The Scarlet Letter

Character Guide

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Hester Prynne

A young woman in Puritan Boston sentenced to wear an embroidered scarlet 'A' on her bosom as punishment for adultery, having borne a child out of wedlock. She refuses to name the child's father and endures public shame with quiet dignity.

Pearl

Hester's infant daughter, described as wild, beautiful, and elfin, seemingly a living embodiment of the scarlet letter itself.

Arthur Dimmesdale

A young, eloquent, and much-admired minister of Hester's church who appears increasingly ill and tormented, though the cause is not publicly known.

Roger Chillingworth

An elderly physician newly arrived in Boston who takes a keen, secretive interest in Hester's case and soon lodges with the ailing Reverend Dimmesdale; he and Hester share a hidden prior connection known only to the two of them.

Governor Bellingham

A stern Puritan magistrate and colonial governor who questions whether Hester is fit to raise Pearl.

Reverend Mr. Wilson

An elder, respected clergyman who publicly urges Hester to reveal her child's father during her scaffold ordeal.

Mistress Hibbins

The Governor's sister, a sharp-tongued woman with an eerie, unsettling reputation among the townsfolk.

Glossary

Scarlet Letter (the 'A')

The scarlet, gold-embroidered letter Hester is forced to wear, standing for 'Adulteress' but reinterpreted over time by townspeople to mean 'Able' and other things.

Leech

An archaic term for a physician or doctor, used to describe Roger Chillingworth.

Beadle

A minor town official responsible for keeping order and enforcing punishments, such as leading Hester to the scaffold.

Goodwife/Goody

A polite form of address for a married woman of ordinary social rank in Puritan New England.

Meed

An archaic word meaning a deserved reward or recompense.

The Black Man

Puritan folk term for the Devil, often associated with the forest and secret sin in the novel.

Necromancer

One who practices magic, especially by communicating with the dead; used to describe rumors about Chillingworth's supposed sorcery.

Escutcheon

A heraldic shield or emblem, referenced in the novel's closing description of the tombstone.

On a field, sable, the letter A, gules

Heraldic language meaning 'on a black background, a red letter A,' the motto carved on Hester and Dimmesdale's shared tombstone.

Pillory/Scaffold

A public wooden platform used for punishing and shaming offenders in front of the community.

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