content: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a great novel. It takes place in Boston, Massachusetts during the era when Puritans were there. The main character Hester Prynne is forced to wear a Scarlet Letter A for adultery because she cheats on her husband while waiting for him to come from Europe.The book really recaptures what Puritanism was like. Its interesting to think about what America would be like if we were still Puritan. A theme of the book is concealed guilt. The minister Arthur Dimmesdale has concealed guilt which causes him severe pain. The message of the book is that you shouldn't let some minor sin you did in the past haunt you for the rest of your life.The book denounces the religious atmosphere of the Puritan village claiming that it stifled the merriment and joy of the culture of Old England. You get a picture of how the wonderful culture portrayed in the works of Chaucer was lost in America due to the influence of the Puritans.