Rating: 
Summary: Human nature cannot be hidden away in an ideology
Review: The Scarlet Letter shows us the meaning of human nature. People know that utopias never work but no one tells us why the ideology doesn't work. In the Scarlet Letter, the books based its views about the general citizens of the town, who believe in perfection of the human kind through religion, the ideology of the citizens of Boston, presented as hypocrites of harsh judgment that believes that a jail and public scaffold inside the infrastructure of Boston is necessary for the utopia to thrive. However, when someone, like Hester Prynne, was found committed adultery inside the town Boston, everyone rushed judgment that she sinned and immediately punished her for her crimes against nature, as the townspeople call it. Hester's sins are small, compared to how the townspeople perceive her since they find out she has committed adultery and how the people who knew what happened, hid it from the townspeople. She did not hide from the humiliation, but she continue to co-exist with the people who knew what she had done and hate her for it and thrive in their environment with her daughter, Pearl who has no real father to her name. This alone shows how this town would never achieve the goals that the citizens wanted, being a perfect society, since the purpose of the puritans living in the town is to be free to practice their own religion. However, how could someone be free of practicing their own faith if the very nature of the human beings is being oppressed and then released out of anger towards someone else that is able to show what they believe in? The Scarlet Letter is proof that even if a person is oppressed, he or she could still improve his or her current situation and do what he or she wants without limits and still be true to his or herself in the meantime. Overall, this book is full of ironic outcomes, but that is what is good in a novel. Of course, there are a lot more to this book than what I mention here, like the symbolism that is present in most parts of the book and the historical significance of the early history of the Americas and Hawthorne's background, but that is not as important as finding the meaning of human nature in a town that is full of hope, as well as hypocrisy combined in the life of a utopian society.
Rating:
Summary: A classic
Review: The Scarlet Letter is the best Hawthorne book ever written. This book has a good moral value to it and when you read this book you need to let your emotions take over. If you let the emotions take over you will get more out of the story. Through out this book Hawthorne shows his unique writing style. His writing style is long sentences and good vocabulary words to describe what he means. This book talks about how two people of different backgrounds can get along and fall in love. Their town doesn't accept people like that so therefore the women had to wear a scarlet letter "A" on her chest. In this book there is a lot of guilt, revenge, and pride. There is a lot of guilt involved because of the lady having an affair and she has to wear the letter "A" on her chest. This book shows pride also because she does not let the letter and the people of the town bring her down. Her life stayed the same as it was before her affair with another man. The ending in this book is really good. It is weird how they find out that the preacher is the one who had the affair with the lady.
Hawthorne wrote this book many years ago and now it fits perfect into our life. We have a lot of relationships in this world of people with different ethic and religious backgrounds. So this book puts into perspective of what it was like to have a relationship with someone not like you back in the late 1800's early 1900's. Who would have ever thought that this book would be so close in relationship to how we live now? This book is such a great book to read. So I think that everyone should read this book and let their emotions take over and they will feel this book.
Rating:
Summary: AAAAAAAAAA
Review: Scarlet Letter is a kind of book that you understand it and you love it or you dont understand it and hate it. I think this deserves four stars because of the idea of the book. A stand for adultry in this book and tells the story of puritans in that time period. Hester and Pearl faces lots of insult in this community and if you want to find out whot the secret father of Pearl is READ the BOOK!!! But I would recommend to read this book after you are 14 years, because the Idea of the book is too matured.
Rating:
Summary: The Scarlet Letter
Review: One ofthe greatest novels in all of literature, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, tells of a life vastly different from those that we live today. Rejecting the present permissive lifestyle to which we were accustomed, the reader is entrenched in the gloom and doom of Puritan society. It is an exposure to a law that tells what to wear, how to think, and whom to love. The Scarlet Letter is a story of law versus human nature, hypocrisy, and of undeniable passions.
Enlightening and refreshing, the reader is taken on an adventure and fully understands the risks of living passionately, beyond the limits that society sets. A novel that can be enjoyed by all ages, The Scarlet Letter is a masterpiece of its time.
Rating: 
Summary: I revisited this book recently
Review: I first read this book in 10th grade and breezed through it. A few weeks ago, I had to reread this book for my English class. With the plot not so fresh in my mind, I picked up the book again and was amazed at what I initially brushed off. While the idea of a married woman being forced to wear a scarlet A on her chest for producing a child born out of an affair would be improbable today, the story contains many truths about sin, revenge, love, guilt. Also, though some might disagree, his writing is amazing and a joy to read. Pick up this book again, you'll enjoy it.
Rating:
Summary: AP Language Review for The Scarlet Letter
Review: One of the greatest novels in all of literature, The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne tells of a life vastly different from those that we live today. Rejecting the present permissive lifestyle to which we are accustomed, the reader is entrenched in the gloom and doom of Puritan society. It is an exposure to a law that tells us what to wear, how to think, and whom to love. The Scarlet Letter is a story of law versus human nature, hypocrisy, and of undeniable passions.
Enlightening and refreshing, the reader is taken on an adventure and fully understands the risks of living passionately, beyond the limits that society sets. A novel that can be enjoyed by all ages, The Scarlet Letter is a masterpiece of its time.
Rating: 
Summary: I Don't See the Big Deal
Review: I had to read this book, which I had heard quite a bit about, for school but after reading it I had no idea why it is considered such a classic. There is no question that the language is old-fashioned and difficult, but that isn't the only problem I found with it. The whole story was rather boring. It seemed that the author tried to make a lightweight story about an affair and the child that was a product of it deeper or more important by describing how the characters felt. The book was not exactly bad, but, like many other books, it does not really deserve its status as a classic. I saw it more as a book that showed somewhat the morals and ideas of the Puritans. While it is good in that sense, I don't think that it is very important in modern times, and it certainly wasn't a fun read.
Rating: 
Summary: puritans and no witches, what's the deal?
Review: I was truly amazed upon completion of the Scarlet Letter. In no way was I mesmerized by Hawthorne's brilliant imagery, or even his sublime command of the english language in which the general book reading community seems to revel. On the contrary, I was mystified at how one seeming normal man was able to select the exact combination of phonemes necessary to initiate a neurological cascade leading to an undebiably unconscious state. It was unbelievable really. I would literally pick up this book at noon, and be quite asleep and 12:15. Forget valium folks, this is cheaper and more effective. The "A" on Hester's chest should have stood for awful. Or better yet, anteater. No relation to any themes really, I just think that it's a funny little mammal. At least if this were the case, Hester's plight would have been slightly amusing. As it was, however, the only treacle to the unending dolor was the last page. Not the actual ending mind you, but just the quality of actually being done.
Rating:
Summary: Good literature, but not a pleasure read.
Review: Having re-read this book for the first time in two decades, I have no trouble understanding why it is a staple of high school literature classes everywhere. It's a great book for teaching symbolism, foreshadowing and some of the themes of the romantic movement. However, as an adult, I pretty much found it to be an excruciating reading experience, and I'm not just talking about the fact that the language is dense and dreary. The very things that make it a valuable teaching tool can be very annoying to a more experienced reader. As I was reading I kept wanting to scream every time Hawthorne talked about the scarlet letter burning, glowing or being like a painful brand. I got it already! I can put up with slogging through the nineteenth century prose if I'm going to be challenged a little, but this book no longer did it for me.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Examination of Christianity
Review: While the life of a modern person of Christian faith may not be well-reflected in this book, the ideas are. The struggle of legalism vs. liberality... truth vs. lies... faith vs. fear. Boiled down, in one respect, is the question of what makes a true Christianity, the sort who has as much integrity as claimed. Living as Christ would live is a high standard, and Hawthorne demonstrates the multi-layered issues fallible people deal with. True to the genre and period of writing, Hawthorne is as much of a character as the ones he writes about. While today's novels are embroiled in myopic first person narratives, "The Scarlet Letter" enjoys the psychological unravelling of characters through analysis, observation and deduction. "The Scarlet Letter" asks questions we no longer ask, and draws out intrigue as the reader page-by-page wonders what is the best response to a Christian woman who has given birth outside of wedlock, and what response is appropriate for the dodging minister. When is it hypocrisy and when is it simple inconsistency? I fully recommend this book. Anthony Trendl
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