The Scarlet Letter is an excellent book. Hawthorne spends so much time discussing the characters' thoughts and motives that by the end of the book, you can understand why the people act the way they do. It makes them seem almost real. He relates nature to what the character's are experiencing that makes the story even more powerful. In one place he told of a rose bush that grew by the prison so it seemed Nature was saying that even though other people had abandoned them, someone could always count on the nature's love. It's very beautifully written. The story of adultery and jealous spouses happens in our own day which makes The Scarlet Letter relate to the reader. It's just a great book all over, and I feel that it's one of the best ever written.