Includes bibliographical references.

Part One. The complete text. The prison-door -- The market-place -- The recognition -- The interview -- Hester at her needle -- Pearl -- The governor's hall -- The elf-child and the minister -- The leech -- The leech and his patient -- The interior of a heart -- The minister's vigil -- Another view of Hestor -- Hester and the physician -- Hester and Pearl -- A forest walk -- The pastor and his parishioner -- A flood of sunshine -- The child at the brook-side -- The minister in a maze -- The New England holiday -- The procession -- The revelation of the scarlet letter -- Conclusion. Part Two. A case study in contemporary criticism -- Introduction: the critical background -- Psychoanalytic criticism and The scarlet letter -- Re-reading The letter: Hawthorne, the fetish, and the (family) romance / Joanne Feit Diehl -- Reader-response criticism and The scarlet letter -- Mrs. Hawthorne's headache: reading The scarlet letter / David Leverenz -- Feminist criticism and The scarlet letter -- The scarlet letter (a)dor©♭e, or the female body embroidered / Shari Benstock -- Deconstruction and The scarlet letter -- Silence, family discourse, and fiction in The scarlet letter / Michael Ragussis -- The new historicism and The scarlet letter -- Hawthorne's a-morality of compromise / Sacvan Bercovitch.