The book directly states Pearl’s elfishness (85). The content itself suggests rather that she is a half-elf. Half-elves, children of elf-human couplings, are defined as having the human traits of curiosity, inventiveness, ambition (Tweet, Cook, and Williams 18). These fit Pearl, as she repeatedly questions Hester on matters involving the letter (Hawthorne 165), creates imaginary worlds to play in (Hawthorne 87), and tries to become her mother (Hawthorne 163) and reunite her family (Hawthorne 141). She also possesses the elven love of nature (as in her trip to the forest (Hawthorne 187-188)) and artistic tastes (as in her abilities in adornment (Hawthorne 163)). Lastly, she has the chaotic alignment (as in her disdain for rules and freakish nature (Hawthorne 83), keen senses, and oddness compared to the regular children (Hawthorne 86). This raises the question, “Who is the elf?” The answer is, “It could be either.” Arthur has the low constitution, sagaciousness, focus on goals (Hawthorne 110), and low-light vision (Hawthorne 137), while Hester has the chaos (Hawthorne 83), separation from society (Hawthorne 74), artistic abilities (Hawthorne 75-76), and longer life (Hawthorne 227), and both are clearly good (Hawthorne 72-73 & 110). It could also be that Pearl is a second-generation half-elf, or even that the Puritans are all half-elves, but these possibilities eliminate the comparative characteristics.
The Scarlet Letter also possesses the structure of an adventure. Roger plays the role of the main villain, known as the “big bad evil guy (BBEG)” in RP terminology. The town is one with where arcane spellcasters are held as profane, and divine casters are revered as enlightened, a setting that nicely translates to the real-life Puritan one. In an actual campaign, the player-characters (PCs) would first gather information on the scarlet letter, house on the outskirts of town, and the illustrious priest everyone’s talking about. After further research, they’re anticipated to sense Roger’s motives and attempt to convince the community of their discovery. The climax comes when Roger reveals himself as a lich (which his descriptions in the book suggests) to the PCs and they have an epic battle, hopefully with the heroes winning and allowing Hester and Arthur their freedom. It could also happen in reverse order, with the PCs guarding the lovers’ escape and fighting Roger after he becomes enraged and attacks them. However, to make the book Hawthorne would have had to modify the original plot to eliminate the PCs and allow the events to unfurl without their artificial intervention and ludicrous antics. Mistress Hibbins also seems to have more depth than the book tells of, but with the spontaneous investigation allotted to PCs they’re expected to look into her and discover the extra story excluded from the book (most likely due to it being a scheme unrelated to the main plot and thus useless in telling the story) (Hawthorne 139), probably ending with a fight against her (she is described as being an evil witch (Hawthorne 107)). There must be a point behind doing this, besides it being right and getting praise from the town, or else the players would become upset and throw things at him for “wasting their time.” The point would be acquisition of a magical item, the scarlet letter.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was a lover of fiction, being one of the first writers to experiment with “alternate history” and writing two books retelling the Greek myths. He once said, "I have not lived, but only dreamed about living," indicating he had his own fantasy world (“Nathaniel Hawthorne”). During his college years he joined the fraternity Delta Kappa Epsilon, a secret society founded by those rejected from normal ones (a stereotypical description applied to RP clubs) (“Delta Kappa Epsilon”). The style he used for writing The Scarlet Letter has several pieces of drawn-out descriptions, personnal opinions, and scarcely related paragraphs: things that are strange to find in a novel but perfectly normal during a conversation with friends. With friends and neighbors such as poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, philospher Henry David Thoreau, and artist and wife Sophia Peabody, he was sure to always have fellow intellectuals to RP with (“Nathaniel Hawthorne”).
As with all theories, this is bound to have some arguments against it, the most prominent is likely to be that the book was written over 100 years before modern RPs. But, one must realize that there must have been some form of popular pre-RP played and enjoyed for someone to see fit to create rules to govern it. Thus, it is still possible, and even viable, that Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter as an adventure for an RP campaign.
“Delta Kappa Epsilon.” Wikipedia. May 8, 2007. Wikipedia Foundation. May 8, 2007.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York: Bantam Books, 1989.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” Wikipedia. May 7, 2007. Wikipedia Foundation. May 8, 2007.
Tweet, Jonathan, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams. Dungeons and Dragons Player’s Handbook, v.3.5. Washington: Wizards of the Coast, 2003.