The Scarlet Letter
ACADEMIC ENGLISH 11
MISS DOMAN
OBJECTIVES
 To obtain knowledge of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life
and background and how it affected his writing
 To understand the historical and social context in
which The Scarlet Letter was written
 To identify key literary elements in the novel
(setting, characters, mood, climax, symbols,
themes)
 To analyze and discuss events throughout The
Scarlet Letter and their implications and meanings
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 About the Man
 1804-1864
 Salem, Massachusetts
 Descended from
prominent Puritan family
Inherited guilt
 Solid accomplishment
 Great guilt



Ancestor: William
Hathorne
Married Sophia Peabody
Strength and nobility
 Reflected in Hester Prynne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

First Great American “Pro
author”
First psychological novel
 Redemption, sin
 4,000 copies of The Scarlet
Letter sold in the first 10
days


Works
Novels
 Short Stories
 He believed that evil was a
dominant force in the world
 fiction expressed a gloomy
version of human affairs

“The Scarlet Letter is powerfully written
but my writings do not, nor ever will,
appeal to the broadest class of
sympathies, and therefore will not
obtain a very wide popularity.”
-Hawthorne, after finishing the novel
The ROMANTIC HAWTHORNE
• Literary Movement
known as
Romanticism
• concern
themselves with
the soul,
• stress emotions
over reason,
• and show passions
and inner struggles
• Hawthorne is
haunted by what is
obscure, dangerous,
and the confines of
good and evil, and
social relations
• All Hawthorne’s work
is one form or another
of “handling sin”
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
SUBDIVISION OF ROMANTICISM: GOTHIC
LITERATURE, the “dark romantics”(1800-1850)
-use of supernatural
-motif of double (both good and evil in
characters; sin and evil does exist)
-depression, dark forests
-emphasis on symbolism
The Scarlet Letter
 Published 1850
 Set in 17th Century
Boston—about 1690
 Puritan code of life
 Main characters




Hester Prynne
Pearl Prynne
Arthur Dimmesdale
Roger Chillingworth
 Spans 7 year period
 The Scarlet Letter as a
SATIRE
The Scarlet Letter
 Plot
 Love triangle: wife-lover-husband
Struggle: good versus evil
 Characters’ souls at stake


Suspense
Will identities of lover and husband be revealed?
 How will identities be revealed?


Psychological movement: quest for revenge
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 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)



Omniscient
Author reveals inner and outer characters
Asides
Social criticism
 History
 Psychology

 All characters in constant state of change
 Theocracy


Act of adultery not important
Consequences of adultery more important
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.
Major Characters
Hester Prynne
 Novel’s heroine
 Adulterer
 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
 Looked to as leader of
community
 Popular and admired
Major Characters
Roger Chillingworth
 Scholar
 Doctor
 Sketchy
Themes
 Effects of Sin and Possibility of Redemption
Psychological and social consequences of sin
 Characters’ processes of redemption


Applies to:
 Hester
 Dimmesdale
 Chillingworth

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
 Pride
 Love Vs. hate
 Fate vs. Free Will
 Alienation

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
Symbols
Irony
 Dramatic Irony



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



Central to novel’s action
Contrast between intention of an action and its result
Expectations aroused by situation are reversed
 Verbal Irony


Say one thing and mean another
Throughout novel
What
happens
when a
private sin
becomes a
public
crime?