Ten of the best religious zealots in literature

At the Guardian, John Mullan named ten of the best religious zealots in literature.

One entry on the list:

Arthur Dimmesdale

The apparent victim in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is the young woman ostracised by her Puritan community for having a child outside wedlock. The true victim is the devout religious minister who is her secret lover who seems to have burnt an "A" (for "Adulterer") into his own chest. Eventually he publicly confesses his faults and falls dead.

Read about the other zealots on the list.

The Scarlet Letter appears on Mullan's list of ten of the best reformations in literature. It is one of Paul Auster's five most important books.

--Marshal Zeringue