THE SCARLETLETTER The woman who wearsthe scarletleiter on her bosomis a woman without friends, a woman who has sinned' Fingerspoint at her, respectablepeople turn their faces awayfrom her, the priestsspeak hard words abouther' Shamefollows in her footsteps,night and day. Becausethis is New Englandin the 1600s.The Puritans havecrossed the seato the shoresof America,building their new towns' bringing their religion and their customswith them from the old country. And in the early yearsof Boston,in the stateof Massachusetts,the church is strong- and unforgiving.Anyone who breaksthe laws of the church,and of God, must be punished. But Hester Prynne,whose husbandis not her baby's father,did not sin alone.ITho is the fatherof her child? 'Why doeshe not speakout?'uflhy should Hester wear the scarletletter of shame,and not her lover?Is he not guilty too? : -tt' OXFORD BOOKNYORMSLIBRARY Classics The Scarlet Letter Stage4 (1400headwords) SeriesEditor: Jennifer Bassett Founder Editor: Tricia Hedge Activities Editors: Jennifer Bassettand Christine Lindop NATHANIEL HA'ITTHORNE The ScarletLetter Retold by John Escott lllustrated by Thomas Sperling -/ OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITYPRESS CONTENTS Grcat clarendon Street.Oxford ox2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of oxford It furthers the University's objective ofexcellence in research,scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in STORY INTRODUCTION Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTom DilesSalaam HongKong Karachi I(ualalumpur Madrid Melboume Mexico City Nairobi Salem,my hometown . 1 NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto 1 With ofnces in 1 Hester Prynne'sshame -) Argentina Austia Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece z Roger Chillingworth's secret 12 cuatemala Hugary Italy Japan Poland Poftugal Singapore Turkey Ukraine Vietnam southKorea Switzerland Thailand A fatherlesschild 17 oxFoRD and oxFoRD ENGLTSHare registeredtrade marks of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries 4 A man sent by the devil 25 This simplified edition o oxford University Press2oo8 Database right Oxford University Press (maker) 5 A night on the scaffold 32 First published in oxford Bookwoms 2oo2 6 Hestermeets the enemy 39 24681097537 No uauthorized photocopying 7 A walk in the forest 45 All rights reseryed No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trusmitted, in my form or by any means, 8 Hope for the future 51 without the prior pemission in Miting of Oxford University Press, q or as expresslypemitted by law, or under terms agreedwith the apPropriate Escape 59 reprographics rights organization Enquiries conceming reproductron outside the scopeofthe aboveshould be sent to the ELTRights Departmetrt, 10 Hester Prynne'ssadness 69 oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must inpose this sme condition on any acquirer GLOSSARY 73 Any websitesrefened to in this publication are in the pubtc ddmain and their addressesare provided by oxford University Press for infomation only ACTIVITIES: Before Reading 76 oxford University Press disclaims any responsibility for the content rsBN 978 o 19 479183o AcTrvrrrEs: While Reading 77 this Bookworms edition of A complete recording of After Reading 80 TheScarletLetter is availableon audio CD ISBN 978 o 19 4791533 ACTrvrrrES: Printed in Hong Kong ABOUTTHE AUTHOR 84 ABOUT THE BOOK\TORMS LIBRARY 85 Word count (main text): 15,955words For more infomation on the oxford Bookworms Library, visit \ffi oup com/elt/booktroms sRteu, MYHOME TOWN, is a quietplace, and not manyships callat the port here,though in the lastcentury, before.the war with Britain,the portwas oftenbusy. Now the shipsgo down the coastto the greatsea-ports of Bostonor NewYork, and grass growsin the streetsaround the old port buildingsin Salem. Fora few years,when I was a youngman, I workedin the port officesof Salem.Most of the time, therewas very little worktodo, and one day in 1849lwaslooking through an old woodenbox in oneof the dusty,unused rooms of the building. It was full of papersabout long-forgottenships, but then somethingred caught my eye.I took it out andsaw that it was a piece of red material,in the shape of a letter about ten centimetreslong. lt wasthe capitalletter A. lt was a wonderful pieceof needlework,with patternsof gold threadaround the letter,but the materialwas now worn thin with age. It was a strangething to find.What could it mean?Was it oncepart of somefashionable lady's dress long years ago? Perhapsa markto showthat the wearerwas a famousperson, or someoneof goodfamily or greatimportance? The ScarletLetter I held it in my hands,wondering, and it seemedto me that the scarletletter had some deep meaning,which I could not understand.Then I heldthe letterto my chestand - you must not doubt my words - experienceda strangefeeling of burning Hester Prynne'sshame heat.Suddenly the letterseemed to be not red material,but red-hotmetal. I trembled,and let the letterfall upon the floor. Then I saw that there was an old packet of papers next to its place in the box. I opened the packetcarefully and began (S n ,hn, June morning, in the middle years of the to read.There were severalpapers, explaining the history of seventeenth century) the prison in Boston was still a new the scarletletter, and containingmany detailsof the life and building. But it already Iooked old, and was a dark, ugly place, experiencesof a woman called HesterPrynne. She had died surrounded by rough grass. The only thing of beauty was a long ago, sometimein the 1690s,but many peoplein the state wild rose growing by the door' and its bright, sweet-smelling of Massachusettsat that time had known her name and story. flowers seemedto smile kindly at the poor prisoners who went And it is Hester Prynne's story that I tell you now. It is a story into that place, and at those who came out to their death. of the early years of Boston, soon after the City Fathers had A crowd of people waited in Prison Lane. The men all had - built with their own hands the first wooden buildings the beards, and wore sad-coloured clothes and tall grey hats. houses, the churches. and the prison. There were women, too' in the crowd, and all eyes watched the heavy wooden door of the prison. There was no mercy in the faces, and the women seemed to take a special interest in what was going to happen. They were country women, and the bright morning sun shone down on strong shoulders and wide skirts, and on round, red faces. Many of them had been born in England, and had crossedthe seatwenty years before, with the first families who came to build the town of Boston in New England. They brought the customs and religion of old England with them - and also the loud voices and strong opinions of Englishwomen of those times. 'It 'if would be better.' said one hard-faced woman of fifty, The ScarletLetter Hester Prynne's shame we good, sensible,church-going women could judge this Hester Prynne. And would we give her the same light punishmentthat the magistratesgive her? No!' 'People 'that say,'said another woman, Mr Dimmesdale, her priest,is deeplysaddened by the shamethat this woman hasbrought on his church.' 'The magistratesare too merciful,' said a third woman. 'They shouldburn the letterinto her foreheadwith hot meral, not put it on the front of her dress!' 'She ,She oughtto die!'criedanother woman. hasbrought shameon all of us!Ah - hereshe comes!' The door of the prison openedand, like a black shadow coming out into sunshine,the prison officerappeared. He put his right hand on the shoulderof a woman and pulled her forward, but shepushed him away and steppedout into the open air. There was a child in her arms - a baby of three - months which shut its eyesand turned its head away from the bright sun. The woman'sface was suddenlypink underthe staresof the crowd, but shesmiled proudly and looked round at her neighboursand the peopleof her rown. On the bosomof her The woman smiledproudly and looked round dress,in fine red cloth and surroundedwith fantasticpatterns at the PeoPleof her town. of gold thread,was rheletter A. The youngwoman wastall and perfectlyshaped. She had But the thing that everyone stared at was the Scarlet Letter' long dark hair which shonein the sunlight, and a beautiful sewn so fantastically on to her dress. 'But facewith deepblack eyes. She walked like a lady, and those 'She is clever with her needle,' said one of the women. who had expected her to appear sad and ashamedwere what a way to show it! She is meant to wear that letter as a surprisedhow her beautyshone our through her misfortune. punishment, not as something to be proud of!' Tbe ScarletLetter Hester Prynne'sshame The officer steppedforward and people moved back to than his right. Next came pictures of the tall grey houses and allow the woman to walk through the crowd. It was not far great churches of the city of Amsterdam, where a new life had from the prison to the market-place,where, at the western begun for her with this older man. end,in front of Boston'searliest church, stood the scaffold. And then, suddenly, she was back in the Boston market- Here, criminals met their death before the eyes of the place, standing on the platform of the scaffold. townspeople, but the scaffold platform was also used as a Could it be true? She held the child so close to her bosom placeof shame,where thosewho had done wrong in the eyes that it cried out. She looked down at the scarlet letter, touched of God were madeto stand and show their shamefulfaces to it with her finger to be sure that the child and the shame were the world.