The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne Presentation by Mr. Wootton

Who was Nathaniel Hawthorne?  Born July 4th 1804, second child of Nathaniel Hathorne, a sea captain  Father dies at sea in 1808  studies at Bowdoin College adds a “W” to his name during this time  Lives with his mother and makes occasional trips to New England

 1828 Publishes his first book, Fanshaw, and later burned all copies he could get his hands on  publishes over 70 tales and sketches in various magazines, one being The Token  Marries Sophia Peabody  Moves to the Old Manse in Concord Massachusetts and renews acquaintance with “Transcendentalists”

 1844 Daughter Una born  1845 moves back to Salem  1846 Son Julian born  Surveyor of Customs at the port of Salem.  1849 Dismissed from position. Hawthorne regarded his dismissal as unfair  1850 publishes The Scarlet Letter.  Dies in 1864

Other Published Works  1846 Mosses From an Old Manse  1851 The House of the Seven Gables  1851 The Snow Image and Other Twice Told Tales  1851 The Wonder Book  1852 The Blithedale Romance  1853 Tanglewood Tales  1860 The Marble Faun  1863 Our Old Home

Transcendentalism  1 ( Transcendentalism) an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836 in reaction to rationalism. Influenced by romanticism, Platonism, and Kantian philosophy, it taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity, and its members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were central figures.

Transcendentalism (cont)  a system developed by Immanuel Kant, based on the idea that, in order to understand the nature of reality, one must first examine and analyze the reasoning process that governs the nature of experience.

So what Does that mean?  What we now know as transcendentalism first arose among the liberal New England Congregationalists, who departed from orthodox Calvinism in two respects: they believed in the importance and efficacy of human striving, as opposed to the bleaker Puritan picture of complete and inescapable human depravity; and they emphasized the unity rather than the trinity of God (hence the term Unitarian, originally a term of abuse that they came to adopt.

And in English please…  Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson. Other important transcendentalists were Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Amos Bronson Alcott, Frederic Henry Hedge, and Theodore Parker

 Transcendentalists operated with the sense that a new era was at hand. They were critics of their contemporary society for its unthinking conformity, and urged that each individual find, in Emerson's words, an original relation to the universe (O, 3).  Basically they were some of the first non-conformists

 Emerson and Thoreau sought this relation in solitude amidst nature, and in their writing. By the 1840s they, along with other transcendentalists, were engaged in the social experiments of Brook Farm, Fruitlands, and Walden; and, by the 1850's in an increasingly urgent critique of American slavery.

How does this relate to what we’re reading?  Hawthorne is considered by some to be a Transcendentalist and by others to not be  You will be telling me what you think with a long paper at the end of this book  Hint: start underlining and keep these thoughts in the back of your head!!

What to look for in this book Transcendental ideals Symbolism Divine presence and human representation of that presence Morality

Transcendental Ideals  Puritan way of life, good or bad?  Human nature and its relation with divine law and human law  To what extent should we obey the law?

Symbolism  the use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities  OR  an artistic and poetic movement or style using symbolic images and indirect suggestion to express mystical ideas, emotions, and states of mind.

Symbolism (Cont)  COLOR! –Hawthorne chose every color mentioned in this book intentionally and it ALWAYS means something  NAMES –Look at the character’s names. How are they Significant

Morality  What is Good?  What is Evil?  Who defines each?  God? Humans? The individual?

How this will all go down  As we read I will continue to assign papers about every two weeks, starting Monday  Reading worksheets will be required with every reading  You will have a reading assignment every night which I expect you to complete  For extra credit: between now and the end of us reading this book you may read an essay from the back and write a three paragraph summary.  It may NOT be one we discuss in class

Bibliography  talism/ talism/  A Norton Critical Edition of The Scarlet Letter