Nathaniel Hawthorne's Masterpiece, "The Scarlet Letter"

The Scarlet Letter is considered one of the great American novels, so it is surprising that Goodreads' readers don't give it a higher score. The novel was first published in 1850; and by today's standards, nineteenth-century writers such as Hawthorne overused and misused commas and semicolons, which presents a challenge to the modern reader.

The opening section of the book, which Hawthorne called "The Custom House--Introductory," is 40 pages long and has absolutely nothing to do with the story other than the discovery of the actual scarlet letter 200 years after the fact, which served as the inspiration for the novel. However, once the story begins (on page 53 in the edition I read), it moves along quickly.

Set in Massachusetts in the 1600's when Puritans ruled New England, it is historically interesting; and Hester Prynne, the heroine, emerges as one of the great female characters in American literature. It is also a profound examination of sin. Is Hester Prynne, who commits adultery, the worst sinner, or is it another character in the novel? The reader may be surprised to learn that the answer is not so simple.

The critic Carl Van Doren, who wrote the introduction to the 1946 Fine Editions edition that I read, says that The Scarlet Letter is among the few novels in any language which so many novelists would agree is a virtually perfect work of art. Notwithstanding the problematic punctuation, I largely concur with Mr. Van Doren's assessment.