The Scarlet Letter

1. The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

2. The Puritan Ways • Today the term "Puritan" refers to someone who has extremely strict moral standards. In the 16th and 17th centuries, however, the Puritans were political and religious revolutionaries. • Who were the Puritans and why did they want to settle in the New World? • The Puritans began as members of the Church of England. However, they criticized many abuses they saw within the church. They objected to rich churches full of stained glass and gold candlesticks. They didn't approve of wealthy bishops making church policy. Puritan leaders such as John Calvin insisted that churches should be modeled on the New Testament. Calvin's followers wanted to "purify" the church and make it simple.

3. Five points of doctrine became the basis of Puritan belief: • Predestination • Limited Atonement • Total Depravity • Irresistible Grace • Perseverance of the Saints

4. Some people found these beliefs very appealing. But most found them too harsh. Finally, some Puritans concluded that reforming the Church of England was impossible. They decided to build a new society in America. • The Puritan colonies in the New World were theocracies, governed according to God's law. • Only male church members who owned property could vote. • Before joining a church, members had to experience "conversion" and be approved by the minister and the rest of the congregation. • These rules guaranteed that political power remained in the hands of a religious minority.

5. At first, the Puritans prospered in the New World. For one thing, they were better-educated than many of the early colonists. • The Puritans believed that everyone should be able to read the Bible. They also worked hard and lived simply. • Achieving wealth was one way of knowing they were favored by God. • However, as time went on, Puritan leaders lost control of their settlements. • More and more colonists arrived from England and Europe. Most of them didn't share the Puritans' beliefs.

6. Some Puritans who had settled here became rich through farming and trade. Colonists discovered that they enjoyed imported wine, fine clothing, and games of chance. • They began to worry less about pleasing God and more about pleasing themselves. Eventually, the Puritan theocracies were replaced with Crown colonies and Royal governors. • Puritan preachers tried to keep people true to the first settlers' ideals. But the dream of a godly society was not to be.

7. The Scarlet Letter Law • The A that Hester Prynne is forced to wear in The Scarlet Letter was not a product of Hawthorne's imagination. Item XV from The Laws and Libertyes (1648) shows the penalties for adultery. • A XV. Adultery Committed: Convicted before the Justices of Assize, both Man and Woman to be set on the Gallowes an Hour, with a Rope about their Neck, and the other end cast over the Gallowes. And in the way from thence to the common Gaol, to be Scourged, not exceeding Forty Stripes. And forever after to wear a Capital A of two inches long, of a contrary Coulour to their Cloathes, sewed on their upper Garments, on the Back or Arm, in open view. And as often as they appear without it, openly to be Scourged, not exceeding Fifteen Stripes.

8. The Prison Door Prologue • Hawthorne opens The Scarlet Letter just outside the prison of what, in the early 1640’s, was the village of Boston. • This is a story of a crime already committed by characters whose lives have been darkened by guilt and disgrace.

9. Details of the Opening Scene • “The sad colored garments of the spectators” • The prison door– “Heavily timbered with and studded with iron spikes” • These details create a somber mood. • They paint a cheerless picture. • They hint at a society that places punishment above forgiveness.

10. One note of color relieves the gloom: A wild rose bust blossoms by the prison door. • The rose bush suggests a world beyond the narrow confines of the Puritan community.

11. The Scarlet Letter • Upon finishing The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne read the manuscript to his wife, Sophia. • “It broke her heart,” Hawthorne wrote, “and sent her to be with a grievous headache, which I look upon as a great success.”

12. Sophia Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne Original Cover Page

13. Hawthorne originally intended The Scarlet Letter to be a short story, but expanded it at the suggestion of his publisher. • His novel displays his lifelong preoccupation with the themes of secrecy and guilt, the conflict between intellectual and moral pride, and the lingering effects of Puritanism. • The characters are not real people, but meant to represent the morals and values of a people group.

14. Setting • The year is 1642 • The place is Boston, a small Puritan settlement • A group of somber people with stern expressions wait before a town jail. . . • They are expecting Hester Prynne, a woman convicted of adultery.

15. Themes • Law and Nature • Repression and Freedom • The psychological effects of guilt and sin • The nature of love • The nature of sin • Hypocrisy • Light and Dark • Isolation

16. Symbolism • The letter “A” • The forest • The scaffold • Pearl The color scarlet • The brook • The wild rosebush • The prison • The kiss

17. The image Hawthorne gives us is that of a young woman caught in adultery, and standing on a scaffold in the midst of an angry crowd. • This is Puritan Boston, where private wrong-doing is public knowledge.