AThe Scarlet Letter

About the Author Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Born July 4, 1804 in Salem, Mass.– What do we know about Salem??

• Reclusive at times• Worked in the Salem Custom House• Wrote Twice-Told Tales, The House of

Seven Gables, The Scarlet Letter, etc.• Married Sophia Peabody and their

daughter, Una became the model for the character, Pearl.

About the Author

• Served as the United States consul to Liverpool• Died in 1864 • Buried in Concord, Massachusetts• Great-great-great-great

grandfather, John Hathorne, was judge at Salem witch trials

Before Reading the NovelAnswer the following questions:• Have you ever heard someone talk

about being branded with a scarlet letter or call someone a scarlet woman? What might this mean?

• What is adultery? Is there more than one kind of adultery? Should adultery be considered a crime?

Historical Context: Setting of the novel

• Boston Colony founded 1630

• John Winthrop (governor)

• Puritans wanted to “purify” the Church of England of all traces of Catholicism in liturgy, theology, and church organization

• Recognized the Bible as the sole source of religious authority

Historical Context• 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,)

Private WrongdoingIS

Public Knowledge.

Literary Context• Hawthorne didn’t write the novel

during the Colonial Period.• He wrote during the Romantic

Period.• This mean description, figurative

language, symbols, imagination, etc…are of utmost importance.

Literary Context• Hawthorne was a Dark

Romantic…– Feeling over reason– Looked at both positive and

negative of humanity– Looked to the past– Looked to nature– Uncover “masks” of society

The Plot• 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-lover-husband.

• The major theme of the novel is developed in the context of good vs. evil.

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- a suspected witch

The Scarlet Letter is peopled with characters who are meant to be the embodiments of moral traits, rather than realistic, living figures.

Hester Prynne• Hester: –Hestia in Greek mythology,

Zeus’s sister, a woman of beauty–hestier (hasty)

• Prynne: –Prurient: interest in sex –prune: purify or cut back/restore

to original state–pry: probe into the interior of

one’s heart

Pearl (Hester’s daughter)• What do you think Pearl’s

name means?–Think of what color pearls are…•White…• Pure, good…

–Okay, and what about their worth?• Priceless• Precious

And the others…• Be thinking about–Roger Chillingworth•What words do you see in his name?•What does Roger mean?

–Arthur Dimmesdale•What could his name mean?•What words do you see in it?

The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter

displays Hawthorne lifelong preoccupation with the themes of secrecy and guilt, the conflict between intellectual and moral pride, and the lingering effects of Puritanism.Original title page

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 as well.

• Watch the many ways Hawthorne uses a symbol

The Symbolic Letter “A”The scarlet fire, passion, and life They averred, that the symbol was not mere

scarlet cloth, tinged in an earthly dye-pot, but was red-hot with infernal fire, and could be seen glowing all right, whenever Hester Prynne walked abroad in the night-time. (Hawthorne, 1984: 95)

Warmth: the acts of charity she performs to those in trouble

Sin: in the Bile, the Jezebel wears scarletTorture: fire in the hellSacrifice: to devote all their life and passion to

religion

Themes• Many ideas Hawthorne

explores in The Scarlet Letter are still important today and frequently recur in other literary works. –Alienation–Appearance vs. Reality–Breaking society’s rules

The Custom House• Hawthorne claims

to have gotten the idea for this novel from the papers of Jonathan Pue. Among the papers, Hawthorne allegedly found an embroidered scarlet A and information on a Hester Prynne.

The Custom House• Describes the interior/exterior of the

Custom House• Describes Hawthorne’s feelings

about his native town of Salem• Makes critical comments about the

Whig party/ reveals Hawthorne’s involvement as a Democrat

• Describes his early attempts to write Hester’s story.

Hawthorne opens The Scarlet Letter just outside the prison of what, in the early 1640s, was the village of Boston.

The Prison-Door

Ask yourself what you know about a novel that begins in a prison?

The Prison-Door

The Prison-DoorYou probably suspect you are reading the story of a crime already committed...

The Prison-Door• One note of color

relieves the gloom. A wild rose bush blossoms by the prison door.

• The rose bush suggests a world beyond the narrow confines of the Puritan community….

The Prison-Door…a world

where beauty and vibrant color flourish and crime finds tolerance and pity….

What to do…• Now turn to Chapter 1 of the book.

What do you learn from the title of this chapter about the setting?

• You will be doing a visualization activity. Close your eyes and listen to what you are hearing as I read Chapter One out loud. You don’t need to write anything down.

• Open your eyes, take out your notebooks, and listen again as I read chapter one again. Only this time write DESCRIPTIVE WORDS (adjectives) as you listen, still visualizing.

• You will now transform paragraph 1 of Chapter 1 into a visual image.

• Artistic skill is not the point of this activity. The point is to include as much detail as possible.

• Why would the image of a prison door be ironic for a utopian world?

• Now look at the two images of the black flower and wild rose bush. What might they represent? Think about the color of a rose.

ReflectionDid you get a clear image in your mind of the opening scene for the

story? Did you become more comfortable with the language and thick imagery? By the end of this

lesson, your minds should be brimming with The Scarlet Letter

images!!

About the Romance• It is about adultery, but not about sex. • It is about punishment, but not about crime.

The Scarlet Letter

The image Hawthorne gives us is that of a young woman taken in adultery, and standing on a scaffold in the midst of a hostile crowd.