The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Author Background: Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 1804-May 19 1864)     

• Was an American writer who was born in Salem, Massachusetts, on July 4, 1804.
•  The original name of his family was Hathorne, but then the "w" was added, because he wanted to distinguish himself from the history, which included John Hathorne.
• The Scarlet Letter is the best well-known novel that was ever  written by him.
• He was part of the American Transcendentalists, and was very close to Ralph Waldo Emerson, and participating in the communal Brook Farm.
• When his father had died in 1808, when Nathaniel was four, his uncle, Robert Manning, helped finance his college education, at Bowdoin College, where Hawthorne attended in 1821.
• He was not focused on studying  specific profession, but he studied the classics, mathematics, natural science and composition, and philosophy.
• He did not care much for school, but was a great reader and writer, and graduated college in 1825.
• After graduation he started writing stories, and his first published book was Fanshawe, in the year 1828.
• Started taking his writing seriously, and published Twice Told Tales in 1837.
• Hawthorne, in 1839, accepted a position at the Boston Custom House, where he was weighing coal and salt.
• Married a girl named Sophia in 1842, and they both moved to Concord, Massachusetts.
•  When he found the letter "A" in the attic of the old home, this was his inspiration to write his  famous novel, The Scarlet Letter.
• As he was becoming more popular, he wrote more novels including: The House of The Seven Gables, Moby Dick, The Blithedale Romance, and also, The Marble Faun.
• He wrote stories for children based on Greek Myths, wrote a campaign biography of his friend Franklin Pierce, and was also offered a position in England.
•  In 1864, he went on a trip with President Pierce, without paying any attention to his health, and it was on the way to Pierce's home in new Hampshire that Nathaniel Hawthorne passed away in the night.

Historical Background on The Scarlet Letter(Published in 1850)                 

• The Scarlet Letter is a piece of American Romantic Literature that was written during the Romantic Movement in American Literature, from the period of 1830-1865.
• Also, the novel was set in a remote past, which was the Puritan era, prior to Hawthorne's time.
• The novel was also considered an American Romantic Literature, because it deals with the interior psychology of the individual characters in the story.
• Romantic Literature: Is the belief in that the imagination is capable of discovering truths, that the normal human mind cannot do. These kind of truths were accompanied by powerful emotion, and was associated with natural beauty. 
• Romantics: To them, individual feelings, imagination, and wild nature, were all much more greater and important, rather than reason and logic. At the same time, they did not completely reject logical thought, but for he purpose of art, they placed a premium on intuitive "felt" experience.
• Characteristics of Romanticism: Faith is placed in the inner experience, seeks unspoiled nature, shuns artificiality of civilization, champions individual freedom, prefers youthful innocence to educated sophistication, and it also reflects on nature's beauty as a path to moral and spiritual development.
• Puritans: They were a religious group who migrated from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England, around the early 1600's. They believed in "pure" interpretation of the Bible, which did not include some traditional practices of the Church of England. Government and religion were very close to one another, even though the Church did not control the state in Puritan settlements. Also, the Puritans had many strict rules against the theater, sensuous poetry, religious music, and frivolous dress. To them, art was mostly religious, utilitarian, and it served as a personal purpose. Their beliefs were based on a system of Christian theology called Calvinism, which was named after John Calvin. During the Protestant Reformation, Calvin was an important French theologian and pastor as well. All f the beliefs of Calvinism are in The Five Points of Calvinism, in where the concepts of predestination and total depravity, are essentials, in order to understand the behavior of the Puritans.  

Key Characters and Analysis:

1.)  Hester Prynne-  She is the protagonist in the story, and is the one who wears the one who wears the scarlet letter.The letter, which is a patch of fabric that has the shape of an "A", which signifies that she has committed adultery. She is a passionate and strong woman, but she experiences years of scorn and shame. Through her intelligence and much thoughtfulness, she equals out both her husband and her lover. Because of how separated she is from anyone else she observes the community, focusing mainly on the treatment of women.   She was viewed as this nice, behaved, innocent lady, but then was looked as a shame to everyone else, after she had an affair.

2.) Roger Chillingworth- He is Hester's husband, but is in disguise. He has a great craving for revenge, and will stay in Boston, even though his wife, who betrayed him, is there. Since he is a scholar, he uses his intelligence to disguise himself up as a doctor. He is going to torment Hester's other lover. Chillingworth is a self absorbed, and both psychologically and physically monstrous in many ways, because all he wants is revenge. Also, because he is single-minded, he is the most wicked and vicious character in the entire story.

3.) Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale- He is a young man who had emigrated to America, after he had achieved fame in England as a theologian. In a weakening point in the story he becomes the lover of Hester, and has to live and deal with the guilt by agonizing himself, both psychologically and physically, which, sooner or later, develops a heart condition for him. He is the type of man who is emotional and intelligent, and his lessons throughout the story are masterpieces of showing and representing persuasiveness. But, at the same time, he is mentally blind, because he does not pay attention to the horrible things that are happening in his own life.

Key Quotes and Analysis

1. "The days of the far-off future would toil onward, still with the same burden for her to take up, and bear along with her, but never to fling down; for the accumulating days, and added years, would pile up their misery upon the heap of shame." 

• This quote is significant, because it represents that Hester will have a horrible life, because the problem is not that she will wear the letter for a couple is, the problem is that she has to wear it for the rest of her life, and forgiveness will not come into play. Since this is such a harsh punishment, everyone will look at her with hatred.

     2.  "Hadst thou sought the whole earth over," said he, looking darkly at the clergyman, "there was       no one place so secret, —no high place nor lowly place, where thou couldst have escaped me,--save       on this very scaffold!" 

• This quote is significant, because it describes what kind of trouble that Dimmesdale is in, and that he wants to escape out of the horrific situation that he is in. Even though Chillingworth will find him, once his hypocrisy distinguishes, he is finally free. 

     3.  "The moment that he did so, there came what seemed a tumultuous rush of new life, other life than his own, pouring like a torrent into his heart, and hurrying through all his veins, as if the mother and the child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed an electric chain." 

• This quote is significant, because it shows that Dimmesdale is confessing about his relationship with Hester, but is making a false confession. He got energized to do this, by having an insight of the idea of telling the truth.

     4.  “Better to fast and pray upon it; and still better, it may be, to leave the mystery as we find it, unless Providence reveal it of its own accord.” 

• This quote is significant, because it represents the desperate need of Chillingworth, who is trying very hard to find out who the real father of Pearl is. But, at the same time, people think and believe that God should be responsible for revealing the truth, when the time is right.

    5.  "Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the scarlet letter flaming on her breast,—at her, the child of honorable parents,—at her, the mother of a babe, that would hereafter be a woman, —at her, who had once been innocent, —as the figure, the body, the reality of sin."

• This quote is significant, because it explains the future of Hester's daughter. It describes how an innocent, young child, will soon grow up, and commit a sin, just like her mother had. So, even a child can be viewed harshly, by the actions that were already done by others.

Theme: Blame can be something that one person can do to another, but it's not that easy, because it takes awareness and to be cautious of doing the wrong thing, and knowing what is wrong, to be able to feel guilty.

• This is a major theme of the story, because guilt and blame are expressed and presented all throughout the story, Hester feels guilt and because of the sin that she has committed, and can really do nothing about it. This sooner leads to many problems, because Chillingworth is blaming Dimmesdale for this situation, and will do anything to get revenge. He knows that he has to know what he is doing, to lay down the blame on him. The quote, "To his features, as to all other objects, the meteoric light imparted a new expression; or it might well be that the physician was not careful then, as at all other times, to hide the malevolence with which he looked upon his victim." (12.33-34) ; this explains how some of the guilt of Dimmesdale is lifter, while more guilt is put on Chillingworth. Overall, Chillingworth knows that Dimmesdale should have all the blame, and feel all the guilt that he deserves.

AP Opened Ended Question: 2009. A symbol is an object, action, or event that represents something or that creates a range of associations beyond itself. In literary works a symbol can express an idea, clarify meaning, or enlarge literal meaning. Select a novel or play and, focusing on one symbol, write an essay analyzing how that symbol functions in the work and what it reveals about the characters or themes of the work as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

• This question relates to The Scarlet Letter, because the story is based around one major symbol, which is the letter "A", that is worn by Hester. This symbol is worn to represent a horrible sin that she committed, and people view her with disgust, and ignore her. It makes the people in the community go crazy over her situation that she is placed in. This letter "A" does not only symbolize the terrible thing that she has done, but also puts her on the spot so that she can be seen as this bad, evil figure, that no one should look up too. This letter creates problems, that involve people blaming one another, and also creates an atmosphere feel of guilt, and a need for revenge.

                 

                                                                  Works Cited 

"Historical and Literary Context of The Scarlet Letter." Historical and Literary Context of The Scarlet Letter. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

"Nathaniel Hawthorne - Biography." Nathaniel Hawthorne. N.p., 1997-2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

"The Scarlet Letter." Shmoop. N.p., 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.

"The Scarlet Letter." SparkNotes. SparkNotes, 2013. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.