Hawthorne, Romanticism, The Scarlet Letter, and Figurative Language

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Born in Salem, MA in 1804Descendant of early Puritan settlers, including Judge Hathorne of Witch Trial infamyAshamed of family name, so changed spelling to Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Puritan heritage informed and haunted all of his writingKnown for short stories and novelsFirst novel: FanshaweOther novels: The House of the Seven Gables, The Bilthedale Romance, and The Marble Faun

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Worked in the Boston Custom House to support writingGood friends with other American Romantics and Transcendentalists: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, and Henry Wadsworth LongfellowMarried Sophia Peabody in 1846Died in 1864

The American Romantics

Stems from a break from the lack of fantastical and creative artistry of the PuritansReflects the still innocent, pre-Civil War United StatesProminent Romantics: Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville, Washington Irving, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau

The American Romantics

Characteristics of Romantic work:Focus on a love of natureFocus on the individualFocus on truth as a universal conceptImaginative, fantastical settings

The American Romantics

Highly symbolicFeatures elements of the supernaturalFavors emotion over intellectDevelopment of national pride

The Scarlet Letter

First published in 1850Considered Hawthorne’s strongest longer workCombines his experience in the Custom House with his Puritan heritage

The Scarlet Letter

Major Themes:Appearance vs. RealityIndividual vs. SocietyQuest of Individual ExpressionGood vs. Evil; dark vs. lightNature vs. CivilizationNeed for human connection

Figurative Language

Hawthorne’s main device for communicating his message in The Scarlet Letter is figurative languageFigurative language connects any object or character to a symbolic meaning through simile, metaphor, allusion, or personification.

Figurative Language

SymbolAn image, thought, object, person, or action that represents something elseSimileA comparison of two objects using like or as:My love is like a red, red roseHer smile was as big as a clown’s

Figurative Language

MetaphorA comparison of two objects stating one object is the other:The raindrops are pearls on a string.

Figurative Language

AllusionA reference to another literary work, historical event or culture meant to bring symbolic meaning to the textIn The Scarlet Letter, many of the allusions are Biblical or references to events during the height of the Puritans’ influence in New England

Figurative Language

PersonificationGiving an inanimate object characteristics of the living; giving an inhuman object human characteristicsThe grain waved in the wind, as though it were the throng of a crowd, cheering for their football team