Review 80: The Scarlett Letter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

A book that attempts to condemn puritan self-rigtheousness. However, it would be hard to find a more self-righteous and moralizing work. In this case, the morals are different than the puritan era, (the latter being viewed with disdain), but there is a morality here. Even legalism. This book is neither a faithful intro to puritanism (except as propoganda), nor an especially beautiful morality. What is its place then? It has merit as a notable misfire, and as an example of how the most self-righteous people are the best at masking it, and most blind to it: Hawthorne included.