He finally penned down this story after losing his job.
The novel tells us the story of Hester Prynne who carries a child because of her extra-marital affair. Later she suffers a lot after committing the great sin and is transformed into a new person by the end of the novel. The novel deals with the themes of sin, guilt, repentance, and revenge etc.
The Scarlet Letter Summary
Preface: the custom house.
The Scarlet letter opens with a long preface about how this book was written. The anonymous narrator of this novel worked as a surveyor of the Custom-house. The custom-house is a building where import and export goods are documented by the people. It was in Salem, Massachusetts. Many ships stopped coming to Salem so the narrator had not much to do. One day, he went to the attic of the custom-house. There were many documents. Among them, he found a manuscript that was wrapped in a scarlet golden embroidered piece of cloth in the shape of an “A”.
Those manuscripts were documented by a man named “Jonathan Pue” some hundred years before the narrator’s time. In them, there was a story of “Hester Prynne”. The narrator decided to write a narrative of Hester Prynne. Soon the Custom house found another person for the narrator’s job and he got fired. So after losing his job, he decided to write about all the fictional events documented in the manuscript. ” The Scarlet Letter” is the final product of it.
Chapter 1: The Prison Door
The first chapter tells us about the town prison. The story takes place in a Puritan settlement of the seventeenth century in Boston. The people of the town gather and they all start staring at the prison door. At one side of the prison door, there is a rose bush growing that everyone thinks is the blessing for those criminals who enter that door. The people of the town believe that the rose bush grew when Ann Hutchinson entered that door of the prison. Ann Hutchinson was a person in history who got punished because he gave a statement that people should focus on their individual relations with the god instead of depending on the minister’s orders.
Chapter 2: The Marketplace
The people of the town gather to watch the punishment given to Hester Prynne. In the crowd, the women seem busy in exchanging gossip. One woman says that the punishment of Hester should be execution. The other one suggests that her punishment is too light, just an “A” on her chest that can be easily covered up by anything. Then a woman scolds them. She disagrees with them by saying that she is sure that every day Hester will feel that mark. Soon Hester Prynne comes out of the prison door with her 3 months old daughter in her arms. The gossiping women get shocked to see that Hester didn’t hide the letter “A” rather she embroidered it to make it look beautiful.
The people of the town think that Hester is making fun of their punishment. The woman who scolded others says again that Hester must have felt each stroke of the needle in her heart while embroidering it. Hester moves out from the door to the center of the town and she is kept in a pillory that is a wooden structure with holes for hands and head and is used to display the criminal in front of the whole town for punishment. She remembers her mother, father, and her scholar. Her little baby starts crying when she squeezes her tightly.
Chapter 3: The recognition
Hester looks at the crowd and recognizes a white man. She tries to draw his attention towards her by squeezing her daughter until she cries. The man looks at her and puts the finger on his lips. The white man asks a person in the crowd what’s happening there. The man tells him that the lady is Hester Prynne who got married to a white man who has not been seen here for two years but the lady has a three months old child that’s why she is charged with adultery. The people insist her to tell the name of her baby’s father and the partner of hers in crime but she stands quiet.
Chapter 4: The Interview
Hester is taken back to the prison where an elderly doctor named “Roger Chillingworth” comes to see her. It is revealed that he is the same white man whom Hester recognized in the crowd. He is Hester’s missing husband who is practicing medicine now. He also wants to know about her lover. However, he asks Hester to keep his identity secret and she agrees.
Chapter 5: Hester at Her Needle
Hester didn’t tell anyone about her partner. However, she gets released from the prison with the decision that she will always be wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her clothes as a punishment. After coming out, she becomes a very good seamstress but everyone mocks and looks down upon her glancing the scarlet letter.
Chapter 6: Pearl
Hester names her daughter “Pearl”. She grows up and she is a very beautiful and charming girl. She is also treated badly in society just like her mother. People consider her the offspring of demons. As she grows up, she notices her mother’s scarlet letter ” A” on her clothes. One day she invents a game to hit flowers right on the scarlet letter. Hester feels that each flower is hurting and wounding her so she starts crying.
Chapter 7: The Governor Hall
Hester heard some rumors that the community officials are going to take away Pearl from her so she gets worried. She goes to see the Governor on this matter and she also takes a pair of fine embroidered gloves for him. She also takes Pearl with her dressed in the scarlet dress. While they await the Governor, they move out in his Garden for some time. Pearl starts crying to get a red rose from the garden. Meanwhile, they hear the voices of the Governor and some other people coming towards them.
Chapter 8: The Elf-Child and the Minister
Governor Bellingham arrives with the Ministers John Wilson and Arthur Dimmesdale and also a physician Roger Chillingworth accompanies them. Hester hides behind the curtain and only Pearl is visible in front of the men. They ask Pearl who she is but then they recognize that she is Hester Prynne’s daughter and Hester is also present behind her. Hester requests the Governor not to take her daughter away from her but the Governor snatches her from her mother. Hester then requests Dimmesdale for mercy. He and other men agree to leave Pearl. Dimmesdale, however, doesn’t look fine. He suffers some kind of heart problem.
Chapter 9: The Leech
Chillingworth is a good doctor. He works on combining the American Indian and British herbal medicines. He is considered as a Leech by the narrator. As Dimmesdale is sick, he often puts his hand on his heart. Maybe he feels severe pain in his heart but he doesn’t tell this to anyone. Chillingworth, however, starts his treatment but he doesn’t know about his problem so they decide that Chillingworth will live with Dimmesdale as it will help him to figure out his problem. Dimmesdale is unmarried and lives alone so he agrees to let his physician stay with him.
Chapter 10: The Leech and his Patient
Dimmesdale talks to Chillingworth about sins and their confession. He tells him that most people hide their sins by keeping secrets because they know that if they confess then they will never be able to do good for God. He also grabs his chest while talking as if he is feeling severe pain in his heart. Chillingworth suspects that Dimmesdale is concealing something from him. Chillingworth thinks that maybe there is some connection between Dimmesdale and Hester so he gets cautious to learn about his secret. One afternoon Dimmesdale falls asleep while reading a book. Chillingworth opens his shirt and he finds a mark on his chest which makes him sure that his suspicions were not incorrect.
Chapter 11: The Interior of a Heart
Chillingworth decides to take revenge from Dimmesdale but he can’t take it because Dimmesdale starts torturing himself because of his sin. Many times he tries to confess his sin but then ends up harming and beating himself cruelly as an act of repentance. He starts having visions of Hester Prynne at night, pointing her forefinger towards the letter on her dress then towards the mark on his chest.
Chapter 12: The Minister’s Vigil
One night Dimmesdale goes out to the scaffold. Meanwhile, Hester Prynne and Pearl come near him as they return from the deathbed of Minister Winthrop and they find him punishing himself for his sins. The little Pearl laughs and holds his hand. Dimmesdale and Hester get linked together by holding the hands of Pearl. Soon Roger Chillingworth appears and he looks evil. He asks Dimmesdale to come home with him.
Chapter 13: Another view of Hester
Hester gets worried to see the terrible condition of Dimmesdale. She knows that the regret and guilt are killing him inside and has made him sick. Pearl is now seven years old and the town has started respecting Hester again. Hester has worked very hard for the last few years to win the people’s hearts.
Now people even start talking that the “A” on Hester’s dress maybe means “able” or the scarlet letter actually means that she is sacred and holy. Hester sometimes thinks that she doesn’t deserve this honor and maybe she should die but she feels really bad for Dimmesdale and decides to help him. One day she gets a chance to do it when she goes on a walk with Pearl in an isolated place in the Peninsula. She finds Chillingworth there.
Chapter 14: Hester and the Physician
Hester asks Pearl to go to the water to play there for some time so that she can talk to Chillingworth in isolation. Chillingworth tells her that the magistrates are considering the matter of removing the letter from her dress.
Hester doesn’t seem happy about hearing this, rather she says that the magistrates should not think about taking it off because if she is worthy then the letter itself will fall away someday or will be changed into something else. Chillingworth mocks her by saying it suits her as it is fancy and she should keep on wearing it. Hester realizes that Chillingworth is changed and she can feel evil in his heart but she can’t blame him for it as she knows she is the reason behind this change.
Hester then talks to him about Dimmesdale and says that she shouldn’t have kept herself silent. It would have been better if Dimmesdale had been punished or publicly shamed for his sin. She begs her to forgive him and not to take revenge from him but Chillingworth refuses by saying that Dimmesdale himself has made things worse for him by forcing Chillingworth to become a monster. It clearly suggests that Chillingworth is determined to take revenge from Dimmesdale.
Chapter 15: Hester and Pearl
Chillingworth starts doing his task again for which he came there. Hester watches him while he collects herbs. Hester thinks that she hates him and it was the worst decision of her life to marry him. On the other hand, Pearl remains busy in playing and dressing up herself like a mermaid using a scarf. She also puts a seaweed A on her chest.
Hester asks her whether she knows what is the meaning of “A” on her mother’s dress. Pearl replies that she knows Dimmesdale always puts his hand on his heart for the same reason. Hester gets shocked. Pearl asks her what does the letter on her dress mean and why Dimmesdale always puts his hand on his heart. Hester refuses to tell her anything.
Chapter 16: The Forest Walk
Hester and Pearl decide to wait for Dimmesdale while he comes back after visiting a sick man. Like other kids, Pearl keeps on asking innocent questions from her mother. She asks Hester about the Black man that she heard from an old lady and is just a superstition that the Black man haunts the forest and everyone who meets him has to write his name in his book in blood. He has written the names of many people in his book and Hester’s letter is the black man’s mark on her. She asks her mother if it is true.
Then Dimmesdale arrives and Pearl asks him the same question whether he puts his hand on his heart because the black man had also put his mark on him and why he doesn’t wear it on his clothes like his mother and hides it. Hester asks her to stay quiet and look at Dimmesdale’s poor condition.
Chapter 17: The Pastor and His Parishioner
After a long time, Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the woods. He holds her hand. They ask each other whether they get peace but both of them disagree. Hester realizes that she shouldn’t keep Chillingworth’s secret so she tells Dimmesdale about Chillingworth’s plan. She tells her that he is not ready to forgive him and he will surely take revenge from him.
They both agree that he will not reveal their secret however he will take revenge in some other way. Dimmesdale decides that he shouldn’t live with Chillingworth under one roof now and he asks her what he should do. Hester suggests him to go to Europe. He refuses to leave the town and go to live in a place where he is all alone.
Chapter 18: A Flood of Sunshine
Dimmesdale gets surprised when Hester tells him that he will not be alone there rather she suggests running away with him. Dimmesdale, however, doesn’t find this idea good because he never thought of ditching his community. He always wanted to serve his community as a minister. After some time he finds it tempting and agrees to do it. They become very happy. Hester even removes the letter from her clothes and throws it down. Everything looks celebrating their freedom. Nature, the sunshine and the birds sing everything seem to bless them. Hester then calls Pearl.
Chapter 19: The Child at the Brook-Side
As Pearl comes to them, she doesn’t recognize her mother without the scarlet letter. Hester and Dimmesdale start discussing how Pearl looks like both of her parents. Pearl doesn’t come near them and keeps standing on the other side of the brook. She feels separated from her mother seeing her with someone else. However, Hester asks her to bring the scarlet letter to her that has fallen on the ground. Pearl refuses to say that get it yourself. Hester decides to wear the letter again until they leave the town. When Pearl sees the letter back on her mother’s dress she runs towards her and kisses her mother. Dimmesdale bends down to kiss Pearl but she doesn’t seem to like his kiss and runs towards the brook to wash it.
Chapter 20: The Minister in a Maze
Hester comes to know that a ship will sail to Bristol England after four days. Hester meets the captain and the crew of the ship to secure passage for her, Dimmesdale and Pearl. Hester thinks that Dimmesdale has got four days to end his career by delivering his final Election sermon. Hester feels excited but Dimmesdale gets nervous. He seems to regret his decision. He thinks that he has sold his soul to the devil by choosing the path of sin. However, he works all night to write and prepare his Election Sermon.
Chapter 21: The New England Holiday
Everyone in the town is busy at the celebrations of Election Sunday. A new Governor takes hold of his office and these celebrations are to welcome him. The whole town seems happy and everyone is gathered. Hester and Pearl are also present there and Hester asks Pearl to see how everyone is celebrating. The commander of the ship comes to meet Hester. He tells her that there is another passenger from their town who is also going to Bristol on the same ship that leaves after four days. Hester gets surprised and tries to figure out who that person is. She becomes really worried when she comes to know that Chillingworth is the person from their town who will accompany them to Bristol.
Chapter 22: The Procession
Everyone in the town including the magistrates and the citizens gather to hear Dimmesdale’s Election Sermon. Dimmesdale looks energetic. Hester feels emotional after listening to the sermon. While Hester is there in Sermon, Pearl plays in the marketplace. The shipmaster gives a message to the little Pearl to take it to Hester. The message says that she doesn’t need to worry now because Chillingworth is bringing Dimmesdale with him on board.
Chapter 23: The Revelation of the Scarlet letter
The Sermon gets over and the music starts again. The procession now moves towards the town hall where a banquet is arranged for them. The condition of Dimmesdale seems terrible. He moves to the scaffold where Hester and Pearl await him. While they all stand on the scaffold, Chillingworth also comes in threatening Dimmesdale to save himself and let go of the woman and little girl. Dimmesdale starts talking to everyone saying that he should have done this seven years ago. He falls down and while he collapses, he opens his shirt to make the mark on his chest visible to everyone. Dimmesdale confesses his crime. Pearl kisses him and he dies.
Chapter 24: Conclusion
Chillingworth becomes angry as Dimmesdale escapes his revenge. He also dies a year later leaving all his property for Pearl both in England and the U.S. Using that money Hester and Pearl move to Boston and settle there. No one knows what happened to them after that. One day after many years a tall woman wearing a scarlet letter on her clothes enters the town again and she is Hester. She starts living in her old cottage and resumes her work of charity again. Pearl got married to a European aristocrat and she often writes letters to Hester. Hester dies and gets buried near the grave of Dimmesdale. The gravestone of both carries a scarlet letter “A” on it.
The Scarlet Letter Characters Analysis
Hester prynne.
She is the protagonist of this novel. A woman who gets married to an old scholar, Roger Chillingworth, before coming to Boston. His husband leaves her alone and never comes back in two years. In her loneliness, she tries to seek love from someone else and commits a serious crime of adultery. The town puts her in the prison along with her illegitimate 3 months old daughter. She doesn’t reveal the identity of her lover in front of the town and gets punished to wear a scarlet letter ” A” on her clothes. Afterwards, she lives in a small cottage with her daughter.
Hester is a devoted mother. She loves her daughter and names her “Pearl” as her daughter is of great importance for her just like a precious and priceless pearl. She works day and night to meet the needs of her daughter. Without any help, she raises her daughter and becomes a famous seamstress. Even the magistrates and other officers of the town get their clothes stitched and embroidered from her.
When she comes to know that the magistrates are talking about taking Pearl away from her, she goes to the Governor’s house to request the Minister not to take her daughter away. The minister tries to snatch Pearl away from her but she begs in front of other magistrates to show mercy. However, she manages to live with her daughter because of Dimmesdale.
Hester proves herself as a strong woman. Initially, people look down upon her considering her a sinner but she struggles and works hard to get her reputation back. She has been nice to all the people for many years and gets successful in winning their trust and love again. People respect her and they even start saying that maybe the letter “A” on her dress means “able” or it means she is sacred and holy.
Though the cruel society tries to oppress her yet she fights back and proves herself as a strong and independent woman. After some years, the magistrates even start thinking about taking the scarlet letter back from her.
Hester is a secret keeper and a loyal lover too. She not only keeps the secret of her lover “Dimmesdale” but also she doesn’t tell anyone about the real identity of her husband “Chillingworth”. She never gets angry or fights with Dimmesdale for not taking her side when the whole town was disrespecting her and asking her to reveal her partner’s name. She suffers everything alone.
She gets worried about seeing the terrible condition of Dimmesdale. When she finds him hurting himself, she goes to Chillingworth to request him to stop Dimmesdale from doing it. He refuses and tells her that he will take revenge from Dimmesdale. She becomes frightened and meets Dimmesdale in the woods to make him aware of Chillingworth’s evil intentions. She suggests Dimmesdale escape to Europe. With the hope to start a new life with her family, she gets really happy and starts celebrating. Dimmesdale kisses and hugs her. She throws the scarlet letter on the ground and opens her hair to enjoy the moment of happiness.
She talks to the captain of the ship and the crew to secure passage for her family on a ship sailing to Europe after four days. She feels satisfied thinking that four days are enough for Dimmesdale to end his decent career by delivering the final Election sermon. She feels really worried when she comes to know that Chillingworth is also following them to Europe on the same ship. On the day of the sermon, she feels touched by listening to the sermon delivered by Dimmesdale. She goes to the scaffold with Pearl and starts waiting for Dimmesdale. When he arrives, she holds him seeing his terrible condition.
After Dimmesdale’s death, Hester doesn’t lose hope. She moves to Europe with Pearl using the money that Chillingworth left for Pearl after his death. At the end of the novel, Hester returns to her old town after many years. Hester is old now but people of the town recognize her by seeing a scarlet letter on her clothes. Though there is no need of wearing it now, yet she accepts it as her identity and wears it throughout her life. She starts living in her old cottage. Her daughter got married in Europe and she often writes to her. After her death, she is buried near the grave of Dimmesdale. Her gravestone carries the same scarlet letter “A” on it.
Arthur Dimmesdale
Dimmesdale is a well-respected reverend of Boston. He is the lover and the secret partner of Hester Prynne and the father of Pearl. He is respected by all the people of the town and his sermons affect people greatly. Therefore, he gets frightened to carry the burden of his sin that he committed. He doesn’t confess his crime and leaves Hester alone to suffer. However, he realizes his fault soon and regrets what he did. The regret and guilt start affecting his health. Often he is observed putting his hand on his chest as if he is feeling severe pain in his heart. He starts to punish himself secretly by hurting and beating himself and also by starving himself. He realizes that he acted cowardly and selfishly and these are greater sins as compared to adultery.
He doesn’t confess his crime in front of people but he carries the same mark on his chest as Hester’s Scarlet letter. However, It is not clearly mentioned in the novel how he gets a mark there. Maybe he himself created that red mark on his chest by scratching himself out of his guilt and regret. As he never got married so he lives alone and invites Chillingworth to live with him. Chillingworth comes to share his house to take care of him as a physician. Dimmesdale is totally unaware that Chillingworth is Hester’s husband. Chillingworth suspects that Dimmesdale has some part in Hester’s crime and he starts spying. He finds a mark on Dimmesdale’s chest and decides to take revenge from him. Dimmesdale quietly bears his cruelty and torture for seven years without even uttering a single word.
He loves Pearl. Hester and Pearl manage to live together because of him. He asks the magistrates not to take away Pearl from her mother. He often kisses her. When he meets Hester in the woods, they discuss how Pearl resembles both of her parents. Dimmesdale is a very nice man. When Hester suggests him escape to Europe, he disagrees saying that he always wished to serve his life in the service of the town. Hester convinces him by saying that they will start a new life in Europe with their daughter Pearl. At that time, he agrees but later he worries about this decision.
He prepares himself for the final sermon of his life. On Election Sunday, he delivers a great sermon and gets appreciated by the people. After the sermon, he goes to Hester and Pearl who await him on the ship. His guilt doesn’t let him escape like this. He feels terrible and his health seems worse. Chillingworth also follows him on the ship to take his revenge. Dimmesdale confesses his crime in front of people. He tears open his shirt while falling down to show his mark to the people. He admits that he is the father of Pearl and an equal partner in Hester’s sin. After knowing about her father, Pearl kisses him and he dies after it as he couldn’t bear the burden of his sin anymore. However, people forgive him and always remember him in good words.
Roger Chillingworth
Chillingworth is the antagonist of the novel. He is an old scholar. Hester got married to him but he disappeared leaving her alone. He appears in the town after two years as a physician because he has started practicing medicine. He watches Hester and her 3 months old child when she is taken out of the prison in front of the town. Hester also recognizes her. She tries to draw his attention towards her by making her daughter cry but Chillingworth puts his finger on his lips asking her to stay quiet. Later he visits her in the prison. He tries to investigate her about her partner and also asks her to keep his identity secret. She agrees and never tells anyone that Chillingworth is her husband.
His character is transformed into a devil when he comes to know that Dimmesdale is the lover of Hester. He starts living with Dimmesdale as his physician but one day, he finds a mark on Dimmesdale’s chest that confirms his doubt. He decides to take revenge from him. He spends 7 years torturing Dimmesdale for his sin. Though Dimmesdale himself feels guilty of his crime, yet he doesn’t show any mercy. Seeing the terrible condition of Dimmesdale, Hester requests Chillingworth to stop him from hurting himself but he refuses to do that and tells Hester that he will take revenge from Dimmesdale. Dimmesdale considers him a bigger sinner than him and Hester. People even forgive Hester and Dimmesdale but no one forgives Chillingworth for his evil intentions.
At the end of the novel, when Hester and Dimmesdale decide to escape to Europe, he also accompanies them on the ship to take his revenge. Dimmesdale however, dies after confessing his sin that makes Chillingworth mad. He wants to kill him in his revenge but his death escapes his revenge. He starts becoming sick and dies one year later after Dimmesdale’s death leaving all his property for Pearl.
Pearl is the illegitimate daughter of Hester Prynne and Dimmesdale. She is only 3 months old when her mother gets punished for adultery. Hester loves her daughter. She named her “Pearl” because she thinks that her daughter is a priceless pearl. Like her mother, people of the town also look down upon Pearl. They used to call her the “witch-girl” but in reality, Pearl is a very pretty and intelligent girl.
Pearl is a very smart girl. She often asks her mother about the truth of the scarlet letter and she tells her mother that she thinks Dimmesdale has the same letter on his body because of which he always puts his hand on his chest. When Hester and Dimmesdale meet in the woods, Pearl is only 7 years old but she guesses that there is some secret between them. She also suspects that Dimmesdale is his father. Initially, she doesn’t like Dimmesdale but he cares about her. He once saved her when the magistrates were taking her away from Hester. At the end of the novel, when Dimmesdale admits that he is the father of Pearl, she becomes happy to know about her father and kisses him.
After the death of Chillingworth, he leaves all his property for Pearl. Pearl becomes the owner of both of his properties in Europe and in the U.S. Using that money Pearl moves to Boston with her mother and settles there. There she gets married to a European aristocrat and starts her own family. She often writes to Hester when she returns back to her old town.
The narrator
The unnamed narrator of this novel works as a surveyor in the Custom House. One day he goes to the attic of the Custom House. He finds the scarlet letter there and some fragments of its story too. He gets inspired to write the story of the Scarlet letter. In the novel, he encourages readers to pay attention to their moral lessons. Throughout the novel, he takes the side of Hester against her Puritan community that punishes her. His writing gives a sense that he is hurt to describe how innocent people fall victim to the oppression of the cruel society.
Themes in the Scarlet Letter
It is the major theme of this novel. Hester has committed the sin of adultery by breaking the moral law and having an extra-marital affair with someone else than her husband. She even carries a child of someone else and refuses to tell her lover’s name. She gets punished for this sin by public shaming and wearing a scarlet letter ” A” for the rest of her life.
Dimmesdale is the partner of Hester in committing the immoral sin of adultery but he commits another sin that is bigger than this one. He refuses to take Hester’s side while the town investigates her about her partner. He even refuses to accept his child publicly.
The theme of sin can also be explored through the character of Chillingworth. As he comes to know about his wife’s sin, he decides to take revenge from Hester and Dimmesdale. His sin is worst of all because Hester and Dimmesdale regret and feel guilty for their sins but Chillingworth doesn’t feel any guilt in seeking revenge. He even follows them on the ship sailing to Europe. He feels really angry when Dimmesdale dies and escapes his revenge.
The sin of some characters is followed by guilt. Hester after having a scarlet letter “A” on her dress, feels really ashamed when people look down upon her but she doesn’t hide from people rather she becomes a very good seamstress. She works hard to change her public image. People start respecting her and some of them even start saying that the letter “A” on Hester’s dress means “able” or it means that Hester is sacred and holy.
Dimmesdale also feels guilty. In his guilt, he starts feeling sick. His condition becomes terrible. Often he is observed putting his hand on his chest as if he is feeling severe pain in his heart. He couldn’t confess his sin, so he started punishing himself. He hurts himself and tortures himself cruelly. He spends many nights crying and hurting himself out of his house. At the end of the novel, he couldn’t bear the burden of his sin and in his guilt, he tears open his shirt to show people the same scarlet letter on his chest and to tell them that he is the partner in Hester’s crime. After confessing his crime in front of people, he dies.
Wisdom through suffering
The character of Hester and Dimmesdale learn from their sin. They gain wisdom through their suffering. Hester finally gets successful in building her positive image in front of people. She realizes her sin so she suffers a lot to change her position in the town. Later people start respecting her.
Dimmesdale also gets wisdom from his sufferings. He finally realizes that he can’t live with a lie. So he confesses his sin in front of people and dies peacefully.
Forgiveness
Though Hester performs an immoral act of adultery and breaks the moral laws, yet she gets forgiveness from the town. The people understand that she doesn’t perform the sin because of the evilness of her character but because of her loneliness and the need for love.
However, no one forgives Chillingworth as he tortures Dimmesdale and he proves himself evil by taking revenge.
It is one of the central themes of this novel. The urge of taking revenge transforms Chillingworth into a devil. He becomes the physician of Dimmesdale to cure him but in reality, he keeps on torturing him for seven years. Though Dimmesdale feels guilty of his crime and he spends nights out of his house punishing himself, yet Chillingworth doesn’t show kindness towards him. The purpose of Chillingworth’s life to take revenge from Dimmesdale also dies with him. The death of Chillingworth after one year clearly shows that his urge for revenge is the reason behind his premature death.
Suffering and pain
The theme of pain and suffering is found throughout the novel. Hester suffers a lot because of committing a sin. Her husband left her alone for many years. She finds another person to share her love and to get rid of her loneliness. She even carries his child too but the town puts her in jail along with her 3 years old child. She remains quiet and doesn’t tell anyone about her partner. However, she tries hard to meet the needs of her baby alone. During this time, she suffers from many financial and mental problems.
Dimmesdale on the other hand also suffers because of his guilt. He becomes sick and gets punished by hurting himself. Chillingworth keeps on torturing him for seven years and he ends up dying with this regret. Moreover, Chillingworth also suffers because of his urge to take revenge. When he fails to complete his revenge, he gets mentally upset and he dies one year later after Dimmesdale’s death.
The character of Hester becomes a secret keeper of two men. She doesn’t tell anyone about her secret lover nor she tells that Chillingworth is her husband. A woman is a weak creature as compared to man but Hester stands by her lover and tries to save him from the revenge of Chillingworth. She decides to escape to Europe with him to live a peaceful life there.
Women Independence
After coming out of the prison, Hester decides to get independent for herself and her daughter. Though Hester lives alone with her daughter in a small cottage yet she doesn’t lose hope and instead of begging someone else, she works hard to earn a livelihood and to feed herself and her daughter. Without the help of any male, she raises her daughter alone. She becomes a seamstress and gets very famous because of her embroidery. Even the magistrates and other officers of the town get their clothes stitched and embroidered from her. The writer has portrayed the independence of women in Puritan society through the character of Hester.
The theme of love can be explored through the character of Hester. She loves her daughter Pearl and begs to the magistrates for not taking her daughter away from her. She takes care of her and works hard to meet her needs.
On the other hand, she loves her partner too. She becomes seriously worried about seeing the terrible condition of Dimmesdale. She requests Chillingworth to stop Dimmesdale from punishing himself but he refuses. Later she meets Dimmesdale in the woods. He kisses her hand and hugs her after a long time. She suggests him to escape to Europe. When he agrees, both of them become very happy and start celebrating. She even throws her scarlet letter on the ground feeling free from all the problems of the world.
Justice and Judgement
As Hester commits a serious sin of adultery, she gets punished to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her clothes for the rest of her life. After some years, the magistrates discuss the matter of taking the letter back from Hester as they feel she is guilty of committing this sin and has changed now. They try to bring justice to Hester but she refuses to give her letter back as she has accepted it as her fate now.
On the other hand, Chillingworth tries to take revenge from Dimmesdale but nature does justice to him. Dimmesdale dies a natural death after confessing his crime while Chillingworth dies one year later because he couldn’t bear his failure of taking revenge.
The Scarlet Letter Analysis
“The Scarlet letter” throws light on an important issue of our society through the character of Hester. No one is truly pure and mistakes are the part of life. Through this novel, the writer enables the readers to see the fact that there are many people in our society who commit sins but there is nothing in this world that the true redemption can’t fix.
The novel also portrays how some people in society are apparently respectable but often, in reality, they are the most depraved ones. On the other hand, sometimes the people whom everyone calls sinners are actually pious and virtuous. The novel also tells the readers that God forgives a sinner but a human being never forgets and never forgives. He keeps on reminding the sins and tortures throughout life even if the person himself regrets it and also seeks forgiveness.
Technically more than any other literary work, “The Scarlet letter” effectively encloses the rise of individualism and self-reliance from the conformist and Puritan society of America. The novel also talks about the effects of social oppression and the psychological repression on the life of the characters.
Title of the Novel
The protagonist of the novel commits the sin of adultery because of which she gets punished to wear the letter “A” that is of scarlet colour and that “A” refers to the sin of adultery. When Hester is taken out of prison, people get shocked to see how beautifully she has embroidered her scarlet letter. Some people suggest that the scarlet letter should not be on her clothes as it could be easily hidden. Some suggest that the letter “A” should be burned onto her forehead so that it gets easily visible to everyone.
The title of the novel plays a significant role in Hester’s life. Hester Prynne regrets her sin but she never gets disgusted because of her letter. The scarlet letter becomes a permanent part of her personality. People even start looking at it with a changed mind. Instead of adultery, people consider it a holy and sacred symbol. After many years, when the old Hester returns to her town, she wears the same scarlet letter. Even after death, her gravestone also carries the same scarlet letter. So instead of a symbol of shame, Hester turns her scarlet letter into her pride.
Setting of the Novel
The novel is set in Massachusetts Bay Colony. It took place between the years 1642 to 1649. It is set in the Puritan society, a community that is specially designed by the writer to be religiously strict and pure. In the first chapter, the writer gives us the view of all the important places and buildings of the town including the prison and the scaffold. The readers discover that the religion and the law are the bases of this town.
Apart from all the buildings and the prisons of Massachusetts Bay Colony, the town is also surrounded by the vast forest and the ocean.
Surrounded by them, the town appears to be like an island. Outside the town, nature can be felt in abundance and the people of town get many herbs from the forests to make their medicines.
Genre of the Novel
Historical, gothic and romance.
The novel is historical as it tells us about the history of early Americans or the Puritans. After reading the novel, we come to know about their ways of living, their religious rituals and their laws and customs. As a character commits the sin of adultery, she gets strict punishment for it. It was the system of Puritans in history and now modern Americans don’t consider it a sin at all.
Some elements of this novel make it a Gothic fiction. The deaths of some characters and the story of the black man arouse fear among them. Moreover, it is a Romance too, as the love of Hester and Dimmesdale sets an example at the end of the novel. The little “Pearl” is considered as a product of their love and not their sin at the end of the story.
Ending of the Novel
The ending of the novel is quite impressive. Dimmesdale, who throughout the novel suffers because of the burden of his sin and his failure to confess his crime, finally admits it in front of people by tearing his shirt so that the mark on his chest becomes visible to everyone. After that, he dies a peaceful death.
On the other hand, Chillingworth also dies a premature death because of his evil intentions. As he fails to achieve his revenge from Dimmesdale because of his death, he starts getting mad. This failure affects his health badly. He gets sick and dies one year later after Dimmesdale’s death. Throughout his life, he didn’t do anything for his wife but after his death, all his property gets transferred to Pearl. Using that money, the mother and daughter move to Europe and start a new life there.
Furthermore, Hester finally realizes that the scarlet letter is not a shame for her but actually a part of her identity. She lives a peaceful life with her daughter in Europe. Her daughter gets married to an aristocrat and has started her family. She returns to her old town and dies there. She gets buried near the grave of her lover, Dimmesdale.
Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter
Hester names her daughter as “Pearl” because she is just as precious for Hester as a pearl. Hester suffers a lot just because of carrying an illegitimate child. She loses her reputation in the village and everyone looks down upon her but she truly loves her daughter and takes care of her. The name “Pearl” hence is a symbol that shows how precious the girl is for her mother and she pays a heavy price to own her daughter. Secondly, after Chillingworth’s death, he leaves his both properties of Europe and of the U.S for Pearl and hence she becomes the youngest rich girl of the town.
The symbolism in the scarlet letter changes throughout the novel. Initially, Hester wears it on her clothes as a symbol of sin. It symbolizes “Adultery”. Hester works day and night and after some years she regains her respect and reputation in the town and gets successful to change the meaning of the scarlet letter. Many people start discussing that the scarlet letter “A” means “able” because Hester is talented and capable of doing wonders. Others suggest that it symbolizes the holiness and sacredness of Hester’s character.
Hester sews this letter herself in prison. She does fine embroidery on it. Everyone gets attracted to it when Hester comes out of the prison door. By making it look beautiful and attractive, Hester controls her punishment. After many years, when Hester returns to her old town, she wears the same letter though it is not needed now. It symbolizes that the scarlet letter becomes a symbol of pride and grace for Hester. It becomes a part of her identity and even this letter is written on her gravestone after her death.
The Rose Bush on one side of the Prison door
The beautiful rose bush grows on one side of the prison door. The people of the town believe that the rose bush grew when Ann Hutchinson entered that prison door. Ann Hutchinson was a person who got punished because he gave a statement that people should focus on their individual relations with god instead of following their minister’s orders. The people of the town consider the rose bush as a blessing for the criminals who enter this door. So the rosebush symbolizes hope.
The Red Mark on Dimmesdale’s Chest
The scarlet letter of Hester gets sewed on her clothes while it is not clearly mentioned in the novel how Dimmesdale gets a similar mark on his chest. He says that it is from God. Maybe he scratched his body to make “A” similar to that of Hester’s, as he regrets not standing by her side when the whole town stood against her. However, it symbolizes the physical appearance of his sin.
The Black Man
When Hester and Pearl go to the woods, Pearl asks her mother about the story of the Black man that she heard from an old lady in the town. It was famous that the black man is found in the woods and whoever meets him, he writes his name on his book. People also tell Pearl that the scarlet letter is a mark of the Black man on Hester’s clothes. Pearl asks her mother whether the black man also left his mark on Dimmesdale’s heart that’s why he always puts his hand on his chest. The black man in the novel is an imaginary character but it symbolizes “evil” and “wickedness”. The black man is also a word used for Satan. In the novel, the character of Chillingworth proves himself as a devil or the black man that leaves his mark on Hester and Dimmesdale.
The names of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth
Their names are also symbolic. Dimmesdale’s name suggests his bad luck and it symbolizes that the character of Dimmesdale is going to face decline as the word “dim” means dull or gloomy. It becomes a symbol of doom for him. On the other hand, the word “chilling” means cold. When Chillingworth sees his wife standing with her child in front of the jury, he doesn’t show any feeling or concern. His name symbolizes his cold-hearted and loveless nature.
The allusions are the references in the works of Literature to the famous events that happened in history. The scarlet letter has some biblical allusions in it. As this novel is a story of sin and redemption, it is a biblical allusion to the story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve committed a sin that was strictly forbidden by God then as a punishment they were asked to leave heaven and sent to Earth to suffer. They lost their supreme position and the reputation that they had in heaven. Just like them, Hester and Dimmesdale in the novel, commit an immoral sin because of which they lose their respect and reputation. They get punished for their deed. Hester is punished by the town while Dimmesdale gets punished by his own self.
Moreover, in the novel, the character of Roger Chillingworth is often compared to the black man. The black man is also a Biblical allusion. It refers to “Satan”. The evil character of Chillingworth, his bad intentions and his urge to take revenge from Dimmesdale makes him more like Satan.
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Like My Book Title? Thanks, I Borrowed It.
Literary allusions are everywhere. What are they good for?
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By A.O. Scott
You see it everywhere, even if you don’t always recognize it: the literary allusion. Quick! Which two big novels of the past two years borrowed their titles from “Macbeth”? Nailing the answer — “ Birnam Wood ” and “ Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow ” — might make you feel a little smug.
Perhaps the frisson of cleverness ( I know where that’s from!), or the flip-side cringe of ignorance ( I should know where that’s from! ), is enough to spur you to buy a book, the way a search-optimized headline compels you to click a link. After all, titles are especially fertile ground for allusion-mongering. The name of a book becomes more memorable when it echoes something you might have heard — or think you should have heard — before.
This kind of appropriation seems to be a relatively modern phenomenon. Before the turn of the 20th century, titles were more descriptive than allusive. The books themselves may have been stuffed with learning, but the words on the covers were largely content to give the prospective reader the who (“Pamela,” “Robinson Crusoe,” “Frankenstein”), where (“Wuthering Heights,” “The Mill on the Floss,” “Treasure Island”) or what (“The Scarlet Letter,” “War and Peace,” “The Way We Live Now”) of the book.
Somehow, by the middle of the 20th century, literature had become an echo chamber. Look homeward, angel! Ask not for whom the sound and the fury slouches toward Bethlehem in dubious battle. When Marcel Proust was first translated into English, he was made to quote Shakespeare, and “In Search of Lost Time” (the literal, plainly descriptive French title) became “Remembrance of Things Past,” a line from Sonnet 30 .
Recent Proust translators have erased the Shakespearean reference in fidelity to the original, but the habit of dressing up new books in secondhand clothing persists, in fiction and nonfiction alike. Last year, in addition to “Birnam Wood,” there were Jonathan Rosen’s “ The Best Minds ,” with its whisper of Allen Ginsberg’s “ Howl ,” Paul Harding’s “ This Other Eden ” (“ Richard II ”), and William Egginton’s “ The Rigor of Angels ” (Borges). The best-seller lists and publishers’ catalogs contain multitudes ( Walt Whitman ). Here comes everybody! (James Joyce).
If you must write prose and poems, the words you use should be your own. I didn’t say that: Morrissey did, in a deepish Smiths cut (“ Cemetry Gates , ” from 1986), which misquotes Shakespeare and name-checks John Keats, William Butler Yeats and Oscar Wilde — possibly the most reliably recycled writers (along with John Milton and the authors of the King James Bible) in the English language.
Not that any of them would have minded. When Keats wrote that “ a thing of beauty is a joy forever ,” he surely hoped that at least that much of “ Endymion ” would outlive him. It’s a beautiful sentiment! And he may have been right. Does anyone read his four-part, 4,000-line elegy for Thomas Chatterton outside a college English class, or even for that matter inside one? Nonetheless, that opening line may ring a bell if you remember it from the movies “ Mary Poppins ,” “Yellow Submarine” or “ White Men Can’t Jump .”
Wilde’s witticism and bons mots have survived even as some of his longer works have languished. If it’s true (as he said) that only superficial people do not judge by appearances, maybe it follows that shallow gleaning is the deepest kind of reading. Or maybe, to paraphrase Yeats, devoted readers of poetry lack all conviction , while reckless quoters are full of passionate intensity .
Like everything else, this is the fault of the internet, which has cannibalized our reading time while offering facile, often spurious, pseudo-erudition to anyone with the wit to conduct a search. As Mark Twain once said to Winston Churchill, if you Google, you don’t have to remember anything.
Seriously though: I come not to bury the practice of allusion, but to praise it. (“ Julius Caesar ”) And also to ask, in all earnestness and with due credit to Edwin Starr , “ Seinfeld” and Leo Tolstoy : What is it good for?
The language centers of our brains are dynamos of originality. A competent speaker of any language is capable of generating intelligible, coherent sentences that nobody has uttered before. That central insight of modern linguistics, advanced by Noam Chomsky in the 1950s and ’60s, is wonderfully democratic. Every one of us is a poet in our daily speech, an inglorious Milton ( Thomas Gray ), a Shakespeare minting new coins of eloquence.
Of course, actual poets are congenital thieves (as T.S. Eliot or someone like him may have said), plucking words and phrases from the pages of their peers and precursors. The rest of us are poets in that sense, too. If our brains are foundries, they are also warehouses, crammed full of clichés, advertising slogans, movie catchphrases, song lyrics, garbled proverbs and jokes we heard on the playground at recess in third grade. Also great works of literature.
There are those who sift through this profusion with the fanatical care of mushroom hunters, collecting only the most palatable and succulent specimens. Others crash through the thickets, words latching onto us like burrs on a sweater. If we tried to remove them, the whole garment — our consciousness, in this unruly metaphor — might come unraveled.
That may also be true collectively. If we were somehow able to purge our language of its hand-me-down elements, we might lose language itself. What happens if nobody reads anymore, or if everyone reads different things? Does the practice of literary quotation depend on a stable set of common references? Or does it function as a kind of substitute for a shared body of knowledge that may never have existed at all?
The old literary canon — that dead white men’s club of star-bellied sneetches ( Dr. Seuss ) — may have lost some of its luster in recent decades, but it has shown impressive staying power as a cornucopia of quotes. Not the only one, by any means (or memes). Television, popular music, advertising and social media all provide abundant fodder, and the way we read now (or don’t) has a way of rendering it all equivalent. The soul selects her own society ( Emily Dickinson ).
When I was young, my parents had a fat anthology of mid-20th-century New Yorker cartoons , a book I pored over with obsessive zeal. One drawing that baffled me enough to stick in my head featured a caption with the following words: “It’s quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles.” What on earth was that? It wasn’t until I was in graduate school, cramming for an oral exam in Renaissance literature, that I found the answer in “ L’Allegro, ” an early poem by Milton, more often quoted as the author of “Paradise Lost.”
Not that having the citation necessarily helps. The cartoon, by George Booth, depicts a woman in her living room, addressing members of a multigenerational, multispecies household. There are cats, codgers, a child with a yo-yo, a bird in a cage and a dog chained to the sofa. Through the front window, the family patriarch can be seen coming up the walk, a fedora on his head and a briefcase in his right hand. His arrival — “Here comes Poppa” — is the occasion for the woman’s Miltonic pep talk.
Who is she? Why is she quoting “L’Allegro”? Part of the charm, I now suspect, lies in the absurdity of those questions. But I also find myself wondering: Were New Yorker readers in the early 1970s, when the cartoon was first published, expected to get the allusion right off the bat? They couldn’t Google it. Or would they have laughed at the incongruous eruption of an old piece of poetry they couldn’t quite place?
Maybe what’s funny is that most people wouldn’t know what that lady was talking about. And maybe the same comic conceit animates an earlier James Thurber drawing reprinted in the same book. In this one, a wild-eyed woman bursts into a room, wearing a floppy hat and wielding a basket of meadow flowers. “I come from haunts of coot and hern!” she exclaims to the baffled company, disturbing their cocktail party.
That’s it. That’s the gag.
Were readers also baffled? It turns out that Thurber’s would-be nature goddess is quoting “ The Brook ,” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. (I’ve never read it either.) Is it necessary to get the reference to get the joke? If you chuckle in recognition, and complete the stanza without missing a beat — “I make a sudden sally/And sparkle out among the fern,/To bicker down a valley” — is the joke on you?
It’s possible, from the standpoint of the present, to assimilate these old pictures to the familiar story about the decline of a civilization based in part on common cultural knowledge. Sure. Whatever. Things fall apart ( Yeats ). In the cartoons’ own terms, though, spouting snippets of poetry is an unmistakable sign of eccentricity — the pastime of kooky women and the male illustrators who commit them to paper. This is less a civilization than a sodality of weirdos, a visionary company ( Hart Crane ) of misfits. But don’t quote me on that.
A.O. Scott is a critic at large for The Times’s Book Review, writing about literature and ideas. He joined The Times in 2000 and was a film critic until early 2023. More about A.O. Scott
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Is a robot writing your kids’ essays? We asked educators to weigh in on the growing role of AI in classrooms.
Educators weigh in on the growing role of ai and chatgpt in classrooms..
Remember writing essays in high school? Chances are you had to look up stuff in an encyclopedia — an actual one, not Wikipedia — or else connect to AOL via a modem bigger than your parents’ Taurus station wagon.
Now, of course, there’s artificial intelligence. According to new research from Pew, about 1 in 5 US teens who’ve heard of ChatGPT have used it for schoolwork. Kids in upper grades are more apt to have used the chatbot: About a quarter of 11th- and 12th-graders who know about ChatGPT have tried it.
For the uninitiated, ChatGPT arrived on the scene in late 2022, and educators continue to grapple with the ethics surrounding its growing popularity. Essentially, it generates free, human-like responses based on commands. (I’m sure this sentence will look antiquated in about six months, like when people described the internet as the “information superhighway.”)
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I used ChatGPT to plug in this prompt: “Write an essay on ‘The Scarlet Letter.’” Within moments, ChatGPT created an essay as thorough as anything I’d labored over in AP English.
Is this cheating? Is it just part of our strange new world? I talked to several educators about what they’re seeing in classrooms and how they’re monitoring it. Before you berate your child over how you wrote essays with a No. 2 pencil, here are some things to consider.
Adapting to new technology isn’t immoral. “We have to recalibrate our sense of what’s acceptable. There was a time when every teacher said: ‘Oh, it’s cheating to use Wikipedia.’ And guess what? We got used to it, we decided it’s reputable enough, and we cite Wikipedia all the time,” says Noah Giansiracusa, an associate math professor at Bentley University who hosts the podcast “ AI in Academia: Navigating the Future .”
“There’s a calibration period where a technology is new and untested. It’s good to be cautious and to treat it with trepidation. Then, over time, the norms kind of adapt,” he says — just like new-fangled graphing calculators or the internet in days of yore.
“I think the current conversation around AI should not be centered on an issue with plagiarism. It should be centered on how AI will alter methods for learning and expressing oneself. ‘Catching’ students who use fully AI-generated products ... implies a ‘gotcha’ atmosphere,” says Jim Nagle, a history teacher at Bedford High School. “Since AI is already a huge part of our day-to-day lives, it’s no surprise our students are making it a part of their academic tool kit. Teachers and students should be at the forefront of discussions about responsible and ethical use.”
Teachers and parents could use AI to think about education at a higher level. Really, learning is about more than regurgitating information — or it should be, anyway. But regurgitation is what AI does best.
“If our system is just for students to write a bunch of essays and then grade the results? Something’s missing. We need to really talk about their purpose and what they’re getting out of this, and maybe think about different forms of assignments and grading,” Giansiracusa says.
After all, while AI aggregates and organizes ideas, the quality of its responses depends on the users’ prompts. Instead of recoiling from it, use it as a conversation-starter.
“What parents and teachers can do is to start the conversation with kids: ‘What are we trying to learn here? Is it even something that ChatGPT could answer? Why did your assignment not convince you that you need to do this thinking on your own when a tool can do it for you?’” says Houman Harouni , a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Harouni urges parents to read an essay written by ChatGPT alongside their student. Was it good? What could be done better? Did it feel like a short cut?
“What they’re going to remember is that you had that conversation with them; that someone thought, at some point in their lives, that taking a shortcut is not the best way ... especially if you do it with the tool right in front of you, because you have something real to talk about,” he says.
Harouni hopes teachers think about its implications, too. Consider math: So much grunt work has been eliminated by calculators and computers. Yet kids are still tested as in days of old, when perhaps they could expand their learning to be assessed in ways that are more personal and human-centric, leaving the rote stuff to AI.
“We could take this moment of confusion and loss of certainty seriously, at least in some small pockets, and start thinking about what a different kind of school would look like. Five years from now, we might have the beginnings of some very interesting exploration. Five years from now, you and I might be talking about schools wherein teaching and learning is happening in a very self-directed way, in a way that’s more based on … igniting the kid’s interest and seeing where they go and supporting them to go deeper and to go wider,” Harouni says.
Teachers have the chance to offer assignments with more intentionality.
“Really think about the purpose of the assignments. Don’t just think of the outcome and the deliverable: ‘I need a student to produce a document.’ Why are we getting students to write? Why are we doing all these things in the first place? If teachers are more mindful, and maybe parents can also be more mindful, I think it pushes us away from this dangerous trap of thinking about in terms of ‘cheating,’ which, to me, is a really slippery path,” Giansiracusa says.
AI can boost confidence and reduce procrastination. Sometimes, a robot can do something better than a human, such as writing a dreaded resume and cover letter. And that’s OK; it’s useful, even.
“Often, students avoid applying to internships because they’re just overwhelmed at the thought of writing a cover letter, or they’re afraid their resume isn’t good enough. I think that tools like this can help them feel more confident. They may be more likely to do it sooner and have more organized and better applications,” says Kristin Casasanto, director of post-graduate planning at Olin College of Engineering.
Casasanto says that AI is also useful for de-stressing during interview prep.
“Students can use generative AI to plug in a job description and say, ‘Come up with a list of interview questions based on the job description,’ which will give them an idea of what may be asked, and they can even then say, ‘Here’s my resume. Give me answers to these questions based on my skills and experience.’ They’re going to really build their confidence around that,” Casasanto says.
Plus, when students use AI for basics, it frees up more time to meet with career counselors about substantive issues.
“It will help us as far as scalability. … Career services staff can then utilize our personal time in much more meaningful ways with students,” Casasanto says.
We need to remember: These kids grew up during a pandemic. We can’t expect kids to resist technology when they’ve been forced to learn in new ways since COVID hit.
“Now we’re seeing pandemic-era high school students come into college. They’ve been channeled through Google Classroom their whole career,” says Katherine Jewell, a history professor at Fitchburg State University.
“They need to have technology management and information literacy built into the curriculum,” Jewell says.
Jewell recently graded a paper on the history of college sports. It was obvious which papers were written by AI: They didn’t address the question. In her syllabus, Jewell defines plagiarism as “any attempt by a student to represent the work of another, including computers, as their own.”
This means that AI qualifies, but she also has an open mind, given students’ circumstances.
“My students want to do the right thing, for the most part. They don’t want to get away with stuff. I understand why they turned to these tools; I really do. I try to reassure them that I’m here to help them learn systems. I’m focusing much more on the learning process. I incentivize them to improve, and I acknowledge: ‘You don’t know how to do this the first time out of the gate,’” Jewell says. “I try to incentivize them so that they’re improving their confidence in their abilities, so they don’t feel the need to turn to these tools.”
Understand the forces that make kids resort to AI in the first place . Clubs, sports, homework: Kids are busy and under pressure. Why not do what’s easy?
“Kids are so overscheduled in their day-to-day lives. I think there’s so much enormous pressure on these kids, whether it’s self-inflicted, parent-inflicted, or school-culture inflicted. It’s on them to maximize their schedule. They’ve learned that AI can be a way to take an assignment that would take five hours and cut it down to one,” says a teacher at a competitive high school outside Boston who asked to remain anonymous.
Recently, this teacher says, “I got papers back that were just so robotic and so cold. I had to tell [students]: ‘I understand that you tried to use a tool to help you. I’m not going to penalize you, but what I am going to penalize you for is that you didn’t actually answer the prompt.”
Afterward, more students felt safe to come forward to say they’d used AI. This teacher hopes that age restrictions become implemented for these programs, similar to apps such as Snapchat. Educationally and developmentally, they say, high-schoolers are still finding their voice — a voice that could be easily thwarted by a robot.
“Part of high school writing is to figure out who you are, and what is your voice as a writer. And I think, developmentally, that takes all of high school to figure out,” they say.
And AI can’t replicate voice and personality — for now, at least.
Kara Baskin can be reached at [email protected] . Follow her @kcbaskin .
Is a robot writing your kids’ essays? We asked educators to weigh in on the growing role of AI in classrooms.
R emember writing essays in high school? Chances are you had to look up stuff in an encyclopedia — an actual one, not Wikipedia — or else connect to AOL via a modem bigger than your parents’ Taurus station wagon.
Now, of course, there’s artificial intelligence. According to new research from Pew, about 1 in 5 US teens who’ve heard of ChatGPT have used it for schoolwork. Kids in upper grades are more apt to have used the chatbot: About a quarter of 11th- and 12th-graders who know about ChatGPT have tried it.
For the uninitiated, ChatGPT arrived on the scene in late 2022, and educators continue to grapple with the ethics surrounding its growing popularity. Essentially, it generates free, human-like responses based on commands. (I’m sure this sentence will look antiquated in about six months, like when people described the internet as the “information superhighway.”)
I used ChatGPT to plug in this prompt: “Write an essay on ‘The Scarlet Letter.’” Within moments, ChatGPT created an essay as thorough as anything I’d labored over in AP English.
Is this cheating? Is it just part of our strange new world? I talked to several educators about what they’re seeing in classrooms and how they’re monitoring it. Before you berate your child over how you wrote essays with a No. 2 pencil, here are some things to consider.
Adapting to new technology isn’t immoral. “We have to recalibrate our sense of what’s acceptable. There was a time when every teacher said: ‘Oh, it’s cheating to use Wikipedia.’ And guess what? We got used to it, we decided it’s reputable enough, and we cite Wikipedia all the time,” says Noah Giansiracusa, an associate math professor at Bentley University who hosts the podcast “ AI in Academia: Navigating the Future .”
“There’s a calibration period where a technology is new and untested. It’s good to be cautious and to treat it with trepidation. Then, over time, the norms kind of adapt,” he says — just like new-fangled graphing calculators or the internet in days of yore.
“I think the current conversation around AI should not be centered on an issue with plagiarism. It should be centered on how AI will alter methods for learning and expressing oneself. ‘Catching’ students who use fully AI-generated products ... implies a ‘gotcha’ atmosphere,” says Jim Nagle, a history teacher at Bedford High School. “Since AI is already a huge part of our day-to-day lives, it’s no surprise our students are making it a part of their academic tool kit. Teachers and students should be at the forefront of discussions about responsible and ethical use.”
Teachers and parents could use AI to think about education at a higher level. Really, learning is about more than regurgitating information — or it should be, anyway. But regurgitation is what AI does best.
“If our system is just for students to write a bunch of essays and then grade the results? Something’s missing. We need to really talk about their purpose and what they’re getting out of this, and maybe think about different forms of assignments and grading,” Giansiracusa says.
After all, while AI aggregates and organizes ideas, the quality of its responses depends on the users’ prompts. Instead of recoiling from it, use it as a conversation-starter.
“What parents and teachers can do is to start the conversation with kids: ‘What are we trying to learn here? Is it even something that ChatGPT could answer? Why did your assignment not convince you that you need to do this thinking on your own when a tool can do it for you?’” says Houman Harouni , a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Harouni urges parents to read an essay written by ChatGPT alongside their student. Was it good? What could be done better? Did it feel like a short cut?
“What they’re going to remember is that you had that conversation with them; that someone thought, at some point in their lives, that taking a shortcut is not the best way ... especially if you do it with the tool right in front of you, because you have something real to talk about,” he says.
Harouni hopes teachers think about its implications, too. Consider math: So much grunt work has been eliminated by calculators and computers. Yet kids are still tested as in days of old, when perhaps they could expand their learning to be assessed in ways that are more personal and human-centric, leaving the rote stuff to AI.
“We could take this moment of confusion and loss of certainty seriously, at least in some small pockets, and start thinking about what a different kind of school would look like. Five years from now, we might have the beginnings of some very interesting exploration. Five years from now, you and I might be talking about schools wherein teaching and learning is happening in a very self-directed way, in a way that’s more based on … igniting the kid’s interest and seeing where they go and supporting them to go deeper and to go wider,” Harouni says.
Teachers have the chance to offer assignments with more intentionality.
“Really think about the purpose of the assignments. Don’t just think of the outcome and the deliverable: ‘I need a student to produce a document.’ Why are we getting students to write? Why are we doing all these things in the first place? If teachers are more mindful, and maybe parents can also be more mindful, I think it pushes us away from this dangerous trap of thinking about in terms of ‘cheating,’ which, to me, is a really slippery path,” Giansiracusa says.
AI can boost confidence and reduce procrastination. Sometimes, a robot can do something better than a human, such as writing a dreaded resume and cover letter. And that’s OK; it’s useful, even.
“Often, students avoid applying to internships because they’re just overwhelmed at the thought of writing a cover letter, or they’re afraid their resume isn’t good enough. I think that tools like this can help them feel more confident. They may be more likely to do it sooner and have more organized and better applications,” says Kristin Casasanto, director of post-graduate planning at Olin College of Engineering.
Casasanto says that AI is also useful for de-stressing during interview prep.
“Students can use generative AI to plug in a job description and say, ‘Come up with a list of interview questions based on the job description,’ which will give them an idea of what may be asked, and they can even then say, ‘Here’s my resume. Give me answers to these questions based on my skills and experience.’ They’re going to really build their confidence around that,” Casasanto says.
Plus, when students use AI for basics, it frees up more time to meet with career counselors about substantive issues.
“It will help us as far as scalability. … Career services staff can then utilize our personal time in much more meaningful ways with students,” Casasanto says.
We need to remember: These kids grew up during a pandemic. We can’t expect kids to resist technology when they’ve been forced to learn in new ways since COVID hit.
“Now we’re seeing pandemic-era high school students come into college. They’ve been channeled through Google Classroom their whole career,” says Katherine Jewell, a history professor at Fitchburg State University.
“They need to have technology management and information literacy built into the curriculum,” Jewell says.
Jewell recently graded a paper on the history of college sports. It was obvious which papers were written by AI: They didn’t address the question. In her syllabus, Jewell defines plagiarism as “any attempt by a student to represent the work of another, including computers, as their own.”
This means that AI qualifies, but she also has an open mind, given students’ circumstances.
“My students want to do the right thing, for the most part. They don’t want to get away with stuff. I understand why they turned to these tools; I really do. I try to reassure them that I’m here to help them learn systems. I’m focusing much more on the learning process. I incentivize them to improve, and I acknowledge: ‘You don’t know how to do this the first time out of the gate,’” Jewell says. “I try to incentivize them so that they’re improving their confidence in their abilities, so they don’t feel the need to turn to these tools.”
Understand the forces that make kids resort to AI in the first place . Clubs, sports, homework: Kids are busy and under pressure. Why not do what’s easy?
“Kids are so overscheduled in their day-to-day lives. I think there’s so much enormous pressure on these kids, whether it’s self-inflicted, parent-inflicted, or school-culture inflicted. It’s on them to maximize their schedule. They’ve learned that AI can be a way to take an assignment that would take five hours and cut it down to one,” says a teacher at a competitive high school outside Boston who asked to remain anonymous.
Recently, this teacher says, “I got papers back that were just so robotic and so cold. I had to tell [students]: ‘I understand that you tried to use a tool to help you. I’m not going to penalize you, but what I am going to penalize you for is that you didn’t actually answer the prompt.”
Afterward, more students felt safe to come forward to say they’d used AI. This teacher hopes that age restrictions become implemented for these programs, similar to apps such as Snapchat. Educationally and developmentally, they say, high-schoolers are still finding their voice — a voice that could be easily thwarted by a robot.
“Part of high school writing is to figure out who you are, and what is your voice as a writer. And I think, developmentally, that takes all of high school to figure out,” they say.
And AI can’t replicate voice and personality — for now, at least.
COMMENTS
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The Scarlet Letter: A Romance is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a daughter with a man to whom she is not married and then struggles to create a new life of repentance and dignity.
1. Introduction: the spirit and the sign Michael J. Colacurcio. 2. Arts of deception: Hawthorne, 'romance' and The Scarlet Letter Michael Davitt Bell. 3. Hester's labyrinth: transcendental rhetoric in Puritan Boston David van Leer. 4. 'The woman's own choice': sex, metaphor and the Puritan 'sources' of The Scarlet Letter Michael J. Colacurcio. 5.
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