The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
Introduction
Background
Discussion Starters
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The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
What happens when a private sin
becomes a public crime?
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
In Puritan New England a young woman named Hester Prynne gives birth to a baby girl.
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
Hester’s elderly husband has been missing for years.
Everyone knows he can’t be the father.
The town punishes Hester harshly for her adultery.
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
First, they imprison her.
Then, they condemn her to wear a scarlet letter A for the rest of her life.
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
The townspeople treat Hester as an outcast.
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
What her neighbors don’t know is the identity of the baby’s father.
Hester refuses to tell.
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
Her lover, whoever he is, seems to escape punishment.
Or does he?
The Scarlet Letter: Introduction
Perhaps hidden suffering
is even worse than public shame.
The Scarlet Letter: Background
Persecuted in England, the Puritans came to North America to form their own communities.
The Scarlet Letter: Background
Life in the Colonies was harsh,
but it gave the Puritans the opportunity to form a society based on their religious ideals.
The Scarlet Letter: Background
The setting of The Scarlet Letter is Boston in the 1640s.
Boston had recently been founded by about one thousand English Puritans, led by John Winthrop.
The Scarlet Letter: Background
Puritans sought the freedom to live by their beliefs.
However, the Puritan leaders did not tolerate religious beliefs that differed from their own.
The Scarlet Letter: Background
As for personal freedom…
every member of the community was held to strict standards of behavior.
The Scarlet Letter: Background
In a Puritan community such as Hester’s, no aspect of life was truly private.
People kept a close watch on their neighbors.
The Scarlet Letter: Background
Those considered sinners were publicly—and harshly—punished, as an example to others.
The Scarlet Letter: Discussion Starters
Discuss (1)
Hester goes to jail for an action that, in our society, usually would remain private.
• What kinds of wrongdoing do you think should be punished publicly?
• What kinds should remain private for the people involved?
The Scarlet Letter: Discussion Starters
Discuss (2)
Motivated by love and loyalty, Hester keeps a painful secret.
• What kinds of secrets should you keep?
• When might it be better to reveal a friend’s secret, even though that person will be angry with you?