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Literature view on scarlet letter
Historical setting of the scarlet letter
Influences during the Salem witch trials
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“Let men tremble to win the hand of a woman, unless they win along with it the utmost passion of her heart” is one of my favorite quotes that Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote from the Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American writer, that wrote fictional stories. He was a gifted writer that was influenced to use his gift by a well known man, with the name of Ralph Waldo Emerson. I believe Nathaniel had an talent to make stories rhyme with detail, that sets the scene in your very, own mind. Hawthorne had a interesting life, he enjoyed writing short stories, like Twice-Told Tales”(that he had wrote in 1837), and reading. Nathaniel also had a secret that people then didn't know, but people now these days do. His actual birth name is Nathaniel Hathorne, but he added the “W” because he did not want people to know who his parents really were. His parents ‘Elizabeth Clarke Manning’ and his father ‘Nathaniel Hathorne SR.’ where part of the “Salem Witch Trials”. He changed his name because he did not want anything to do with his parents at that time, mainly because of their past and involvement in history, at that time. Nathaniel Hathorne was writing during a big time in history. He was alive during the birth of Abraham Lincoln in 1809, The beginning of the 1812 war, between the U.S and Britain, When Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1832, The great depression in 1857 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861. Nathaniel helped write a popular piece of writing in 1850 called The Scarlet Letter. It was not any type of letter though, the letter was made of fine, worn, red cloth. People were set to believe it had a deep meaning to it, that was interpreting something from historical history. The Scarlet Letter was extremely succ... ... middle of paper ... ... Werlock, Abby Hawthorne, Nathaniel New York, 2009 http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp Reid, Margaret From artifact to archetype New York, Chelsea HOuse Publishing 2006 http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp Werlock, Abby Hawthorne, Nathaniel New York, 2006 http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/nhd.html Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales New York, 2007 http://www.fofweb.com/Lit/default.asp Hawthorne, Nathaniel From the ‘Scarlet Letter’ http://www.notable-quotes.com/h/hawthorne_nathaniel.html Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Prentice Hall Literature, The American Experience. New Jersey: Oscar F. Bluemner, 1915. 266-67.
Lathrop, G. P., ed. "Hawthorne, Nathaniel." The Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature. Binghamton, New York: Vail-Ballou, 1962. 439-40. Print.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne – Biography.” The European Graduate School. The European Graduate School, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Waggoner, Hyatt H. “Nathaniel Hawthorne.” In Six American Novelists of the Nineteenth Century, edited by Richard Foster. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1968.
“Nathaniel Hawthorne.” The Norton Anthology: American Literature, edited by Baym et al. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1995.
Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts on July 4, 1804 (Magill 1; Campbell 1; “Nathaniel Hawthorne”; Eldred 1). He was born into the sixth generation of his Salem family, and was a descendant of a long line of New England Puritans, which contributed in his interest in the Puritan way of life. The family was originally known as the “Hathornes”, but Nathaniel added the “w” to his name so it would become “Hawthorne”. The Hawthornes had been involved in religious persecution with their first American ancestor, William. Another ancestor, John Hathorne, was one of the three judges at the seventeenth-century Salem witchcraft trials. Hawthorne’s father was a sea captain, and when he was four years old (1808), his father died on a voyage in Surinam, Dutch Guinea (Campbell 1). Hawthorne was left alone with his mother and two sisters. He spent his early years in Salem and in Maine, during which he showed an interest in his father’s nautical adventures and read his logbooks often, even after his death (Magill 1). His maternal relatives recognized his literary talent at such a you...
The novel “The Scarlet Letter” was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850 and is probably the book for which he is most famous. He was a prolific writer and wrote many short stories, a few collections, and several novels during his writing career. Nathaniel Hawthorne was injured as a child and became an avid reader and decided that he wanted to be a writer. Though he was a lackluster college student, after graduation he returned to his hometown of Salem, Massachusetts and began his writing career in earnest. Not only did Nathaniel Hawthorne have one of his ancestors who had been one of the three judges involved in the Salem witch trials (of which he was not too proud, but it probably helped his career because it was depicted in his writings), but also he had many influential friends to include President Franklin Pierce, Henry David Thoreau (Author), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Poet), Herman Melville (Author) and he had actually rented the “Old Manse” mentioned in “The Scarlet Letter” from Ralph Waldo Emerson (Essayist). The “Scarlet Letter” is a work of non-fiction, but the preface is loosely based on Hawthorne’s actual life due to the fact that he actually did work at the Customs House in Salem and did lose his job there, which gave
Hawthorne spent his college years studying at Maine’s Bowdoin College. While attending, he had class with another famous author, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The two were never very
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in the year 1804 in the heart of Salem, Massachusetts, where to Salem witch trials were conducted. Hawthorne was born in an unforgiving time period, where life revolved around religion and family. Hawthorne’s father died of Yellow Fever in the year 1808. Nathaniel grew up fatherless, which had a lasting effect on who he later became to be. Education at the time was centered on reading and writing, with a heavy religious influence. “The education of the next generation was important to further "purify" the church and perfect social living” (Kizer). However, since his father passed away, there was no other man to instill the Puritan beliefs into young Nathaniel. Hawthorne later on was able to see the culture through a different lens than the people surrounding him, which made him slightly opposed to the Puritan way of life. He became intellectually rebellious; not thinking in the same way that his peers or family was.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Scarlet Letter”. American Literature: Volume One. Ed. William E. Cain. New York: Pearson, 2004. 809-813. Print
Nathaniel Hawthorne made out his life a source of inspiration. Every event that happened in his life made him think of a way to write about it. The Scarlett Letter was written after his mother died, and it focused on his society and it was used as a strong accusation against the Puritan Americans (Gollin 2605). His works were the results of long-term contemplations of humans and the society of his time, The Minister’s Black Veil is an example of this. A story about a man who decides to walk around his town cover in a black veil that symbolizes sin, and more importantly, “how the guilt we hide from one another and about the dangers of self-absorption” (Gollin 2604). Every major event in his life brought a new theme to his writings and that made it stand out. Just like Irving, he decided that he wanted to pursue of life full of
Leavis, Q.D. “Hawthorne as Poet.” In Hawthorne – A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by A.N. Kaul. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most popular and influential writers of his time. Known for many of his short stories such as “The Maypole of Merry Mount”, “The Gentle Boy”, and “Endicott and the Red Cross”. Most famously Hawthorne is known for his book “The Scarlet Letter” written and published in 1850. One typical link in all of his works was the common protagonists were Puritans. Although at first glance Puritans in Hawthorne 's works seem to play the bad guy character they often are more rational with their beliefs. Despite the popular opinion Hawthorne saw the good in the beliefs that the Puritans inforced. Although they were often viewed as harsh Hawthorne saw the Puritan deeds as effective in creating a perfect society. Through writing Nathaniel Hawthorne displayed his belief in the Puritan religion and helped to shape how society views the Puritan ideology today.
The man Nathaniel Hawthorne, an author of the nineteenth century, was born in 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. It was there that he lived a poverty-stricken childhood without the financial support of a father, because he had passed away in 1808. Hawthorne was raised strictly Puritan, his great-grandfather had even been one of the judges in the Puritan witchcraft trials during the 1600s. This and Hawthorne’s destitute upbringing advanced his understanding of human nature and distress felt by social, religious, and economic inequities. Hawthorne was a private individual who fancied solitude with family friends. He was also very devoted to his craft of writing. Hawthorne observed the decay of Puritanism with opposition; believing that is was a man’s responsibility to pursue the highest truth and possessed a strong moral sense. These aspects of Hawthorne’s philosophy are what drove him to write about and even become a part of an experiment in social reform, in a utopian colony at Brook Farm. He believed that the Puritans’ obsession with original sin and their ironhandedness undermined instead of reinforced virtue. As a technician, Hawthorne’s style in literature was abundantly allegorical, using the characters and plot to acquire a connection and to show a moral lesson. His definition of romanticism was writing to show truths, which need not relate to history or reality. Human frailty and sorrow were the romantic topics, which Hawthorne focused on most, using them to finesse his characters and setting to exalt good and illustrate the horrors of immorality. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s experiences as a man, incite as a philosopher and skill as a technician can be seen when reading The Scarlet Letter.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author of the famed novel, The Scarlet Letter, came from a long line of puritans. The family name of Hawthorne, was one of strict puritanistic ideals, which translated into topics covered in his literary works. When Hawthorne’s father died of yellow fever at sea when he was only four, his mother became overly protective and pushed him into isolation. All of Hawthorne’s fictional characters are believed to be figurative confrontations of good and evil. Almost all of his characters can be classified as one of these two types.
On July 4, 1804, an author by the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne was born (Meltzer). As Hawthorne grew, he began to develop a view of himself as “the obscurest man in American letters.” Through the use of popular themes such as isolation, guilt, and earthly imperfection, Hawthorne was able to involve much of his life and ancestral past in his work to answer his own political and religious wonders (“Nathaniel”). Hawthorne successfully “confronts reality rather than evading it” in many of his stories (Clendenning).