Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter –Author –Born –Inspiration for Work...
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Transcript of Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter –Author –Born –Inspiration for Work...
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
• The Scarlet Letter– Author
– Born
– Inspiration for Work
– Nathaniel Hawthorne
– Salem, Massachusetts, 1804
– Related to John Hawthorne, a judge for the 1692 Salem Witch Trials
– Hawthorne was enamored with his relative’s involvement in the trial and with Puritan culture as a whole
• The Scarlet Letter– Transcendentalist
Influence– Became a part of a
highly intellectual group that included Ralph Waldo Emerson
– Transcendentalists tried to become one with nature and abandon the evils of society
– True happiness and feeling of self could only come through embracing their own individual thoughts and feelings
• Background Information: The Scarlet Letter– Puritan Culture – A majority of
Hawthorne’s works focused on America’s Puritan forefathers
– The Puritans were a group of religious zealots who came to America in the 1630s to practice their religious beliefs freely
• Background Information: The Scarlet Letter– Puritan Culture – Puritans were supposed to
be solely focused on their relationship with the Lord
– Their people has little tolerance for ideas or any behavior that differed from what they considered the norm
– Any behaviors that were not done with God in mind were considered amoral.
Overview: The Scarlet Letter
• The Scarlet Letter: Overview
• Hester Prynne is a member of a Puritan community
• Her husband is thought to be lost at sea and in his absence she has an affair with Arthur Dimmesdale, a young minister
• The Scarlet Letter: Overview • The result of the affair is two-fold: Hester has a child named Pearl, and she is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her bosom that brands her as an adulterer.
• Despite intense pressure from the community Hester refuses to reveal the identify the father of her child
• Although an outcast, Hester proves herself to a generous, giving person capable of great charity
• The Scarlet Letter: Overview
• In secrecy her husband, now going by the named of Roger Chillingworth, plots revenge against her wife for her unfaithfulness
• Suspecting Dimmesdale, Chillingworth hatches a plot to undo the Minister and Hester
Literary Focus: The Scarlet Letter
• Literary Focus: The Scarlet Letter– Date of Publication
– Setting (time)
– Setting (place)
– 1850
– Mid-Seventeenth Century
– Boston, Massachusetts
• The town is situated between the sea and the rest of unsettled America. What lies outside the town is a "black forest," strongly symbolic of moral absence and evil.
• Literary Focus: The Scarlet Letter– Point of View
– Protagonist
– Antagonist
– 1st person narrative• The narration is unique
because it is told from an omniscient customhouse surveyor who is writing about these events two hundred years after they have taken place
– Hester Prynne
– The judgmental, harsh nature of Puritan society
• Literary Focus– Themes and Conflicts – The Burden of Sin
– Feelings of Guilt
– Lust and Desire
– Individual vs. Society
– Psychological Anguish
– Change and Transformation
– Strength in Identity
– Nature’s Civilization vs. Society’s Civilization
• Literary Focus– Irony
• Puritan society, supposedly a moral beacon, is judgmental and cruel, whereas Hester and Minister Dimmesdale, humbled by guilt and shame, act in charitable and empathetic ways that are very moralistic
• Hester’s punishment was supposed to weaken her resolve and make her apologetic, but it has instead allowed her to see the hypocrisy of society around her
• Literary Focus– Central Symbol
• The Scarlet Letter • One of the most powerful symbols in all of literature
• Multiple possible meanings depending on how the novel is read; different possible meanings even as the novel progresses
• Possible meanings: – Representative of Hester’s shame– Representative of Hester’s new,
independent, humble identity– Representative of her “Abilities”—
she is thought to be a leader by outsiders like Native Americans
– Representative of her affair with Dimmesdale
– Representative of ambiguity; by the end of the novel is it more of a symbol of her transgressions or her inner strength?
• Literary Focus– Other Symbols
• Pearl
• Minister Dimmesdale
• The name itself is representative of beauty—the character has value and beauty just like the piece jewelry has value
• Representative of a living version of Hester’s letter as well as a constant reminder of his sexual sin
• Representative of the Puritan ideal of self-suffering, but also representative of man’s inability to escape its sinful nature
Characters: The Scarlet Letter
• The Scarlet Letter: Characters– Hester Prynne – Passionate, intelligent
and strong
– Endures shame and scorn from her Puritan community
– She is an outcast from society, but this alienation gives her unique perspective on the actions of others
• The Scarlet Letter: Characters– Reverend Arthur
Dimmesdale – Hester’s lover
– Famed in England for his elegant and powerful sermons
– Feels tremendous guilt and inner-conflict between his commitment to the church and his love for Hester
• The Scarlet Letter: Characters– Roger Chillingworth
– Hester’s husband; remains in disguise throughout the novel
– Seeks revenge against Hester and makes it his personal mission to discover and torture her lover
– Indulgent and presented as both physically and mentally twisted