THE SCARLET
LETTER
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
“I believe that The Scarlet Letter,
like all great novels, enriches our
sense of human experience and
complicates and humanizes our
approach to it.”
from Solitude, Love, and
Anguish: The Tragic Design of the
Scarlet Letter by Seymour L. Gross
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
 Boston Colony founded
1630
 Recognized the Bible as the
sole source of religious
authority
 Maintained a theocracy
 Believed in predestination
or Doctrine of the Elect
 Inflicted public
punishments to deter others
from straying from
righteousness (hanging,
whipping, humiliation, etc)
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Hawthorne once
said: “I do not want
to be a doctor and
live by man’s
diseases, nor a
minister to live by
their sins, nor a
lawyer and live by
their quarrels. So, I
don’t see that there
is anything left for
me but to be an
author.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
•Born July 4, 1804 in
Salem, Mass; died
1864
•Reclusive at times
•Served as a magazine
editor
•Worked in the Salem
Custom House
•Lived at Brook Farmutopian society
•Married Sophia Peabody
and fathered Una (who
became the model for
Pearl)
•Great-great-great-great
grandfather, John
Hathorne, was judge at
Salem witch trials
ABOUT THE NOVEL (PUB. 1840)
• Hawthorne’s works reflect his dark vision of
human nature, including his opinion of
Puritanism as
• cruel
• obsessive
• Intolerant
• Largely psychological– why do people behave
as they do
• Conflict in the novel– mostly individual vs
society
PLOT/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.
Settings throughout the novel are symbolic.
POINT OF VIEW
Third-Person Omniscient
-Hawthorne reveals the inner and outer workings of the
characters and provides social criticism, history, and
psychology.
CHARACTERS
Hester Prynne- wearer of the scarlet letter
Pearl- child of Hester; living symbol of
Hester’s sin
Roger Chillingworth- learned scholar; doctor
Arthur Dimmesdale- admired young minister
Governor Bellingham- governor and
magistrate of Massachusetts Bay Colony
Rev. John Wilson- senior minister of colony
Mistress Hibbins- Gov. Bellingham’s sister
MAJOR SYMBOL
•The scarlet letter itself
is the central symbol.
•It changes meaning for
the characters in the
novel as Hester’s
character changes.
•The A becomes a
pathway to redemption
for some characters.
•Watch the many ways
Hawthorne uses the
scarlet A as a symbol…
MAJOR THEMES
Hawthorne explains the historical, social,
theological, and emotional/psychological
ramifications of:
• Sin
• Concealment
• Guilt
• Love/hate
THE CUSTOM HOUSE
• 1st section (pp1-18)=
people in CustomHouse
• 2nd section (pp 1931)= how The Scarlet
Letter comes about
THE CUSTOM HOUSE (CONTENT)
• Semi-autobiographical– narrator’s feelings toward family are
the same as Hawthorne’s– he changed his last name to remove
associations between him and Judge Hathorne (witch trials)
• Custom house men were self-serving and/or unqualified
• Primary 2 political parties:
• Whigs
• Democrats– narrator
• Inspector= wealth; no heart/mind/soul
• Collector= old General; distant; inappropriate environment
• Pue wants narrator to write book telling Hester Prynne’s story
IMPORTANT QUOTATIONS
“…I happened to place [the old scarlet letter] on
my breast. It seemed to me,—the reader may smile,
but must not doubt my word,– it seemed to me,
then, that I experienced a sensation not altogether
physical, yet almost so, as of burning heat; and as
if the letter were not of red cloth, but red-hot iron. I
shuddered, and involuntarily let it fall upon the
floor.” p 21
“With his own ghostly hand, the obscurely seen,
but majestic, figure had imparted to me the scarlet
symbol, and the little roll of explanatory
manuscript. With his own ghostly voice, he had
exhorted me, on the sacred consideration of my
filial duty and reverence towards him– who might
reasonably regard himself as my official ancestor–
to bring his mouldy and moth-eaten lucubrations
before the public.” p 23