This second edition also includes: revised and expanded explanatory footnotes, a new preface and a note on the text by Leland S. Person; key passages from Hawthorne’s notebooks and letters that suggest the close relationship between his private and public writings, and seven new critical essays by Brook Thomas, Michael Ryan, Thomas R. Mitchell, Jay Grossman, Jamie Barlowe, John Ronan and John F.

Birk. A Chronology and revised and expanded Selected Bibliography is also included.

An "A" for "adultery" marks Hester Prynne as an outcast from the society of colonial Boston. Although forced by the puritanical town fathers to wear a bright red badge of shame, Hester steadfastly resists their efforts to discover the identity of her baby's father. The return of her long-absent spouse brings new pressure on the young mother, as the aggrieved husband undertakes a long-term plot to reveal Hester's partner in adultery and force him to share her disgrace.

Masterful in its symboli...