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Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Scarlet Letter, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Sin
Individuality and Conformity
Puritanism
Nature
The Occult
Summary
Analysis
About three years pass. Hester, now free from prison, decides not to leave Boston. She takes Pearl to live in an abandoned cabin on the outskirts of town.
Hester supports herself as a seamstress. The same people who pay her for her work, including Governor Bellingham, continue to shun her.
Puritan hypocrisy: they'll employ a "sinner" to suit their own needs.
Themes
Literary Devices
Quiz
Test Yourself
Hester grows increasingly lonely. Pearl, her only companion, is a constant reminder of the source of her alienation: sin. Hester is determined to keep the meaning of the scarlet letter a secret from Pearl.
Like Chillingworth and Dimmesdale, Hester conceals a secret. These secrets harm those who keep them and those from whom they're kept.
Themes
Quiz
Test Yourself
