The Scarlet Letter

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Presentation by Mr. Wootton

Who was Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Born July 4th 1804, second child of Nathaniel Hathorne, a sea captain

Father dies at sea in 1808 1821-1825 studies at Bowdoin College adds

a “W” to his name during this time 1825-1839 Lives with his mother and

makes occasional trips to New England

1828 Publishes his first book, Fanshaw, and later burned all copies he could get his hands on

1830-1839 publishes over 70 tales and sketches in various magazines, one being The Token

1842- Marries Sophia Peabody Moves to the Old Manse in Concord

Massachusetts and renews acquaintance with “Transcendentalists”

1844 Daughter Una born 1845 moves back to Salem 1846 Son Julian born 1846-1848 Surveyor of Customs at the port

of Salem. 1849 Dismissed from position. Hawthorne

regarded his dismissal as unfair 1850 publishes The Scarlet Letter. Dies in 1864

Other Published Works

1846 Mosses From an Old Manse 1851 The House of the Seven Gables 1851 The Snow Image and Other Twice Told

Tales 1851 The Wonder Book 1852 The Blithedale Romance 1853 Tanglewood Tales 1860 The Marble Faun 1863 Our Old Home

Transcendentalism

1 ( Transcendentalism) an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures.

Transcendentalism (cont)

a system developed by Immanuel Kant, based on the idea that, in order to understand the nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process that governs the nature of experience.

So what the @%&! Does that mean?

What we now know as transcendentalism first arose among the liberal New England Congregationalists, who departed from orthodox Calvinism in two respects: they believed in the importance and efficacy of human striving, as opposed to the bleaker Puritan picture of complete and inescapable human depravity; and they emphasized the unity rather than the trinity of God (hence the term Unitarian, originally a term of abuse that they came to adopt.

And in English please…

Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. Other important transcendentalists were Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Amos Bronson Alcott, Frederic Henry Hedge, and Theodore Parker

Transcendentalists operated with the sense that a new era was at hand. They were critics of their contemporary society for its unthinking conformity, and urged that each individual find, in Emerson's words, an original relation to the universe (O, 3).

Basically they were some of the first non-conformists

Emerson and Thoreau sought this relation in solitude amidst nature, and in their writing. By the 1840s they, along with other transcendentalists, were engaged in the social experiments of Brook Farm, Fruitlands, and Walden; and, by the 1850's in an increasingly urgent critique of American slavery.

How does this relate to what we’re reading?

Hawthorne is considered by some to be a Transcendentalist and by others to not be

You will be telling me what you think with a long paper at the end of this book

Hint: start underlining and keep these thoughts in the back of your head!!

What to look for in this book

Transcendental ideals

Symbolism

Divine presence and human representation of that presence

Morality

Transcendental Ideals

Puritan way of life, good or bad? Human nature and its relation with divine

law and human law To what extent should we obey the law?

Symbolism

the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities

OR an artistic and poetic movement or

style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind.

Symbolism (Cont)

COLOR!– Hawthorne chose every color mentioned in this

book intentionally and it ALWAYS means something

NAMES– Look at the character’s names. How are they

Significant

Morality

What is Good? What is Evil? Who defines each? God? Humans? The individual?

How this will all go down

As we read I will continue to assign papers about every two weeks, starting Monday

Reading worksheets will be required with every reading

You will have a reading assignment every night which I expect you to complete

For extra credit: between now and the end of us reading this book you may read an essay from the back and write a three paragraph summary.

It may NOT be one we discuss in class

Bibliography

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/

A Norton Critical Edition of The Scarlet Letter