The Scarlet Letter

By: Nathaniel Hawthorne

About the Author: His Childhood• Born 4 July 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts • He was the son of Elizabeth Clarke Manning and Nathaniel

Hawthorne, a Captain in the U. S. Navy who died when Nathaniel was four years old.

• His ancestors were some of the first Puritans to settle in the New England area.

• The lingering guilt Hawthorne felt from his great grandfather having officiated during the Salem Witch Trials provided a theme for many of his stories

• After his father died Nathaniel and his mother moved to her parents’ home just a few doors down, which Hawthorne referred to as ‘Castle Dismal’.

About the Author: His Education• Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine

(1821-24) along with fellow poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and future American President Franklin Pierce, about whom he wrote a biography of in 1852.

• Hawthorne was not interested in entering any of the traditional professions; he was an avid reader and already writing his own short stories and had many published in magazines.

• Upon graduation he continued to write stories and sketches. • His writing was not a lucrative pursuit so Hawthorne worked at

the Salem Custom-House to augment his income. • He also lived at the experimental transcendentalist community

‘Brook Farm’, but stayed only a year.

About the Author: His Family• In Boston on 9 July 1842, Hawthorne married

painter and fellow transcendentalist Sophia Peabody with whom he would have three children– daughters Una (1844-1877) – Rose (1851-1926)– and future author Julian Hawthorne (1846-1934).

• The newly married couple settled in the heart of Transcendentalist country Concorde, Massachusetts, living in the ‘The Old Manse’.

About the Author: His Adult Life• In 1851 Herman Melville dedicated Moby Dick to

Hawthorne. • In 1852 Hawthorne bought his home ‘The Wayside’

where the Alcotts had once lived and called ‘Hillside’. • The same year, the Hawthorne family set sail for

Liverpool, England where Nathaniel served as U.S. Consul.

• They traveled throughout Europe and lived for a time in France and Italy where they met fellow authors Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her husband Robert Browning.

About the Author: His Adult Life• Back home at The Wayside, Hawthorne continued to write

of his travels in his Passages From Notebooks volumes. • Nathaniel Hawthorne died on 19 May 1864. Franklin Pierce,

James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes were among the many who mourned the loss of their friend.

• Hawthorne lies buried on Author’s Ridge in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts among his many friends including the Alcotts, Emerson, and Thoreau.

• After devoting her remaining years to editing her husband’s notebooks for publication, Sophia died in 1871.

About the Author: His Personal Struggles

• He is a Puritan• He is a Transcendentalist• He feels the guilt of his family involvement in

the Salem Witch Hunts and Trials• He enjoys the psychological side of

investigating the human condition

About the Author: His Works• Hawthorne defined his longer works as “romances”—not

novels.• A romance is radically different from a novel by not being

concerned with the possible or probable course of ordinary experience.

• Many of his works are inspired by Puritan New England,

combining historical romance loaded with symbolism and deep psychological themes, bordering on surrealism.

• Hawthorne's works belong to dark romanticism– cautionary tales that suggest that guilt, sin, and evil are the most

inherent natural qualities of humanity.• His later writings would also reflect his negative view of the

Transcendentalism movement.

About the Author: His Writing Style

• Gloomy• Complex• Involves the reader in his own exploration of

the human condition• Wry joker• Riddler• Self-mockery/skepticism

“The Custom House”• Customs are the taxes paid on

foreign goods brought into the country

• The Custom House is the place where these taxes are paid

• The surveyor is the head of the Custom House and is generally appointed in the political arena (i.e. by the President)

• Hawthorne was the surveyor for the Salem Custom House but eventually lost his job due to political turnover

“The Custom House”

• This fictional sketch was written in response to Hawthorne’s being let go from the Custom House

• Hawthorne wrote this both as a jumping off point for The Scarlet Letter, but also in order to speak out about being “laid off.”

“The Custom House”

• The Custom House has several purposes:– Introduces us to narrator of the novel and his

history– Tells us the origin of the story we are about to

hear– Draws parallels between the narrator, the main

characters of the story (mainly Hester Prynne), and the author

– Introduces us to some of the themes of the larger work

The Scarlet Letter: What to Read For• Patterns:– Character– Theme– Image– Symbolism (color!)

• Hawthorne’s exploration of the human condition:– Mind– Heart– Spirit– Will– Imagination– Indulgence – Human Needs (bodily and emotional)

The Scarlet Letter: What to Read For• Topics that connect to themes:

– Self-trust vs authority– Gender roles– Open-mindedness– Hypocrisy– Presumed guilt (real or imagined)– Nurturance vs destructiveness– Isolation– Crimes against the heart– Patriarchal power– Fate vs free will– Human progress (all kinds)– Dreams, reverie, reality– Earthly perfection

The Scarlet Letter: What to Read For

• Character:– Recurrent “types”– Interrelationships– Heroism– Villainy– What does Hawthorne condemn, admire, or accept about

humans• Image Clusters/Juxtapositions:– Dark vs light– Natural vs unnatural– Sunshine and firelight vs moonlight and reflections

Journal Entry• Choose 3 items from the list below and research two interesting

facts of life about daily living in Puritan colonies for each category– Daily routine– Dress– Diet– Historical events– Puritan belief system (and its background)– Social order– Political order– Position of women– Attitudes and superstitions– Puritan personages

• Discuss the items you have discovered and their possible implications for people of the time in a paragraph of 250 words or more

Research and Presentations

• Generated groups of two• Assigned topic• Create a Web 2.0 presentation• Include relevant information and at least one

graphic• Be sure to cite your sources on a separate

MLA formatted page

1. Daily Routine2. Dress3. Diet4. Historical Events5. Puritan Belief System and Background6. Social Order7. Political Order8. Position of Women9. Attitudes and Superstitions10.Puritan Personages11.Role of Churches12.Economy13.Family Structure14.Penal System15.Death Causes and Customs16.Salem Witchcraft