Secrets of the Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is considered by many to be the greatest achievement of an author hailed as the master of the American short story. The action takes place in Salem, Massachusetts. In this strictly controlled puritan town, residents live by harsh laws and fierce prejudices. Hester Prynne, a young wife whose husband is presumed dead, is publicly humiliated for the sin of adultery. The proof of his sin is his granddaughter Pearl. She hides the identity of Pearl's father to protect him from the harsh judgment of Puritan law. However, she is condemned to spend the rest of her life marked as an adulterer by wearing a scarlet “A” on her chest. In the meantime, Hester's husband arrived in the colony and began practicing medicine. He makes Hester promise that she will not reveal his identity to anyone. The book covers a seven-year period during which the identity of the father is known. This is the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, known as a particularly holy and pious man. Consumed by guilt, he begins to show outward signs of serious illness. Hester's husband, under the assumed name Roger Chillingworth, moves in and begins caring for Dimmesdale. Chillingworth soon discovers that the Reverend is Pearl's father. Dimmesdale, however, believes that Chillingworth is simply a doctor. Chillingworth uses his influence to multiply the minister's feelings of guilt while trying to keep him physically healthy, as a form of emotional torture. At the climax of the story, Dimmesdale confesses and dies. Hester and Pearl leave the colony. Chillingworth, whose only goal was to take revenge on Dimmesdale, suddenly finds his life aimless and dies after a year. Hawthorne used the settings of the book, not only to develop the story, but also to make a statement about Puritan society through the use of allegory. The Puritans were a people dedicated to perfecting themselves according to a certain set of values ​​that were uniquely Puritan. On an individual level, a Puritan would attempt to achieve perfection by living this set of values. If they failed to do so, as in the case of Hester or Arthur Dimmesdale, their punishment would be for failing to achieve the perfection to which they aspired. The prison, in The Scarlet Letter, is proof that Salem is a society that strives for self-perfection, not just individuals dedicated to self-perfection..