Nathaniel Hawthorne and

The Scarlet Letter

Kristin Farr
11th Grade English
SOL 11.3: Students will read and analyze relationships among American literature, history, and
culture
a) Describe contributions of different cultures to the development of American literature
c) Discuss American literature as it reflects traditional and contemporary themes, motifs,
universal characters, and genres
11.4 e) Analyze information from a text to draw conclusions
This Powerpoint would primarily be used by the teacher as an in-class teaching tool, as a
presentation to the whole class, with time being taken for students to discuss the questions
posed on many of the slides. However, there are also numerous links that interested students
would be able to explore on their own after the class presentation, such as the timelines and
the extra biographical information on Hawthorne. Most of these links which are scattered
through the slides would not be explored in class. Also, I think that closely reading excerpts is
very important, and that is why many of the slides seem to have a lot of text on them, simply to
allow to students to be able to quickly look at the same brief passages.

Nathaniel Hawthorne
and The Scarlet Letter

March 28, 2006

OBJECTIVES

To obtain knowledge of
Nathaniel Hawthornes 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

OUTLINE
I.
II.

III.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (biographical information)

Historical Context
A. What was going on in America in 1850?
B. Literary history
1. Brief look at the proceeding literary periods
a. Puritan writings
b. Enlightenment
c. Romanticism/Transcendentalism
d. Subdivision of Romanticism: Gothic lit.
2. Influence of Trans/anti-Trans
Literary Elements
A. Characters
B. Mood
C. Climax
D. Setting
1. Life in the mid 17th century
2. Effect of his past on the novel (time and place)
a. Puritan heritage
b. Work at the Custom House
frame story and the background of the Custom House
E. Plot
1. Thinking about the events throughout the novel
a. Chapters 1-8
b. Chapters 9-15
c. Chapters 16-24
F. Symbolism
G. Themes

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Hawthorne's Life

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Born

July 4, 1804 in Salem, MA

Education- Bowdoin College in Brunswick,
Maine (38 freshmen, 5 faculty members)
Married Sophia Peabody in 1842
Job at Custom House 1839-40, 46-49
3 Children
Moved to England, France, and Rome after
Salem
Died in 1864
Do you want to learn more?

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
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

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
As a literary artist
First American pro writer: college
educated, familiar with the great
European writers
4,000 copies of The Scarlet Letter sold
in the first 10 days

OVERVIEW
The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester
Prynne who has committed adultery and must
wear a scarlet "A" publicly as punishment.
When her husband, whom she believed to be
dead, suddenly reappears, he determines to
discover the identity of the father of Hester's
child, although Hester steadfastly refuses to
reveal his identity. Through the use of rich
symbolism and supernatural events,
Hawthorne shows the destructive effects of
guilt and revenge.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Scarlet Letter was finished in

1850..

What was going on in

America in 1850?
HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND
LITERARY EVENTS
TIMELINE

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
To what period of American
Literature does Hawthorne
belong??

Lets take a look at the history of

American Literature..

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
English

Heritage (Elizabethan Age)

1650-1570: Early Colonial periodPuritan writings, no distinctive
American literature
1750-1800: Later Colonial
period- Age of
Reason/Enlightenment
(Neoclassicism, Rationalism)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
1800-1850:

American
Renaissance/ Romanticism- slave
narratives, inner feelings, the burden
of a Puritan past, the rejection of
Neoclassicism
Transcendentalism was a part of
this

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
TRANSCENDENTALISM
Boston-centered movement, led by Emerson,
was an important force in New England circles
Human existence transcends the sensory
realm
Formalism in favor of individual responsibility
Belief in individual choice and consequence
Focus on the positive

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
-Poe, Hawthorne, Melville
-emphasis on symbolism (which we will discuss

later)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
In

what ways can you see the

Transcendentalist influence on
Hawthorne?

(His wife was a Transcendentalist and had some

effect on his literature, and he also became friends
with Transcendentalists in Concord, Emerson and
Thoreau)

How

is he also ANTITRANSCENDENTALIST/ GOTHIC, as

exhibited in the novel?

LITERARY ELEMENTS
Characters
Mood
Setting
Plot
Symbolism
Themes

LITERARY
ELEMENTS:CHARACTERS
Hester

Prynne- protagonist, married

to Chillingworth, adultery with
Dimmesdale

LITERARY
ELEMENTS:CHARACTERS
Arthur

Dimmesdale- pastor,
intense suffering, tragic figure
Roger Chillingworth- physician,
old, evil, deformed, diabolical
vengeance on Dimmesdale
Pearl- beautiful daughter,
sometimes imp-like, rebellious,
inquisitive

LITERARY
ELEMENTS:CHARACTERS
Gov.

Bellingham- based on actual

governor of Boston
John Wilson- eldest clergyman,
based on actual English minister
Mistress Hibbins- based on figure
executed for witchcraft, appears to
know a great deal about the adultery

LITERARY ELEMENTS:
MOOD
The SOMBER, DARK mood is welldefined from the beginning:
sad-colored garments of spectators,
the prison door which is heavily
timbered and studded with iron
spikes

LITERARY ELEMENTS:
SETTING

17th century
Puritanical New
England (Mass.)
What was America like
then?

LITERARY ELEMENTS:
SETTING
Life in the Mid 1600s

Boston was founded just 2 decades earlier

1st governor was John Winthrop, who governed based on
religious and civic ideals
People were hardworking and devoted
1630s- Puritans established a number of settlements in
Massachusetts
PURITANISM involved belief that the church of England was
too much influenced by the Catholic church
Strict code, on which people were expected to act and judged
upon
Rejected belief that divine authority is channeled through any
one single person (i.e. the pope)
THEOCRACY- state governed by the church

LITERARY ELEMENTS:
SETTING

What aspects of this type of religious

society can be seen in The Scarlet Letter?
How do you think Hawthorne views this
type of society?

How do you think his own past

might have affected his writing?
(Hawthorne was intrigued and even
haunted by his past ancestors, and
they appeared quite often in his
fiction. Hawthornes past greatly
influenced his writing of The Scarlet
Letter.)

How did his life affect the

writing of the novel?

1. Influences on Hawthorne: Puritan

background

John Hathorne presided over

the Salem Witch Trials of
1692
Major William Hathorne
(1608-1681) persecuted
quakers

How did his life affect the

writing of the novel?

2) Salem- childhood, later work at the

Custom House, as Surveyor of the Port

The Custom House introduction creates a

FRAME STORY

This introduction gives an account of his

experience as surveyor; he attacks the officials
who connived in his dismissal Like his heroine
Hester, Hawthorne emerges from confrontation
with a self-righteous society as an individual of
integrity,passion, and moral superiority.

The Custom House

THINKING ABOUT WHAT

YOUVE READ..
Literary Element: Plot

Chapters 1-8
Hester on the Scaffold

By Mary Hallock Foote

Chapters 1-8
How

do you feel about what happens to

Hester Prynne in the beginning?
What is her punishment? What do you
think the magistrates are hoping to
accomplish with this punishment?

One the breast of her

gown, in fine red cloth,
surrounded with an
elaborate embroidery and
fantastic flourishes of
gold thread, appeared the
THEletter
PUNISHMENT
A.

Chapters 1-8
He was small in stature, with a furrowed
visage which, as yet, could hardly be
termed aged. There was a remarkable
intelligence in his features, as of a
person who had so cultivated his mental
part that it could not fail to mould the
physical to itselfone of this mans
shoulders rose higher than the other.
Who does she recognize in the crowd and how
does she feel about it?

Chapters 9-15
How

does Dimmesdale really feel

about his role in the community?
What are the differences between
Hester and Dimmesdale at the end,
with her outward punishment and his
inward punishment?

Chapters 9-15

Chapters 9-15
Wood engraving by Barry Moser
for the Pennyroyal Press from
the January 1991 edition of the
Essex Institute Historical
Collection.

Moser's image
shows Arthur
Dimmesdale with his
eyes downcast and
the scar of an "A"
clearly visible on his
chest.

..Though he were to step down

from a high place, and stand
beside thee on thy pedestal of
shame, yet better were it

so, than to hide a guilty

heart through life.

Chapters 9-15
How does
Chillingworths
appearance change
over the course of
time?

The Eyes of the Wrinkled Scholar

Glowed from 1878 edition of the novel
(Chillingworth called to prison cell as a
healer and aid to Hester and Pearl)

Chapters 16-24
What do you think is the climax
of the plot of the novel?
Possibly the second scaffold scene,
where Dimmesdale, Hester, and
Pearl are all on the scaffold,
divulging their secret in darkness.

What is the falling action after this?.....

Chapters 16-24
The meaning of
the letter was
intended to
isolate Hester
from society.
Given the way
in which her life
ends, did it
accomplish
what the
magistrates
intended?

In the end, what character did you sympathize with the most and w

LITERARY ELEMENT:
SYMBOLISM IN THE NOVEL

SYMBOLISM
Discuss the symbolism in the following
objects in The Scarlet Letter.
What implications are made through
the use of these symbols?

SYMBOLISM
Hesters and Pearls Clothing
Her own dress was of the coarsest
materials and the most sombre hue; with
only that one ornamentthe scarlet
letterwhich it was her doom to wear.
The childs attire, on the other hand, was
distinguished by a fanciful, or, we might
rather say, a fantastic ingenuity, which
served, indeed, to heighten the airy
charm that early began to develop itself in
the little girl

SYMBOLISM
PEARL (the name)
Her Pearl!For so had Hester called
her; not as a name expressive of her
aspect, which had nothing of the
calm, white, unimpassioned lustre
that would be indicated by the
comparison. But she named the infant
Pearl, as being of great price
purchased with all she hadher
mothers only treasure!

SYMBOLISM
The A!
It was so artistically done, and with so
much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of
fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and
fitting decoration to the apparel which she
wore; and which was of a splendor in
accordance with the taste of the age, but
greatly beyond what was allowed by the
sumptuary regulations of the colony.
Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but
she has felt it in her heart.

SYMBOLISM
The Prison Gate and the Rose
But on one side of the portal, and
rooted almost at the threshold, was
a wild rosebush, covered, in this
month of June, with its delicate
gemsThis rosebushhas been
kept alive in history; but whether
it had merely survived out of the
stern old wildernessIt may serve,
let us hope, to symbolize some
sweet moral blossom that may
be found along the track, or
relieve the darkening close of a
tale of human frailty and
sorrow.

SYMBOLISM
The Leech

He gathered herbs here and there

SYMBOLISM
Can you think of any more?

MAJOR THEMES

PURITAN MORALITY v. PASSION AND

INDIVIDUALISM
Self-trust v. accomodation to authority
Conventional v. unconventional gender roles
Guilt: sense of guilt forced by puritanical
heritage/society
The penalties of isolation/ isolation because of
self-cause and societal cause
Patriarchal power
Belief in fate/free will
Impossibility of earthly perfection

MAJOR THEMES

Perhaps his greatest interest was the human

capacity
on how
sin operates
on the inner workings
With the superstition
common
to
his brotherhood, he fancied himself
given over to a fiend, to be of minds
tortured with frightful dreams,
and desperate thoughts, the
sting of remorse, and despair
of pardon; as a foretaste of
what awaits him beyond the
grave. But it was the constant
shadow of my presence!--the
closest propinquity of the man
whom he had most vilely
wronged!--and who had grown to
exist only by this perpetual
poison of the direst revenge!
Yea, indeed!--he did not err!--there
was a fiend at his elbow! A mortal
man, with once a human heart,
has become a fiend for his
especial torment!" The
unfortunate physician, while
uttering these words, lifted his
hands with a look of horror, as if he
had beheld some frightful shape,
which he could not recognize,
usurping the place of his own
image in a glass.

smile with a sinister meaning

THE END

Sources
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hawthorn.htm
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne.ht
ml
http://college.hmco.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author
_pages/early_nineteenth/hawthorne_na.html
http://www.bartleby.com/187/6.html
http://www.bartleby.com/226/index.html#2
http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/timefram.html
http://www.heidelberg.edu/~dkimmel/american/timeline.html
I used many more sources than this in my presentation, but I
could not quickly find the links. Im not sure how necessary
having all the sources listed is, but I can get them to you if
needed. Sorry