Romanticism in Scarlet Letter, Minister's Black Veil, and Young Goodman Brown

American Romanticism in The Scarlet Letter, The Minister's Black Veil, and Young Goodman Brown

Nathaniel Hawthorne took elements of the European romanticism and reshaped them into a new literary form that is called American Romanticism. "The American Romanticists created a form that, at first glance, seems ancient and traditional; they borrowed from classical romance, adapted pastoral themes and incorporated Gothic elements" (Reuben 22). Some of the definable elements of romanticism combined with the Gothic including the crossing of some boundary or a taboo broken (Crow 1), the emotional response of pleasure and pain that the reader experiences and the mixing of good and evil to form a flawed hero. "Hawthorne developed a literature of shadows and moonlight" to questions what is real and made-up (Crow, 106). Examining Hawthorne’s writings in the works of The Scarlet Letter, "The Minister's Black Veil," and "Young Goodman Brown" exemplifies American Romanticism at its best.

Hawthorne used extensive study and his own innate knowledge from his own family history to examine the New England Puritan to give the reader an accurate picture of seventeenth century life. In the introduction to The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne describes his ancestor as "a soldier, legislator, judge; he was a ruler in the Church; he had all the Puritanical traits, both good and evil. He was likewise a bitter persecutor·" (Scarlet Letter 89). The women waiting for Hester to emerge from prison pronounce the sentence of the "A" not harsh enough. "·they should have put the brand of a hot iron on Hester Prynneâs forehead" (Scarlet Letter 114). The people used their severe beliefs to ward off any workings of the devil among there midst through t...

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...Heath Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Paul Lauter. New York: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. 2207-2216.

---The Scarlet Letter. The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Ed. Norman Holmes Pearson. New York: Random House, 1937. 81-240.

Melville, Herman. "Hawthorne and His Mosses." Literary World. 17 and 24 Aug. 1850.

Pearson, Norman Holmes. Introduction. The Complete Novels and Selected Tales of Nathaniel Hawthorne. By Pearson. New York: Random House, 1937. vii-xv.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "Tale-Writing." Rev. of Twice-Told Tales and Mosses From An Old Manse. Godeyâs Ladyâs Book. Nov. 1847: 252-256.

Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 3: Early Nineteenth Century: Romanticism ö An Introduction"

PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. 1-38.

http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne