The Scarlet Letter Literature Guide (Page 2. By Nathaniel Hawthorne Page 1 of 4 Although written almost 150 years ago, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter contains concepts and insights relevant to contemporary readers.
The themes of alienation and breaking society's rules are ones to which many teenagers can readily relate. Viewed in this light, the novel can be approached as the story of a woman who let her heart rule her head and suffered the consequences. Hester Prynne's plight can arouse sympathy, Arthur Dimmesdale's hypocrisy can provoke anger, and Roger Chillingworth's evil revenge can elicit disgust among today's high school readers.
March 16, 2009: The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850. Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson Style: Translating Stylistic Choices from Hawthorne to Hemingway and Back Again After exploring the styles of two authors, students translate passages from one author into the style of another.
They then translate fables into the style of one of the authors.