Which of the following was NOT a conjecture about the scarlet letter's origin?

• A. The scarlet letter was ordained by Heaven as punishment
• B. Dimmesdale did it to himself
• C. Chillingworth inflicted his black magic on him
• D. His guilt manifested it itself

Answer: (A)

The scarlet letter in Hawthorne’s tale is shown as a public sign imposed by civil authority, a symbol that takes on meaning through social judgment and personal guilt rather than through a divine mandate. While characters and townspeople speculate about various causes—Dimmesdale’s hidden guilt, Chillingworth’s supposed “black magic,” or guilt itself shaping how the symbol is interpreted—the story presents the origin of the mark as a human punishment rooted in the Puritan code, not a heavenly decree. So the idea that Heaven ordained the letter as punishment isn’t treated as a plausible, narrative origin the text uses to explain where the sign came from; it’s the least fitting conjecture among the options.