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A young woman is condemned for bearing a child out of wedlock and she is put to trial by a Puritan society that will not accept a love that isn’t bound by marriage in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Summary of the Book Hester Prynne faces trial for a crime she cannot understand. Her condemners are the people around her. They say it is a sin to bear a child out of wedlock, no matter if it was borne out of love. Love can only stem from holy matrimony. There is no love without marriage. There can be no mercy for her crime. However, Hester still harbours that love in her heart. She still loves the man who left her with child, she will protect him forever, even at the cost of her life. About Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer. He is also remembered for writing The House of the Seven Gables, The Marble Faun, The Blithedale Romance and Twice-Told Tales. Media Note Of all its film adaptations, The Scarlet Letter was best adapted in the 1926 drama film starring Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson and Henry B. Walthall. It was more recently adapted into a film in 1995, starring Demi Moore, Gary Oldman and Robert Duvall. Cultural Importance of the Work The Scarlet Letter has influenced a plethora of fiction, music and art since its publication, including: John Updike’s Roger’s Version, Hugues Merle’s The Scarlet Letter and the Metallica song, Thorn Within.