On March 16, 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter was published. This masterpiece of American literature, like many other of Hawthorne's works, is set in the Puritan New England of the 17th century, a time period which haunted the author. (He had good reason to be strongly influenced by that time period, as one of his forefathers, John Hathorne, was a judge during the Salem witchcraft trials.) The story of Hester Prynne, who conceives a child during an adulterous affair and must wear a scarlet letter "A" on her gown as a badge of sin, has left a lasting mark on popular culture, inspiring operas, songs, and movies, including the 2010 film Easy A, in which a straight arrow high school girl sees her life parallelling Hester Prynne's after a little white lie about losing her virginity gets out.
