Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)
“Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s
Black Veil,” “The Birth-Mark”
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The David Levine Version
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Novels
Short Stories
The Marble Faun
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
The Blithedale Romance
“Wakefield”
The House of the Seven Gables
“Rappaccini’s Daughter”
The Scarlet Letter
“The Maypole of Merry Mount”
“The Birth-Mark”
“My Kinsman, Major Molineaux”
“Young Goodman Brown”
“Ethan Brand”
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
By some witchcraft or other for I really cannot assign any reasonable why
and wherefore I have been carried apart from the main current of life, and
find it impossible to get back again. . . .
I have secluded myself from society; and yet I never meant any such
thing, nor dreamed what sort of life I was going to lead. I have made a
captive of myself and put me into a dungeon, and now I cannot find the
key to let myself out, and if the door were open, I should be almost afraid
to come out. . . . For the last ten years I have not lived, but only dreamed
of living.
--Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Head-Heart Imbalance
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Hawthorne Prezi
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Basic Puritan Beliefs – (Tulip)
 Total Depravity - through Adam and Eve's fall, every
person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.
 Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes only a few are selected for salvation (predestination).
 Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not
for everyone.
 Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot
be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and
transfiguring power of God.
 Perseverance of the "Saints" - those elected by God have
full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly.
If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life,
he will be going against the will of God - something
impossible in Puritanism.
 Hawthorne was also influenced by the Salem Witch Trials
which “were a series of hearings and prosecutions of
people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts,
between February 1692 and May 1693” (Wikipedia).
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Puritan Valentine
Cards
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Hawthorne, however, wrote in the
Romantic tradition (1820-1860) –
many describe him as a “dark
romantic.”
The publication of The Scarlet
Letter in 1850 sparked his career
and established him as a major
American writer.
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Young Goodman Brown”
Goodman Brown | Faith | The Old Man/Devil | Goody
Cloyse | The Minister | Deacon Gookin
1. Was it all a dream?
2. What is the significance of names? (Goodman
Brown and Faith, particularly)
3. How does Goodman Brown react to his wife and
others upon his return to Salem? Why? Is he justified
in acting this way?
4. How is Goodman Brown changed by his
experience in the forest?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Minister’s Black Veil”
Reverend Hooper | Elizabeth | Reverend Clark
| The Townspeople
1. Why do you think Hooper wears the veil?
2. Why does Hooper not take his veil off for
Elizabeth? Why is her response to his
refusal especially significant?
3. How would a first-person point of view
change the story?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“The Birth-Mark”
Aylmer | Georgiana | Aminadab
1. Is Aylmer evil? Is he simply a stock version of a mad
scientist?
2. What does the birthmark symbolize? How does Aylmer’s
view of it differ from the other perspectives in the story?
What is the significance of its hand-like shape?
3. In what sense can Aylmer be characterized as guilty of the
sin of pride?
4. How is Aminadab a foil for Aylmer?
5. What do Aylmer’s other experiments reveal about the
nature of his work? How do they foreshadow what will
happen to Georgiana?
6. Is Georgiana, to an extent, responsible for her own death?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—
Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne
“Young Goodman Brown” [Goodman Brown | Faith | The Old Man/Devil | Goody Cloyse |
The Minister | Deacon Gookin
1. Was it all a dream?
2. What is the significance of names? (Goodman Brown and Faith, particularly)
3. How does Goodman Brown react to his wife and others upon his return to Salem? Why?
Is he justified in acting this way?
4. How is Goodman Brown changed by his experience in the forest?
“The Minister’s Black Veil” [Reverend Hooper | Elizabeth | Reverend Clark | Townspeople]
1. Why do you think Hooper wears the veil?
2. Why does Hooper not take his veil off for Elizabeth? Why is her response to his refusal
especially significant?
3. How would a first-person point of view change the story?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
“The Birth-Mark” [Aylmer | Georgiana | Aminadab]
Is Aylmer evil? Is he simply a stock version of a mad scientist?
What does the birthmark symbolize? How does Aylmer’s view of it differ from the other
perspectives in the story? What is the significance of its hand-like shape?
In what sense can Aylmer be characterized as guilty of the sin of pride?
How is Aminadab a foil for Aylmer?
What do Aylmer’s other experiments reveal about the nature of his work? How do they
foreshadow what will happen to Georgiana?
Is Georgiana, to an extent, responsible for her own death?
ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]
Nathaniel Hawthorne