In a Puritan settlement in Boston in the mid 1600’s, a woman named Hester Prynne committed adultery and had a child. The townspeople are outraged and they make her wear a scarlet “A” on her clothes for everyone to see. It is supposed to be a mark of shame, but since Hester is a master at needlework, she makes her “A” beautiful. Her husband, who was going to follow her after he had settled some affairs, sent her to Boston, but at least two years passed and he had still not shown up. While Hester is receiving some of her punishment by standing on a scaffold, she spots her husband in the crowd. They later speak while she is in the jail, and he reveals that he is now using the alias Roger Chillingworth so that he is not associated with Hester. Everyone wants to know who Pearl’s father is, but Hester refuses to tell; not even Pearl knows. Chillingworth begins a quest to get revenge on Pearl’s father, whom the reader later finds out is Reverend Dimmesdale.