61406
Nathaniel Hawthorne "The Scarlet Letter" 1850
- An American Literature
- form - novella/short story
- character development of Hester makes the novella popular with female readers
- suggests possibilities despite sins
- relationship between Hester & Pearl
- warm/motherly/unscathed/familial/sentimental/traditional
- warm/motherly/unscathed/familial/sentimental/traditional
- suggests possibilities despite sins
- character development of Hester makes the novella popular with female readers
- investigation in to how history has shaped American identity- tragic vision of the world
- humanity cannot get any lower
- humanity cannot get any lower
- Conservatism v. Democracy
- Russell Kirk believed Hawthorne's Puritan portrayal
was a way of impressing "the idea of sin
upon a nation which would like to forget it"
- Conservative achievment
- Conservative achievment
- Transcendentalists believed in focussing on the future as opposed to relying on the psat
- Emerson
- "Our age is retrospective" - Nature
- "Each age, it is found, must write its
own books; or rather, each
generation for the next succeeding.
The books of an older period will not
fit this."
- - The American Scholar
- - The American Scholar
- "Our age is retrospective" - Nature
- Dimmesdale characterises
democratic views
- His decay comes from the search for spiritual
perfection.
- critique of transcendentalists
- only saved by Pearl's kiss at the end of novel & when the truth is revealed
- critique of transcendentalists
- His decay comes from the search for spiritual
perfection.
- Emerson
- Narrator tells novella in past tense
- Russell Kirk believed Hawthorne's Puritan portrayal
was a way of impressing "the idea of sin
upon a nation which would like to forget it"
- Social Judgments
- Transformation of Scarlet Letter from a symbol of
shame to a symbol of power/reverence
- Sin & shame allow Hester & DImmesdale to consider the human condition and other's situations
- "sympathies so intimate with the
sinful brotherhood of mankind, so
that his heart vibrates in union
with theirs"
- "sympathies so intimate with the
sinful brotherhood of mankind, so
that his heart vibrates in union
with theirs"
- "Throughout them all, giving up her individuality, she would become the general symbol at which the preacher and moralist might point, and in which
- they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion. Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the
- scarlet letter flaming on her breast"
- scarlet letter flaming on her breast"
- Hester is no longer an individual - a symbol of
"women's fragility and sinful passion"
- they might vivify and embody their images of woman's frailty and sinful passion. Thus the young and pure would be taught to look at her, with the
- "Heaven would show
mercy," rejoined Hester,
"hadst thou but the strength
to take advantage of it."
- contradicts & challenges the Puritan views of
pre-destination & innate depravity
- changing the perception of her & her fate
- changing the perception of her & her fate
- contradicts & challenges the Puritan views of
pre-destination & innate depravity
- Sin & shame allow Hester & DImmesdale to consider the human condition and other's situations
- Transformation of Scarlet Letter from a symbol of
shame to a symbol of power/reverence
- form - novella/short story
- Religion in C19th America
- Pre-destination
- the idea that your afterlife has already been planned
- resulted in a very paranoid society of Puritans - no way of determining who was good/bad
- thought that Earth and life were a horrible trial to test your soul
- lead to over-reading/mis-reading of symbols in Puritan society eg. Scarlet Letter
- lead to over-reading/mis-reading of symbols in Puritan society eg. Scarlet Letter
- resulted in a very paranoid society of Puritans - no way of determining who was good/bad
- the idea that your afterlife has already been planned
- innate depravity
- Perceptiveness of Peal
- "“the sunshine does not love you. It
runs away and hides itself, because it
is afraid of something on your bosom.
. . . It will not flee from me, for
- I wear nothing on my bosom yet!"
- I wear nothing on my bosom yet!"
- links to the Puritan belief that since Adam's
fall from Grace all children are born innately
evil
- also seen in Poe
- also seen in Poe
- understands things which she shouldn't
- "“the sunshine does not love you. It
runs away and hides itself, because it
is afraid of something on your bosom.
. . . It will not flee from me, for
- contrasts with Transcendentalist movement
- children are the enablers and the innocence of America
- A teacher does not teach but enables the child's mind to learn
- A teacher does not teach but enables the child's mind to learn
- God makes men innately good - it is society which corrupts them
- Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government"/Emerson's "Nature"
- Thoreau's "Resistance to Civil Government"/Emerson's "Nature"
- children are the enablers and the innocence of America
- Perceptiveness of Peal
- Wilderness v. Civilisation
- “was that the same minister that kissed me by the brook?”...“We
must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in
the forest.”
- Hester & Dimmesdale's metting in the woods allows
the truth to avail & leads to momentary happiness
- Hester & Dimmesdale's metting in the woods allows
the truth to avail & leads to momentary happiness
- 2 different interpretations of wilderness in C19th America
- Wilderness/Nature as close to God
- Wilderness as dangerous/untamed/unsafe
- Wilderness/Nature as close to God
- lack of rules and judgments in wilderness
- Hester's cottage is on the outskirts of town & woods - is
between belonging somewhere - not in total freedom but not
as confined by social rules
- “was that the same minister that kissed me by the brook?”...“We
must not always talk in the market-place of what happens to us in
the forest.”
- Pre-destination
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