Beginning of Essay
Chapter 1: Hester Prynne has committed adultery. Two years ago her husband in Europe sent her on ahead to America while he settled some business affairs. Alone in the small town of Boston, Hester has shocked and angered her neighbors by secretly taking a lover an ....

Middle of Essay
.... and women gather in front of the door of the prison waiting for Hester to make her appearance. The early settlers felt it necessary to build a prison and to set aside a cemetery as stern reminders of life and death. The gloomy building looks out on a grass plot covered with "unsightly vegetation" except for one, wild rose-bush which blossoms near the threshold of the prison. The "fragrance and fragile beauty" of this one simple flower is a "token" (a symbol) that Nature may pity man, even though men may be inhuman to other men. The author wonders about the origin of the rose-bush - as to whether it has perhaps survived the wilderness in which it ori ....