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Nathaniel Hawthorne, one of the greatest American writers of his time, is well known for the highly moral inclination of his works. Among other themes dealt with in his works guilt appears as a recurrent topic, worth investigating deeply. Relying on a close reading together with the Reader-Response and psychoanalytic theories, this study explores the theme of guilt in his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter, with a view of showing the transformative moral function assigned to it. Keywords: The Scarlet Letter, guilt, moral transformation, catalyst.