The Scarlet Letter (Annotated) characters

Also known as the woman with the scarlet letter

First appears in chapter 2

A young woman in Puritan Boston condemned for bearing a child outside marriage. She emerges from prison carrying her infant and wearing an elaborately embroidered red A. Although the authorities expose her to public shame, she refuses to name the child's father and meets the crowd with controlled dignity.

First appears in chapter 6

Hester Prynne's young daughter, born during her mother's imprisonment and present with her on the scaffold. Hester names her Pearl because she came at great cost. Lively, imaginative, and difficult to govern, she is also the living evidence of the offense for which Hester is punished.

First appears in chapter 3

A young and widely admired minister asked to persuade Hester to reveal her child's father. His eloquence and apparent spiritual sensitivity give him exceptional authority within the Puritan community.

Also known as the stranger

First appears in chapter 4

A learned, physically misshapen stranger who arrives in Boston after a long absence and recognizes Hester on the scaffold. He conceals his connection to her while observing the public interrogation with unsettling concentration.

First appears in chapter 3

The senior colonial official who helps direct Hester's public examination. He represents the civil authority enforcing the settlement's religious and social order.

First appears in chapter 3

An elderly clergyman who joins Governor Bellingham in pressing Hester to disclose her partner. He is a respected representative of the colony's established church.

First appears in chapter 8

Governor Bellingham's widowed sister, regarded by the townspeople as a witch. Her bold references to nocturnal meetings in the forest make her a disturbing contrast to the colony's public claims of order and godliness.