1. Nathanial Hawthorne Born July 4, 1804 His dad died in 1808 and the family had to live with relatives and had financial problems

2. Education 1821 Hawthorne went to Bowden College in Brunswick, Maine where he met Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Franklin Pierce; future president of the United States. He decided to become an author. He wrote short stories and Twice-Told Tales was very popular and given a review by Edgar Allan Poe.

3. His first novel, Fanshaw: A Tale, had been a failure and he waited 25 years to publish Twice-Told Tales. In 1838 Hawthorne met Sophia Peabody and invested in Brook Farm Community and met Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. He began to be influenced by transcendentalism or the idea that intuition was more important than intellectualism in uncovering truths about human beings.

4. Old Manse In 1846 Hawthorne published Mosses from an Old Manse, but because of financial problems he took a job after marrying and having his first child as surveyor for the port of Salem, where he came up with the idea for The Scarlet Letter, based on his Puritan background. He was fired when political parties changed, but used that time to write the novel.

5. The Golden Years 1849 The Scarlet Letter He met Herman Melville who dedicated Moby Dick to him 1851 House of Seven Gables published The Blithedale Romance A Wonder Book for Girls and Boys Tanglewood Tales A Life of Pierce- Campaign Biography Our Old Home- English Scenery The Marble Faun - Italy

6. Death Died in 1864 and buried in Plymouth, New Hampshire in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery at Concord. Among his pallbearers were Longfellow, Holmes, Lowell and Emerson. Buried in the same cemetery are Washington Irving, Emerson, Thoreau, the Alcotts and his wife, Sophia

7. CHARACTERS in The Scarlet Letter Hester Prynne - Young woman sent to the colonies by her husband, who plans to join her later but is presumed lost at sea. She is a symbol of the acknowledged sinner; one whose transgression has been identified and who makes appropriate, socio-religious atonement.

8. Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale The unmarried pastor of Hester’s congregation. He is a symbol of the secret sinner; one who recognizes his transgression but keeps it hidden and secret, even to his own downfall.

9. Pearl The illegitimate daughter of Hester Prynne. She is the living manifestation of Hester’s sin and a symbol of the product of the act of adultery and of an act of passion and love.

10. Roger Chillingworth The pseudonym assumed by Hester Prynne’s aged scholar-husband. He is a symbol of evil, of the “devil’s handy- man,” of one consumed with revenge and devoid of compassion.

11. Governor Bellingham This actual historical figure, Richard Belingham, was elected governor in 1641, 1654, and 1665. In the Scarlet Letter, he witnesses Hester’s punishment and is a symbol of civil authority and, combined with John Wilson, of the Puritan Theocracy.

12. Mistress Hibbins Another historical figure, Ann Hibbins, sister of Governor Bellingham, was executed for witchcraft in 1656. In the novel, she has insight into the sins of both Hester and Dimmesdale and is a symbol of super or preternatural knowledge and evil powers.

13. John Wilson The historical figure on whom this character is based was an English-born minister who arrived in Boston in 1630. He is a symbol of religious authority and, combined with Governor Bellingham, a symbol of the Puritan Theocracy.

14. The Prison Door Notice the gloomy setting of the novel contrasted with the descriptions nature. What do each stand for?