Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter

Kristin Farr11th Grade English

SOL 11.3: Students will read and analyze relationships among American literature, history, and culture

a) Describe contributions of different cultures to the development of American literature c) Discuss American literature as it reflects traditional and contemporary themes, motifs,

universal characters, and genres 11.4 e) Analyze information from a text to draw conclusions

This Powerpoint would primarily be used by the teacher as an in-class teaching tool, as a presentation to the whole class, with time being taken for students to discuss the questions posed on many of the slides. However, there are also numerous links that interested students would be able to explore on their own after the class presentation, such as the timelines and the extra biographical information on Hawthorne. Most of these links which are scattered through the slides would not be explored in class. Also, I think that closely reading excerpts is very important, and that is why many of the slides seem to have a lot of text on them, simply to allow to students to be able to quickly look at the same brief passages.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter

March 28, 2006

OBJECTIVES To obtain knowledge of

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life and background and how it affected his writing

To understand the historical and social context in which The Scarlet Letter was written

To identify key literary elements in the novel (setting, characters, mood, climax, symbols, themes)

To analyze and discuss events throughout The Scarlet Letter and their implications and meanings

OUTLINEI. Nathaniel Hawthorne (biographical information)II. Historical Context

A. What was going on in America in 1850?B. Literary history

1. Brief look at the proceeding literary periodsa. Puritan writingsb. Enlightenmentc. Romanticism/Transcendentalismd. Subdivision of Romanticism: Gothic lit.

2. Influence of Trans/anti-TransIII. Literary Elements A. Characters

B. MoodC. ClimaxD. Setting

1. Life in the mid 17th century 2. Effect of his past on the novel (time and place)

a. Puritan heritageb. Work at the Custom House

frame story and the background of the Custom HouseE. Plot

1. Thinking about the events throughout the novel a. Chapters 1-8

b. Chapters 9-15c. Chapters 16-24

F. SymbolismG. Themes

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

Hawthorne's Life

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

Born July 4, 1804 in Salem, MA Education- Bowdoin College in Brunswick,

Maine (38 freshmen, 5 faculty members) Married Sophia Peabody in 1842 Job at Custom House 1839-40, 46-49 3 Children Moved to England, France, and Rome after

Salem Died in 1864 Do you want to learn more?

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

“The Scarlet Letter is powerfully written but my writings do not, nor ever will, appeal to the broadest class of sympathies, and therefore will not obtain a very wide popularity.”

-Hawthorne, after finishing the novel

NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

As a literary artist…First American “pro writer”: college

educated, familiar with the great European writers

4,000 copies of The Scarlet Letter sold in the first 10 days

OVERVIEW

The Scarlet Letter tells the story of Hester Prynne who has committed adultery and must wear a scarlet "A" publicly as punishment. When her husband, whom she believed to be dead, suddenly reappears, he determines to discover the identity of the father of Hester's child, although Hester steadfastly refuses to reveal his identity. Through the use of rich symbolism and supernatural events, Hawthorne shows the destructive effects of guilt and revenge.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

The Scarlet Letter was finished in 1850…..

What was going on in America in 1850?

HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND LITERARY EVENTS TIMELINE

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

To what “period” of AmericanLiterature does Hawthorne

belong??

Lets take a look at the history of American Literature…..

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

English Heritage (Elizabethan Age)1650-1570: Early Colonial period-

Puritan writings, no distinctive American literature

1750-1800: Later Colonial period- Age of Reason/Enlightenment (Neoclassicism, Rationalism)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

1800-1850: American Renaissance/ Romanticism- slave narratives, inner feelings, the burden of a Puritan past, the rejection of Neoclassicism

Transcendentalism was a part of this…

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

TRANSCENDENTALISM Boston-centered movement, led by

Emerson, was an important force in New England circles

Human existence transcends the sensory realm

Formalism in favor of individual responsibility

Belief in individual choice and consequence

Focus on the positive

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

SUBDIVISION OF ROMANTICISM: GOTHIC LITERATURE, the “dark romantics”(1800-1850)

-use of supernatural -motif of double (both good and evil in characters; sin and evil does exist) -depression, dark forests

-Poe, Hawthorne, Melville -emphasis on symbolism (which we will

discuss later)

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

In what ways can you see the Transcendentalist influence on Hawthorne?

(His wife was a Transcendentalist and had some effect on his literature, and he also became friends with Transcendentalists in Concord, Emerson and Thoreau)

How is he also ANTI-TRANSCENDENTALIST/ GOTHIC, as exhibited in the novel?

LITERARY ELEMENTS

CharactersMoodSettingPlot SymbolismThemes

LITERARY ELEMENTS:CHARACTERS

Hester Prynne- protagonist, married to Chillingworth, adultery with Dimmesdale

LITERARY ELEMENTS:CHARACTERS

Arthur Dimmesdale- pastor, intense suffering, tragic figure

Roger Chillingworth- physician, old, evil, deformed, diabolical vengeance on Dimmesdale

Pearl- beautiful daughter, sometimes imp-like, rebellious, inquisitive

LITERARY ELEMENTS:CHARACTERS

Gov. Bellingham- based on actual governor of Boston

John Wilson- eldest clergyman, based on actual English minister

Mistress Hibbins- based on figure executed for witchcraft, appears to know a great deal about the adultery

LITERARY ELEMENTS: MOOD

The SOMBER, DARK mood is well-defined from the beginning:

“sad-colored garments” of spectators, the prison door which is “heavily timbered and studded with iron spikes”

LITERARY ELEMENTS: SETTING

17th century Puritanical New England (Mass.)

What was America like then?

LITERARY ELEMENTS: SETTING

Life in the Mid 1600s

Boston was founded just 2 decades earlier 1st governor was John Winthrop, who governed based on

religious and civic ideals People were hardworking and devoted 1630s- Puritans established a number of settlements in

Massachusetts PURITANISM involved belief that the church of England

was too much influenced by the Catholic church Strict code, on which people were expected to act and

judged upon Rejected belief that divine authority is channeled through

any one single person (i.e. the pope) THEOCRACY- state governed by the church

LITERARY ELEMENTS: SETTING

What aspects of this type of religious society can be seen in The Scarlet Letter?

How do you think Hawthorne views this type of society?

How do you think his own past might have affected his writing?

(Hawthorne was intrigued and even haunted by his past ancestors, and they appeared quite often in his fiction. Hawthorne’s past greatly influenced his writing of The Scarlet Letter.)

How did his life affect the writing of the novel?

John Hathorne presided over

the Salem Witch Trials of 1692

Major William Hathorne (1608-1681) persecuted quakers

1. Influences on Hawthorne: Puritan background

How did his life affect the writing of the novel?

2) Salem- childhood, later work at the Custom House, as Surveyor of the Port

“The Custom House” introduction creates a

FRAME STORY This introduction gives an account of his

experience as surveyor; he attacks the officials who connived in his dismissal… Like his heroine Hester, Hawthorne emerges from confrontation with a self-righteous society as an individual of integrity,passion, and moral superiority.

The Custom House

THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU’VE READ…..

Literary Element: Plot

Chapters 1-8

By Mary Hallock Foote

“Hester on the Scaffold”

Chapters 1-8

How do you feel about what happens to Hester Prynne in the beginning?

What is her punishment? What do you think the magistrates are hoping to accomplish with this punishment?

“One the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth,

surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and

fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the

letter A.”

THE PUNISHMENT

Chapters 1-8

“He was small in stature, with a furrowed visage which, as yet, could hardly be termed aged. There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself…one of this man’s shoulders rose higher than the other.”

Who does she recognize in the crowd and how does she feel about it?

Chapters 9-15

How does Dimmesdale really feel about his role in the community?

What are the differences between Hester and Dimmesdale at the end, with her outward punishment and his inward punishment?

Chapters 9-15

Chapters 9-15

Wood engraving by Barry Moser for the Pennyroyal Press from the January 1991 edition of the Essex Institute

Historical Collection. Moser's image

shows Arthur Dimmesdale with his eyes downcast and the scar of an "A" clearly visible on his chest.”

“..Though he were to step down from a high place, and stand beside thee on thy pedestal of shame, yet better were it so, than to hide a guilty heart through life.”

Chapters 9-15How doesChillingworth’sappearance changeover the course of

time?

“The Eyes of the Wrinkled Scholar Glowed” from 1878 edition of the novel(Chillingworth called to prison cell as a healer and aid to Hester and Pearl)

Chapters 16-24

What do you think is the climax of the plot of the novel?

Possibly the second scaffold scene, where Dimmesdale, Hester, and Pearl are all on the scaffold, divulging their secret in darkness….

What is the falling action after this?.....

Chapters 16-24

The meaning of the letter was intended to isolate Hester from society. Given the way in which her life ends, did it accomplish what the magistrates intended?

In the end, what character did you sympathize with the most and why?

LITERARY ELEMENT: SYMBOLISM IN THE NOVEL

SYMBOLISM

Discuss the symbolism in the following objects in The Scarlet Letter.

What implications are made through the use of these symbols?

SYMBOLISM

Hester’s and Pearl’s Clothing“Her own dress was of the coarsest

materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament—the scarlet letter—which it was her doom to wear.”

“The child’s attire, on the other hand, was distinguished by a fanciful, or, we might rather say, a fantastic ingenuity, which served, indeed, to heighten the airy charm that early began to develop itself in the little girl…”

SYMBOLISM

PEARL (the name)“Her Pearl!—For so had Hester called

her; not as a name expressive of her aspect, which had nothing of the calm, white, unimpassioned lustre that would be indicated by the comparison. But she named the infant “Pearl,” as being of great price—purchased with all she had—her mother’s only treasure!”

SYMBOLISMThe A! “It was so artistically done, and with so

much fertility and gorgeous luxuriance of fancy, that it had all the effect of a last and fitting decoration to the apparel which she wore; and which was of a splendor in accordance with the taste of the age, but greatly beyond what was allowed by the sumptuary regulations of the colony.”

“Not a stitch in that embroidered letter, but she has felt it in her heart.”

SYMBOLISM

The Prison Gate and the Rose

“But on one side of the portal, and rooted almost at the threshold, was a wild rosebush, covered, in this month of June, with its delicate gems…This rosebush…has been kept alive in history; but whether it had merely survived out of the stern old wilderness…It may serve, let us hope, to symbolize some sweet moral blossom that may be found along the track, or relieve the darkening close of a tale of human frailty and sorrow.”

SYMBOLISM

The Leech

“He gathered herbs here and there”

SYMBOLISM

Can you think of any more?

MAJOR THEMES PURITAN MORALITY v. PASSION AND

INDIVIDUALISM Self-trust v. accomodation to authority Conventional v. unconventional gender roles Guilt: sense of guilt forced by puritanical

heritage/society The penalties of isolation/ isolation because of

self-cause and societal cause Patriarchal power Belief in fate/free will Impossibility of earthly perfection

MAJOR THEMESPerhaps his greatest interest was the human

capacity on how sin operates on the inner workings of minds

With the superstition common to his brotherhood, he fancied himself given over to a fiend, to be tortured with frightful dreams, and desperate thoughts, the sting of remorse, and despair of pardon; as a foretaste of what awaits him beyond the grave. But it was the constant shadow of my presence!--the closest propinquity of the man whom he had most vilely wronged!--and who had grown to exist only by this perpetual poison of the direst revenge! Yea, indeed!--he did not err!--there was a fiend at his elbow! A mortal man, with once a human heart, has become a fiend for his especial torment!" The unfortunate physician, while uttering these words, lifted his hands with a look of horror, as if he had beheld some frightful shape, which he could not recognize, usurping the place of his own image in a glass.

“smile with a sinister meaning”

THE END

Sources

http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hawthorn.htmhttp://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne.htmlhttp://college.hmco.com/english/lauter/heath/4e/students/author_pages/early_nineteenth/hawthorne_na.htmlhttp://www.bartleby.com/187/6.htmlhttp://www.bartleby.com/226/index.html#2http://www.hawthorneinsalem.orghttp://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/timefram.htmlhttp://www.heidelberg.edu/~dkimmel/american/timeline.html

I used many more sources than this in my presentation, but I could not quickly find the links. I’m not sure how necessary having all the sources listed is, but I can get them to you if needed. Sorry