This volume presents the authoritative Centenary Edition text of Hawthorne's classic 1851 novel, along with critical essays that read "The Scarlet Letter" from contemporary reader-response, psychoanalytic, feminist and new historicist perspectives. As in the first edition, the text and essays are complemented by biographical and critical introductions, bibliographies and a glossary of critical and theoretical terms. Five of the seven essays are new to the second edition, as is a selection of cultural documents and illustrations.