The Scarlet Letter Quotes

Context

This line is from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1850).

This line is all about our title character, the good old scarlet letter. Hester Prynne has been forced to wear a giant red "A" on her chest since she bore a child while her husband was out of town and the timelines didn't add up. (The "A" is for "adulteress" and not for honor roll.)

Now she's meeting with her true love and baby daddy, Arthur Dimmesdale, in the woods outside of town. She suggests they should ditch these Puritans and head back to Europe where no one knows them, and to emphasize her point, she rips that "A" off her chest and tosses it on the riverbank. She hadn't realized how much it bugged her until she got rid of it.

Where you've heard it

Um, in your latest English paper or on a list of Hawthorne quotes? This one doesn't get much play in popular culture. In fact, that's true for most Hawthorne quotes.

However, the big red "A" is a different story. This memorable plot twist is a big trope in popular culture, because honestly, it would suck to wear a big letter on your sweater that tells the world about your personal life.

The 2010 movie "Easy A," starring Emma Stone, is loosely based on this book. You can guess where the movie got its name.

Hester's "A" is referenced in a bunch of songs, too. In the musical The Music Man, Harold Hill "prays for Hester to win just one more 'A.'" Nice little euphemism.

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

The Scarlet Letter has been required high school reading for generations, so it's safe to say most people have encountered the story at one point or another. Still, dropping obscure quotes from it won't win you any friends unless you're at a Hawthorne Appreciation Society meeting.