Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter Overview Video

Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter Overview Video

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Hawthorne's Life

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Born July 4, 1804 in Salem, MA Education- Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine (38 freshmen, 5 faculty members) l Married Sophia Peabody in 1842 l Job at Custom House 1839 -40, 46 -49 l 3 Children l Moved to England, France, and Rome after Salem l Died in 1864 Do you want to learn more? l l

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE “The Scarlet Letter is powerfully written but my writings do not, nor ever will, appeal to the broadest class of sympathies, and therefore will not obtain a very wide popularity. ” -Hawthorne, after finishing the novel

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE As a literary artist… First American “pro writer”: college educated, familiar with the great European writers 4, 000 copies of The Scarlet Letter sold in the first 10 days

OVERVIEW The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester Prynne who has committed adultery and must wear a scarlet "A" publicly as punishment. When her husband, whom she believed to be dead, suddenly reappears, he determines to discover the identity of the father of Hester's child, although Hester steadfastly refuses to reveal his identity. Through the use of rich symbolism and supernatural events, Hawthorne shows the destructive effects of guilt and revenge.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT The Scarlet Letter was finished in 1850…. .

What was going on in America in 1850? HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND LITERARY EVENTS TIMELINE

HISTORICAL CONTEXT To what “period” of American Literature does Hawthorne belong? ? Lets take a look at the history of American Literature…. .

HISTORICAL CONTEXT l English Heritage (Elizabethan Age) l 1650 -1770: Early Colonial period. Puritan writings, no distinctive American literature l 1750 -1800: Later Colonial period- Age of Reason/Enlightenment (Neoclassicism, Rationalism)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT l 1800 -1850: American Renaissance/ Romanticism- slave narratives, inner feelings, the burden of a Puritan past, the rejection of Neoclassicism Transcendentalism was a part of this…

HISTORICAL CONTEXT TRANSCENDENTALISM l Boston-centered movement, led by Emerson, was an important force in New England circles l Human existence transcends the sensory realm l Formalism in favor of individual responsibility l Belief in individual choice and consequence l Focus on the positive

HISTORICAL CONTEXT SUBDIVISION OF ROMANTICISM: GOTHIC LITERATURE, the “dark romantics”(1800 -1850) -use of supernatural -motif of double (both good and evil in characters; sin and evil does exist) -depression, dark forests -Poe, Hawthorne, Melville -emphasis on symbolism (which we will discuss later)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT l In what ways can you see the Transcendentalist influence on Hawthorne? (His wife was a Transcendentalist and had some effect on his literature, and he also became friends with Transcendentalists in Concord, Emerson and Thoreau) l How is he also ANTITRANSCENDENTALIST/ GOTHIC, as exhibited in the novel?

LITERARY ELEMENTS l Characters l Mood l Setting l Plot l Symbolism l Themes

LITERARY ELEMENTS: CHARACTERS l Hester Prynne- protagonist, married to Chillingworth, adultery with Dimmesdale

LITERARY ELEMENTS: CHARACTERS l Arthur Dimmesdale- pastor, intense suffering, tragic figure l Roger Chillingworth- physician, old, evil, deformed, diabolical vengeance on Dimmesdale l Pearl- beautiful daughter, sometimes imp -like, rebellious, inquisitive

LITERARY ELEMENTS: CHARACTERS l Gov. Bellingham- based on actual governor of Boston l John Wilson- eldest clergyman, based on actual English minister l Mistress Hibbins- based on figure executed for witchcraft, appears to know a great deal about the adultery

LITERARY ELEMENTS: MOOD The SOMBER, DARK mood is welldefined from the beginning: “sad-colored garments” of spectators, the prison door which is “heavily timbered and studded with iron spikes”

LITERARY ELEMENTS: SETTING 17 th century Puritanical New England (Mass. ) What was America like then?

LITERARY ELEMENTS: SETTING Life in the Mid 1600 s l l l l Boston was founded just 2 decades earlier 1 st governor was John Winthrop, who governed based on religious and civic ideals People were hardworking and devoted 1630 s- Puritans established a number of settlements in Massachusetts PURITANISM involved belief that the church of England was too much influenced by the Catholic church Strict code, on which people were expected to act and judged upon Rejected belief that divine authority is channeled through any one single person (i. e. the pope) THEOCRACY- state governed by the church

LITERARY ELEMENTS: SETTING What aspects of this type of religious society can be seen in The Scarlet Letter? How do you think Hawthorne views this type of society?

How do you think his own past might have affected his writing? (Hawthorne was intrigued and even haunted by his past ancestors, and they appeared quite often in his fiction. Hawthorne’s past greatly influenced his writing of The Scarlet Letter. )

How did his life affect the writing of the novel? 1. Influences on Hawthorne: Puritan background John Hathorne presided over the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 Major William Hathorne (16081681) persecuted quakers

How did his life affect the writing of the novel? 2) Salem- childhood, later work at the Custom House, as Surveyor of the Port “The Custom House” introduction creates a FRAME STORY This introduction gives an account of his experience as surveyor; he attacks the officials who connived in his dismissal… Like his heroine Hester, Hawthorne emerges from confrontation with a self-righteous society as an individual of integrity, passion, and moral superiority.

The Custom House

LITERARY ELEMENT: SYMBOLISM IN THE NOVEL

MAJOR THEMES l l l l PURITAN MORALITY v. PASSION AND INDIVIDUALISM Self-trust v. accomodation to authority Conventional v. unconventional gender roles Guilt: sense of guilt forced by puritanical heritage/society The penalties of isolation/ isolation because of self-cause and societal cause Patriarchal power Belief in fate/free will Impossibility of earthly perfection

MAJOR THEMES Perhaps his greatest interest was the human capacity on how sin operates on the inner workings of minds With the superstition common to his brotherhood, he fancied himself given over to a fiend, to be tortured with frightful dreams, and desperate thoughts, the sting of remorse, and despair of pardon; as a foretaste of what awaits him beyond the grave. But it was the constant shadow of my presence!--the closest propinquity of the man whom he had most vilely wronged!-and who had grown to exist only by this perpetual poison of the direst revenge! Yea, indeed!--he did not err!-there was a fiend at his elbow! A mortal man, with once a human heart, has become a fiend for his especial torment!" The unfortunate physician, while uttering these words, lifted his hands with a look of horror, as if he had beheld some frightful shape, which he could not recognize, usurping the place of his own image in a glass. “smile with a sinister meaning”

THE END