Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Born in Salem, Massachusetts
• Puritan Background
• Ancestor of John Hathorne – one of the three judges in the
Salem Witch Trials
• Began writing after college at Bowdion College in Maine
• Spent many years in seclusion – starving artist
• Held many jobs including writer, publisher, working at a custom
house, and consul in England
• Hawthorne’s family came from Boston. He was descendant of a
judge in the Salem witch trials (named Hathorne). Hawthorne
changed the spelling of his name to distance himself from his
relative’s unsavory reputation.
The Setting
• The novel is set in the mid 1600s in Boston,
Massachusetts.
• The plot encompasses a seven year period.
• The plot involves the love triangle of wife-loverhusband.
• Like other Puritan settlements in New England, the
local and colonial governments were theocracies.
Theocracy
•
•
•
•
word comes from Greek
theo = God
cratos = rule
a theocracy is a government where the
civil laws are based (in whole or in part) on
religious laws; civil leaders in theocracies
are probably also important religious
leaders
The Puritans
• An emphasis on private study of the Bible
• A desire to see education and enlightenment for the masses
(especially so they could read the Bible for themselves)
• Simplicity in worship, the exclusion of vestments, images,
candles, etc.
• Did not celebrate traditional holidays which they believed to
be in violation of the regulative principle of worship.
• Believed the Sabbath was still obligatory for Christians,
although they believed the Sabbath had been changed to
Sunday
• Some approved of the church’s involvement with the courts
The Puritans
• Because Puritan Boston c. 1690 was still a theocratic society, crime
against church (or God) was the equivalent of a crime against another
person or against “the State.”
• Virtually any offense could land you in the pillory, or stocks. The
Puritans imported this punishment to New England from England.
The Puritans
• Entire purpose was public display
and public humiliation.
• Stocks were built on a scaffold in
the center of the village, where
townspeople could mock the
offender, and throw rotten
vegetables or stones. Aside from
the offender’s hands being
immobilized, his ears would
frequently be nailed to the board
behind his head.
The Puritans
• After serving time in a
jail and then on the
pillory, a convicted
criminal would often be
required to wear some
outward sign of his or
her offense.
The Puritans
• Contribution to "American" Character
• self-reliance
• independence
• individual achievement
• individual responsibility
• personal accountability
• power through ability (education)
Romanticism
• return to nature
• belief in goodness of humanity
• rediscovery of artist as a supremely individual
creator
• exaltation of the senses and emotions over
reason and intellect
Romanticism
• The Romantic Period lasted from 1830-1865
• Literary contemporaries: Emerson, Thoreau, Melville,
Stowe, Poe, Whitman
• The Scarlet Letter is considered a piece of American
Romantic literature because it is set in a remote past (the
Puritan era 200 years prior to Hawthorne’s time) and
because it deals with the interior psychology of individual
characters
• Revolt against rationalism/logic
The “scarlet letter” of the
novel’s title refers to a scarlet
letter “A” that the novel’s main
character is made to wear on
her clothing as punishment for
her crime of adultery.
"The Custom House"
• The introductory chapter to The Scarlet Letter is called “The
Custom House”.
• Nathaniel Hawthorne tells of his time as a clerk in the
Salem, Mass. Government Custom House.
• He claims to have found a letter written by Hester Prynne
(the novel’s main character) and an embroidered scarlet A.
The letter tells of Hester’s experiences, which Hawthorne
relates in the novel.
• The novel is NOT based in historical fact, but Hawthorne
uses “The Custom House” to give his story credibility.
• This chapter sets the scene (17th
century Boston)
• Drably dressed Puritans gathered in
front of the prison
• In front of the prison is a growth of
weeds, and beside it grows a wild
rose bush.
• The rust, decay, and ugliness
foreshadow the gloom of the novel.
• Two landmarks ---the prison &
cemetery– point to themes of
punishment & death.
• Although the rose is beautiful, it is a
striking contrast to everything else.