ShmoopTube

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The Scarlet Letter, a la Shmoop. My name is Hester Prynne, and 1642 really

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wasn't my year.

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See, I had a child out of wedlock, and that was a big no-no in puritanical Boston.

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People clutched their pearls and gnashed their teeth over my sin...

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...and they made me wear a scarlet ÒAÓ on my dress and stand on a scaffold for three

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hours. They kept asking me to name my daughter's father. Yeah, like I was gonna give up that

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juicy tidbit.

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Then, who should I spy in the crowd around the scaffoldÉ but my long-lost husband. Guess

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he didn't die in that shipwreck after all. Reverend Wilson and Arthur Dimmesdale kept

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asking me to give up my boyfriend but nope, sorry guys, no can do.

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Doctor Roger Chillingworth, aka my long-lost husband, then showed up at my prison cell.

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He wanted to know who my boyfriend was. No one in this town seems to get that my lips

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are sealed on the subject.

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At any rate, ol' Roger told me that if I ever told anyone we were married, he'd ruin my

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boyfriend-who-shall-not-be-named. Yet another secret I have to keep.

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Once I got out of prison, I moved into a cottage on the edge of Boston and eked out an existence

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doing needlework.

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I loved my little girl, Pearl, but she wasÉ a handful, and she was fascinated by the scarlet

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ÒAÓ on my dress. As she grew older and more difficult, some people suggested she be taken

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away from me. I went to plead my case with Governor Bellingham

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and the Reverends Wilson and Dimmesdale. Pearl was in kind of a bad mood during the meeting...

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...and the men decided this meant she should be raised by someone else.

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Fortunately, Dimmesdale sided with me in the end...

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...and I got to keep Pearl. It was around this time that Reverend Dimmesdale

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became ill, and my long-lost husband the physician went to stay with him.

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One night, ol' Roger did a little snooping, and what did he find? A scarlet ÒAÓ on Arthur's

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chest. Uh-ohÉ busted.

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Some odd astronomical activity and Arthur's obvious ill health led me to ask my long-lost

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husband to release me from my vow of silence regarding our marriage.

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I also warned Roger that if he didn't give up the whole revenge thing, his soul would

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be lost. A few days later, I revealed Chillingworth's

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true identity and thirst for revenge to Arthur.

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I also talked Arthur into sailing for Europe with Pearl and me, so we could start a new

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life together.

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I also took the ÒAÓ off of my dress. It had been on there for years, and there was

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a stain I needed to Shout out. But my plan didn't work. Not only would Pearl

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not talk to me until I put the ÒAÓ back on my dress...

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...but Arthur decided he was dying...

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...and the captain of the ship my little family unit was supposed to sail on told me that

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Chillingworth had booked passage, too, soÉ great.

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Election Day arrived, and Arthur gave an amazing sermon. Seriously, best one of his career,

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hands down. He then told everyone he was Pearl's father...

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...and dropped dead in my arms. Ol' Roger decided he was tired of revenge, so he conveniently

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died, too, leaving a fortune to Pearl. Several years have passed since the deaths

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of my long-lost husband and boyfriend, and I've returned to Boston. I'm wearing my scarlet

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letter again...

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...but it doesn't seem to carry the stigma it once did, for the women of the town come

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to me for advice and comfort.

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Even so, I bet theyÕll stick a big, red ÒAÓ on my tombstone when I die.

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