The Scarlet Letter Project

1. The Scarlet Letter Project James Shaffer Period 7

2. Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s ancestors were some of the first Puritans to settle in New England. His great grandfather was involved in the Salem With Trials. Hawthorne loved to read and would write his own short stories. He attended Bowdoin College from 1821-1824. He anonymously published his novel, Fanshawe in 1828. Nathaniel also wrote collections of short stories such as Twice Told Tales and Mosses from an Old Manse. Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody in 1842 and had three children with her. Even after he was married and had children, Hawthorne continued to write. He wrote the Gothic romance novels The House of Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter. The Scarlet Letter was a best seller and one of the first mass produced books in America. Hawthorne’s health began to fail and it prevented him from finishing some of his romances. He died on May 19, 1864 in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Henry James once praised Hawthorne and said, “The fine thing in Hawthorne, is that he cared for the deeper psychology, and that, in his way, he tried to become familiar with it.” www.online-literature.com/hawthorne en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel Hawthorne