Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter 1850

Nathaniel Hawthorne Born as Nathaniel Hathorne in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804 Added the w to disassociate from relative John Hathorne, a judge in the Salem Witch Trials.

Major Themes 1.) Alienation: a character is in a state of isolation because of self cause, societal cause, or both 2.) Initiation: involves the attempts of an alienated character to get rid of his isolated condition.

Major Themes 3.) Guilt: a characters sense of guilt forced by the puritanical heritage or by society; guilt VS innocence 4.) Pride: Hawthorne treats pride as evil. Physical, Spiritual Pride, Intellectual Pride

Literary Devices Allegory: is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.

Other Themes Individual VS Society Hypocrisy VS Integrity Love VS Hate Fate VS Free Will

Influences on Hawthorne Salem - early childhood Belief in the existence of the devil Belief in determinism Puritan family background –One of his forefathers was Judge Hathorne, who presided over the Salem witch trials