Scarlet Letter
Shameful embroidered symbol
A scarlet letter is a mark of shame or disgrace that follows someone publicly.
The phrase comes from Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel, in which an adulteress must wear a red "A" on her clothing.
Now used figuratively for any visible stigma: His bankruptcy became a scarlet letter in the business community.
She wore her conviction like a scarlet letter.
- HesterTraditional English female name
- adulteryMarried person's sexual betrayal
- fallen womanMorally disgraced female
- HawthorneSurname from spiny shrubs
- American literatureU.S. written works
Puritan · New England · sin · shame · embroidered · scaffold · Pearl · Boston · colonial · guilt · confession · punishment · stigma · crimson · badge · secret · penance · minister
- Classic BooksPride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Moby Dick, Moby-Dick, Great Expectations
- classicsHomer, Iliad, the Iliad, Odyssey, the Odyssey
- School ClassicsTo Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet
- RomanticismWilliam Blake, the sublime, J.M.W. Turner, Eugene Delacroix, emotionalism
- colonial faithPilgrims, Puritans, Calvinism, Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony
- Romantic Eraromanticism, Beethoven symphonies, gothic fiction, Swan Lake, Nutcracker
Scarlet Letterbadge of honor
Source of earned pride
medal · halo · laurel wreath · crown · commendation
Scarlet Letterforgiveness
Releasing resentment toward offenders
absolution · pardon · redemption · clean slate · amnesty