The Scarlet Letter

1. The Scarlet Letter Background Notes

2. Hawthorne’s Literary Times • A. Wrote during the Romantic Period 1. return to nature 2. belief in goodness of humanity 3. rediscovery of artist as a supremely individual creator 4. exaltation of the senses and emotions over reason and intellect

3. B. The Romantic Period lasted from 1830-1865 C. Literary contemporaries: Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Stowe, Poe, Whitman D. The Scarlet Letter is considered a piece of American Romantic literature because it is set in a remote past (the Puritan era 200 years prior to Hawthorne’s time) and because it deals with the interior psychology of individual characters E. Revolt against rationalism/logic

4. The Scarlet Letter—Themes • Civil law versus Natural law • The nature of sin and the effects of sin on the individual • In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne analyzes the effect of one sin on the four main characters who are closely intertwined because of that sin (Hester, Pearl, Dimmesdale, Chillingworth) • The individual’s relationship to society

5. TheScarletLetter—Setting • Puritanism in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1642 • The Scarlet Letter has unity of place. All action occurs in the center of Boston and the outskirts of this village. • Accurate historical references are made to the actual governors, ministers, and practices of the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1642-1650.

6. Historical Commentary The Puritans 1. A religious group that migrated from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England in the early 1600s 2. Believed in a “pure” interpretation of the Bible which did not include some of the traditional practices of the Church of England

7. 3. Religion and government were closely intertwined 4. Ministers counseled the magistrates in all affairs concerning the settlement and its citizens 5. The Puritans had strict rules against theatre, religious music, sensuous poetry, and frivolous dress

8. 8. Puritans looked for sins that had been committed in the community so that the sin could be brought out in the open and the members of the community could express their scorn for that sin. 9. Puritan theology valued hard work. Idleness was an invitation to sin.

9. IV. Themes A. Alienation B. Appearance versus reality C. Breaking society’s rules D. Private versus public life E. Effects of revenge

10. Religious Terms • Repentance: deep sorrow for a sin • Preternatural: out of the ordinary; supernatural • Contrition: sorrow for a sin, with a sincere desire to atone for it

11. Religious Terms • Penance: punishment for a sin • Atonement: to make amends for a sin • Penitence: the state of being regretful for sinning

12. VI. Symbols A. the color black B. the forest C. the brook D. the rosebush E. Indians

13. F. Hester’s clothing G. Pearl’s clothing H. Pearl’s name I. the meteor J. golden embroidery on the “A”

14. Style (paraphrase!) Hawthorne focuses his attention on the problem of evil and the NATURE OF SIN. He is not a moralist, but like a psychologist, he analyzes the inner world of the human mind and heart. In TSL, he analyzes the effects of ONE sin on the four main characters who are closely intertwined because of that sin.