The Scarlet Letter

1. The Scarlet Letter Leah Pionati Period CD

2. Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. He was of Puritan descent. William Hathorne was included among his ancestors. Hawthorne added a “w” to his last name in order to hide himself from his family’s involvement in the witch trials. He graduated from Bowdoin College in 1825. In 1828 he anonymously published his first book titled Fanshawe. In 1837 he published a collection of short stories that was titled as Twice-Told Tales. He entered a career as a Boston Custom House measurer in 1839. In 1842 he married Sophia Peabody. They had three children. In 1846 he published Mosses from an Old Manse. He also was forced to return to the Boston Custom House because of lack of financial support from his writings. In 1848 he lost his job due to new presidency. He now had time to write his most famous novel The Scarlet Letter. He then wrote The House of the Seven Gables in 1851. He also wrote The Blithedale Romance in 1852. He wrote one more novel titled The Marble Faun in 1860. Shortly after he wrote the novel he fell ill. He passed away in his sleep on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, New Hampshire. Carl Van Doren, an author that wrote The American Novelincluded a review of Hawthorne in the novel that said ,"When Hawthorne published The Scarlet Letter in 1850 he could not profit by a long series of native experiments in the art of the novel but had to initiate the mode in which he has since seemed supreme. And yet The Scarlet Letter represents in Hawthorne's own career the fruit of an apprenticeship to art the like of which no other American man of letters has demanded of himself." Source Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Hawthorne

3. Hester Prynne has many conflicts in the novel. One of her main conflicts is with Roger Chillingworth. In Chapter 3, Hester had recognized Chillingworth as her husband. In the beginning of Chapter 4, Chillingworth, known as a physician, was called to help aide the frenzied behavior of Hester and Pearl. He came and gave Hester and Pearl medicine. He then started conversing with Hester about her affair. He then said to her, “I ask not wherefore, nor how, thou hast fallen into the pit, or say rather, thou hast ascended to the pedestal of infamy, on which I found thee. The reason is not far to seek. It was my folly, and thy weakness!” (69) Hester replied, “thou knowest that I was frank with thee. I felt no love, nor feigned any.” (69) Chillingworth knew that Hester didn’t love him but still married her. Chillingworth also felt that it was his fault that Hester cheated on him. He said, “Mine was the first wrong, when I betrayed thy budding youth into a false and unnatural relation with my decay. Therefore, as a man who has not thought and philosophized in vain, I seek no vengeance, plot no evil against thee.” (70) Chillingworth took advantage of Hester’s youth and beauty. He was an old decaying man. He feels like they're both even now, so he doesn’t need to get revenge on Hester. Conflict Analysis-Hester Prynne

4. Chillingworth grew tired of asking Hester who her lover was and said he was going to find him himself. He then asked Hester to keep a secret for him. “One thing, thou that wast my wife, I would enjoin upon thee,” continued the scholar. “Thou hast kept the secret of thy paramour. Keep, likewise, mine! There are none in this land that know me. Breathe not, to any human soul, that thou didst ever call me husband!” (71) It may have been because he didn’t want to be known as the husband of a dishonorable woman. At the end of the chapter Hester asked Chillingworth if he was like the Black Man and cursed her soul. “Not thy soul,” he answered. “No, not thine!” (72) Chillingworth was talking about Dimmesdale’s soul. He wanted to personally have revenge on her lover, although at the time he didn’t know who it was. Chillingworth made Hester nervous. She was scared of the evil things that he could do to Dimmesdale if he found out who Dimmedale was. In the end, Hester told Chillingworth’s true identity to Dimmesdale in attempt to foil his plans of revenge. Chillingworth in turn, never got to fulfill his revenge.