Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter

1. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter A

2. The Purpose • What themes did Scarlet Letter address? • Alienation, public shaming, breaking society rules • Can YOU relate?? I’m sure somehow, someway, you can… • Have you ever made a choice that drastically impacted your life for the worse? How did you live with the repercussions?

3. The Purpose • Hawthorne’s attempt to probe the human mind • What drives us to do certain things? • What are the repercussions? • Novel focuses on one key aspect - What is it? • (Hint: Think of what the letter stands for) • Effect of this one sin on the four main characters who are closely intertwined because of the sin • Who are these four characters?

4. The Purpose • Hawthorne explicitly examines the question, “What is sin?” • By definition, it is “any act regarded as such a transgression (wrongdoing), especially a willful or deliberate violation of some religious or moral principle; to offend against a principle, standard, etc.”

5. Who is Nathaniel Hawthorne? • Born on July 4th, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts • He was haunted by the events of 1692 in Salem when his great-grandfather was a judge in the witchcraft trials. • Although he left Salem to live other places, it never truly left him and permeated Hawthorne’s life. • Struggled as a writer for a while, but eventually wrote The Scarlet Letter in 1850. • Hawthorne was not a Puritan.

6. Who are the Puritans? • Group of people who grew discontent with the church in England and worked toward religious, moral and societal reforms. • Led by John Winthrop (same character as in SL). • Eventually made their way to America in 1620. • Puritans valued: • Hard work • Self-discipline • Self-improvement • Self-examination • Frugality • Self-reliance • To the Puritans, idleness was an invitation to sin. • Is this belief still held true today?

7. Who are the Puritans? • Many Puritans accepted the Calvinist doctrine of predetermination. • John Calvin, pastor during Protestant reformation • This meant that the “saved” (those destined to spend eternity in Heaven) had already been predetermined. • One knew if one was a part of “God’s elect” by being able to avoid sin. • How does this translate into The Scarlet Letter? Think about Hester and Dimmesdale. • Both are concerned that they may be damned. • Not because of their sin, but because the fact that the sin indicated that they had already been damned.

8. Transcendentalism 1830-1860Scarlet Letter 1850 • One of the many literary movements. • Part of the Romantic period (1798-1870) • Protest to the general state of culture and society. • Transcendentalists believed in the inherent goodness of both man and nature. • Believed society and institutions , particularly organized religion, ultimately corrupted the purity of the individual. • Believed that man was truly at his best when self-reliant and independent. • Other transcendentalists: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau