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• The Scarlet Letter

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The Scarlet Letter

• Hawthorne originally intended The Scarlet
  Letter to be a short story but expanded it at the
  suggestion of his publisher.

Original Cover
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The Scarlet Letter

• Upon finishing The Scarlet Letter in 1850,
  Nathaniel Hawthorne read the manuscript to his
  wife, Sophia.

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The Scarlet Letter

• It broke her heart, Hawthorne wrote, and
  sent her to bed with a grievous headache, which I
  look upon as a triumphant success.

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The Scarlet Letter

• The Scarlet Letter is filled with characters
  who are meant to be the symbols of moral traits,
  rather than realistic, living figures. -
  Allegories

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The Scarlet Letter

• The Scarlet Letter displays Hawthorne lifelong
  preoccupation with these themes
• secrecy and guilt
• the conflict between intellectual and moral
  pride
• lingering effects of Puritanism.

Original title page
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Hawthornes Name

• Hawthornes given last name was Hathorne. He
  added the W because he did not want to be
  associated with his ancestors. He felt extremely
  guilty, a lifelong preoccupation.
• Judge Hathorne

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The Novel
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The Scarlet Letter

• The year is 1642.
• The place is Boston, a small Puritan
  settlement. Before the town jail, a group of
  somber people wait with stern expressions.

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Plot

• The Puritans are in the square awaiting Hester
  Prynne, a woman convicted of adultery.

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• The image Hawthorne gives us is that of a
  young woman taken in adultery, and standing on a
  scaffold in the midst of a hostile crowd.

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• This is Puritan Boston, where, ironically,
• private wrongdoing is
• public knowledge.

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The Opening Scene

• Hawthorne opens The Scarlet Letter just
  outside the prison of what, in the early 1640s,
  was the village of Boston.

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The Opening Scene

• Ask yourself what you know about a novel that
  begins in a prison?

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The Opening Scene

• You probably suspect you are reading the story
• Of a crime already committed
• Of characters whose lives are already darkened
  by guilt and disgrace.

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The Opening Scene

• Notice the details that create imagery
• The sad-colored garments of the spectators
  the prison-door itself, Heavily timbered with
  and studded with iron spikes.

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The Opening Scene

• These details create a somber mood.
• They paint a cheerless picture.
• They hint at a society that places punishment far
  above forgiveness.

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The Opening Scene

• One note of color relieves the gloom. A wild
  rose bush blossoms by the prison door.
• What do you think this might symbolize?

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The Rose Bush

• HOPE
• The rose bush suggests a world beyond the narrow
  confines of the Puritan community
• A world where beauty and vibrant color flourish
• A place where crime finds tolerance and pity

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Symbols

• As you read, look for other allegories (symbols)
  Hawthorne uses.
• Dimmsdale Sunshine
• Pearl Darkness
• Chillingworth The Scaffold
• Letter A The Forest