The Scarlet Letter
SURVEY OF AMERICAN
LITERATURE
Nathaniel Hawthorne
 About the Man
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1804-1864
Salem, Massachusetts
Puritan
Solid accomplishment
 Great guilt
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Ancestor: William
Hathorne
Married Sophia Peabody
Strength and nobility
 Reflected in Hester Prynne

Nathaniel Hawthorne
 About the Author

Great American Author
First psychological novel
 Redemption, sin
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Romanticism
Intellectual curiosity
 Optimism
 Dark Romanticism

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Works
Novels
 Short Stories

The Scarlet Letter
 Written in 1855
 Setting
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Boston
Mid-1600s
Seven-year period
 Framework
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Rigid social mores
Traditional customs
 Moral attitudes
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Religious beliefs
The Scarlet Letter
 Plot
 Love triangle: wife-lover-husband
Struggle: good versus evil
 Characters’ souls at stake
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Suspense
Will identities of lover and husband be revealed?
 How will identities be revealed?
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Psychological movement: husband’s quest for revenge
The Scarlet Letter
 Structure
 Innovative form
 Instead of ongoing chronicle of events
Series of separate, fully-realized chapters
 Interspersed with expository chapters

 Novel begins in media res
 Action already occurred
 Characters facing consequences
The Scarlet Letter
 Point of View (POV)
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Omniscient
Author reveals inner and outer characters
Asides
Social criticism
 History
 Psychology

 All characters in constant state of change
 Theocracy
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Act of adultery not important
Consequences of adultery more important
Major Characters
Hester Prynne
 Novel’s heroine
 Adulterer
 Name: prim and
proper
 First strong female
character in American
literature
Major Characters
Pearl
 Hester’s daughter
 Illegitimate child
 Product of adultery
 Precious to her mother
 Intelligent, imaginative
Major Characters
Arthur Dimmesdale
 Reverend
 Guilt-ridden
 Tortured
Major Characters
Roger Chillingworth
 Scholar
 Vengeful
 Hides true identity
Themes
 Effects of Sin and Possibility of Redemption
 Psychological and social consequences of sin
 Characters’ processes of redemption
 Does every attain redemption?
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Applies to:
Hester
 Dimmesdale
 Chillingworth
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Secondary Effect: Insight into the Hearts of Others
Themes
 Hypocrisy
 Conflict between outer appearance and inner reality
 Depicted in Hester’s relationship with community
 Illustrated in portrayals of Dimmesdale and Chillingworth
 Other Noticeable Themes
 Guilt
 Revenge
 Human frailty and Sin
Conflicts
 Man versus Society
 Man versus Man
 Man versus Self
Symbols
 The Scarlet Letter
 Central symbol of novel
 Meaning changes as characters change
 The Scaffold
 Public exposure of private since
 Redemption through confession
 Elements of Nature
 Good and evil
 Forest is changeable symbol for both
Irony
 Dramatic Irony
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Controls novel
Readers know something about a character the other characters do not
If characters knew what readers know, plot would be ruined
 Situational Irony
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Central to novel’s action
Contrast between intention of an action and its result
Expectations aroused by situation are reversed
 Verbal Irony
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Throughout novel
What
happens
when a
private sin
becomes a
public
crime?