Essential Questions to Consider Can one have individual

Essential Questions to Consider Can one have individual freedom without conforming to the laws of a group? How do hypocrisy, conformity, and vengeance affect the characters of The Scarlet Letter? How do we become moral beings? Why is the novel considered a Dark Romantic?

Some Themes in The Scarlet Letter • Appearance versus Reality • Breaking Society’s rules – conflict of individual versus society • What is moral behavior? • Consequences of one’s actions • Personal growth through adversity • Symbols change over time. • Sins from the past influencing the present

Nathaniel Hawthorne Early Years • Born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. • His parents were devout Puritans. • Great-great grandfather was a judge during The Salem Witch Trials. • Mother gave birth alone while father was out at sea. • Had aspirations to be a writer at an early age.

College 1821 - 1824 • Attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine • Classmates with: -Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin -Franklin Pierce who became the 14 th President of The United States.

Young Adult Life 1824 - 1842 • Burned first published work after it sold only 1000 copies. • 1837: College friend, John O’Sullivan, published first short novel Twice Told Tales. • Worked on and off at many office jobs. • Engaged to his fiancée Sophia Peabody for 7 years before he told his mother, 6 months before they were married.

Hawthorne as a Puritan q. Puritans believed • People are inherently sinful • Society is necessary for survival • The law is superior to freedom • Decisions are made for the collective good • Children are miniature adults and should be held to the same standard • The forests is the devil’s domain • Reason overrides emotion

Hawthorne as a Romantic q. Romantics believed • People are inherently good • Society corrupts individuals • Freedom is superior to law • Emotion is superior to reason • Children are free and models for the rest of us • Nature is holy

Hawthorne as a Dark Romantic Gothics believed • People are inherently depraved, and often passionate or obsessive • Settings ought to be dark, old, and creepy • An atmosphere of mystery and suspense enhances the plot • Foreshadowing and dreams play a large role • Forlorn, depressed characters important • Nature is dark and foreboding (overgrown vegetation)