“The Scarlet Letter”
 Was one of two great novelists of the mid-ninteenth
century (the other being Melville)
 Born in Salem, Mass., where his family had lived for six
generations. Earliest ancestors were Puritans.
 John Hathorne, one of his ancestors, was a presiding
judge at the Salem Witchcraft Trials
 Felt guilty because of his ancestors’ behavior
 Added (w) to his last name
 Wrote The Scarlet Letter
 Father was a sea captain who was lost at sea when he
was four; mother became a grieving recluse.
 Went to Bowdoin College, where he graduated in 1825.
Famous classmates:
 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 Franklin Pierce (14th president (1853-1857))
 Publisher Horatio Bridge
 For twelve years after college, secluded himself to
become a better writer
 1837 – Twice-Told Tales, a collection of short stories, was
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published.
Engaged to Sophia Peabody; married 5 years later.
Gained fame and popularity with the publication of The
Scarlet Letter
Themes of sin/guilt and the problem of evil and isolation
also prevalent in The House of Seven Gables, published in
1851.
Became increasingly gloomy
 Money worries
 Civil War
 Writer’s block
 Dark Romantic, careful craftsman, symbolic writer
 Elements and themes:
 1. Belief in Order: part of this is the proper relationship
between men and women
 2. Love: central reality of life; woman is the redemptive
agent in fighting evil
 3. The Heart is Superior to the Head: if you use only your
head, you become either a fool or a fiend. Many of H’s
works include an intellectual villain (cool, calculating
scientist)
 4. Alienation and Isolation: either self-caused or societal
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or both
5. Initiation: an alienated character attempts to rid
himself of isolation
6. Guilt: enforced by Puritanical society or heritage…
also guilt v. innocence
7. Pride: Hawthorne treats pride as evil, “Pride cometh
before a fall.”
8. Allegory: Didastic and Moralistic
 Famous Works:
 The Minister’s Black Veil
 Rappaccini’s Daughter
 The Birthmark
 Young Goodman Brown
 The Scarlet Letter
 Setting
 17th century Puritan Boston, Massachusetts
 1642-1649
 Themes
 Sin
 Puritan legalism (rules and beliefs)
 First published in the 1836 edition of The Token and
Atlantic Souvenir.
 Later republished in Twice-Told Tales in 1837
 Hawthorne may have been inspired by a true event. A
clergyman named Joseph Moody of York, Maine,
nicknamed "Handkerchief Moody," accidentally killed
a friend when he was a young man and wore a black
veil from the man's funeral until his own death.
 Main characters: Reverend Hooper, Elizabeth
 Point of view: 3rd person, omniscient
 Conflict:
 Man v. Himself (guilt)
 Man v. Man (the congregation/world at large)
 Themes:
 Hidden Nature of Guilt
 Communion of Sinners
 Morality
 Setting: 18th century town in Puritan New England
 Climax: final question upon deathbed of whether or
not he will remove the veil.
 Resolution: no clear resolution, as the meaning behind
the veil is never revealed, but rather left to reader
interpretation and estimation.
 Reverend Hooper challenges everyone to recognize the
black veil and hidden sin in their own lives.
 Hawthorne’s present elements:
 Love
 Alienation/Isolation
 Guilt
 Pride (spiritual)