Nathaniel Hawthorne

1804-1864

Influences on Hawthorne

His early childhood in Salem and work in the Salem Custom House.

His Puritan family background. He believed in the existence of the

devil. He believed in determinism, a theory

of predestination

The Puritans Puritanism is the religious reform

movement of the 16th and 17th centuries seeking to purify the Church of England

Characterized by earnest, intense moral and religious principles such as the necessary covenant relationship with God, the emphasis on preaching and the Holy Spirit’s dominance over reason as the instrument of salvation

America: a Holy Commonwealth and a covenanted community

The Pilgrims

Settlers of Plymouth, MA, the first permanent colony in New England – 1620

Members of the English Separatist Church, which was a radical faction of Puritanism

The Salem Witch Trials

May – October 1692: Salem, MA Constitute a series of investigations

and persecutions that caused 19 “witches” to be hanged and many others imprisoned

Period of public hysteria generated by false accusations and coerced confessions

Works Fanshawe (1828) Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) The Scarlet Letter (1850) The House of Seven Gables (1851) The Snow-Image (1851) The Blithedale Romance (1852) Life of Franklin Pierce (1852) The Marble Faun (1860)

His Themes in Writing Moral allegories The sinful man Hypocrisy The Dark side of

Human Nature Religion in Nature

Hawthorne’s contributions Hawthorne rounds off the puritan cycle in

American writing - belief in the existence of an active evil (the devil) and in a sense of determinism (the concept of predestination).

Hawthorne's use of psychological analysis (pre-Freudian) is of interest today.

In themes and style, Hawthorne's writings look ahead to Henry James, William Faulkner, and Robert Penn Warren.

Hawthorne’s Black Vision of Life haunted by his sense of sin and evil in life. Most of his works deal with

evil one way or another. A. Evil exists in the human heart (“Earthy Holocaust”) B. Everyone possesses some evil secret (“Young Goodman Brown”) C. Everyone seems to cover up his innermost evil (“The Minister’s

Black Veil”) D. Evil seems to be man’s birthmark. E. Evil comes out of evil though, and it may take many generations F. One source of evil is overweening intellect. (The tension between the

head and the heart) Hawthorne’s intellectual characters are usually villains, dreadful because devoid of fellow feelings.

(Chillingworth, Dr. Rappaccini – Hawthorne’s negative attitude toward science is reflected in his writings and characterizations).

The Scarlet Letter

The story of Hester Prynne reveals the moral, emotional, and psychological effect of the sin on the people in general .

Sober, dark mood is well defined from the very beginning of the novel.

The Major Characters A. Hester Prynne: This book is not a praise of Hester Prynne sinning, but a

hymn on the moral growth of the woman when sinned against. Hester’s life eventually acquires a real significance when she reestablishes a

meaningful relationship with her fellowmen. Symbolic of her moral development is the gradual, imperceptible change

which the scarlet letter undergoes in meaning. A – “Adultery” “Able”, “Angel” (“Adamic” the original sin or “America”)

B. Arthur Dimmesdale banishes himself from the society. Deeply concerned with himself, he lives a stranger among his admirers. He undergoes the tragic expericence of physical and spiritual disintergration.

C. Roger Chillingworth, the real villain of the story, embodies pure intellect, who commits “the unpardonable sin” (the violation of heart)