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The income from publishing short stories still left much to be desired and the couple moved in with Hawthorne's mother in Salem in 1845. Hawthorne took up a job at the Salem Custom House but since Boston had taken much of the seaport business from Salem, Hawthorne was left with time to accept the position of secretary of the Salem Lyceum which hosted speakers as well as spend time with his dear wife and burgeoning family.
In 1848, Zachary Taylor won the presidency and with it, Hawthorne lost his job (which was given as a part of the Democratic Party, Taylor's presidency left the Whigs in charge and Hawthorne without a job). The following year he experienced the loss of his mother, but it was also the year that Hawthorne found a worn letter “A' in the attic of the old home and with it came the inspiration to write his arguably most famous novel, The Scarlet Letter.
The story of adulteress Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale was self-described by Hawthorne as a “hell-fired story' and he writes about reading it to Sophia that 'It broke her heart and sent her to bed with a grievous headache, which I look upon as a triumphant success.' The Scarlet Letter was one of the first mass-produced books in the United States upon its release in 1850 and it gathered much praise and criticism for the novels supposed morbidity. ', which originated in Germany but quickly spread to England, France, and beyond, reached America around the year 1820, some 20 years after William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge had revolutionized English poetry by publishing Lyrical Ballads. In America as in Europe, fresh new vision electrified artistic and intellectual circles. Yet there was an important difference: Romanticism in America coincided with the period of national expansion and the discovery of a distinctive American voice.
The solidification of a national identity and the surging idealism and passion of Romanticism nurtured the masterpieces of 'the American Renaissance.' Do we interpret works of literature and art in terms in the context of our current ideas and beliefs? It would be hard not to, don't you agree? But if we do, and we explain them in terms of what those works would mean if done now, we have to remember that the judgements we make might be shallow if we don't consider the values, beliefs and ways of life of their creators and their subjects. While the works become meaningful to us now as we consider what we can learn from them, it also helps to consider what they meant when they were created. “One of the most enduring myths in American history is the belief that the Puritans fled to America in search of religious liberty. Unfortunately, this belief is at best only a half truth, The Puritans were strict religious people who believed in a sovereign God, who all men were to obey.
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To better serve their God, and to create a more godly society, the Puritans removed from England to the wilderness surrounding Massachusetts Bay. There they hoped to covenant among themselves and with God in order to create a religious and civil society based on the Bible and dedicated to worshipping God in the 'correct' manner. According to Puritan theory, God would bless and protect his chosen people as long as everyone kept God's commandments, but should anyone in the society stray, the covenant would be broken and the entire community would suffer.”.
Discussion Questions Ch 1. The Prison Door What does building a prison first show about the Puritan belief about human nature?
Consider rose bush, Anne Hutchinson mentions. What is a theocracy? The Marketplace Notice role of women. What do we expect to be the reactions of women? What “sinful” attitudes do their reactions illustrate? Student questions p.
47 'sacred image of sinless motherhood' allusion to Mary and Christ child Ch. 3 The Recognition What are the implications of the way Hester physically created the letter she has to wear? 51 Note the characteristics of Hester’s husband. How long has he been gone? How old is the infant? Discuss the townsman’s assessment that Hester received lenience.
52 Hawthorne is adept at capturing the interconnection between internal thoughts and external evidence. Examine Hawthorne’s characterization of Mr. Dimmesdale, p. What are some of the personality traits and attitudes of clergy? Hester fears (p. 60) Chillingsworth’s remedies for her and for Pearl.
What is his counter to her fears? 62 Describe the marriage of Hester and Roger Prynne in England. Hester at Her Needle How does Hester make her living? What are the ironies surrounding her work? (think who, what, when, where, how, why, etc) How do the Puritans of various societal strata dress?
Who benefits from her work? Who does not wear her work? What irony might there be in the townspeople covering themselves in the handiwork of Hester? VI Pearl Describe Pearl’s personality. What influences shape her? 79 What observations does Hawthorne offer about the other Puritan children?
VII The Governor’s Hall P 88 L 15-36 Notice social status at play when Hester enters the building past the servant. What might the details of the portraits have been designed to show? 89 Review the passage on p. 90-91 with Pearl in the garden. What are Hawthorne’s comments on humanity in the passage?
VIII The Elf Child and the Minister Why is Pearl’s knowledge of catechism important? How does it play into the plot? What might be the reason for the word play about Pearl’s name? Discuss Hester’s reasoning regarding her spiritual situation. 94 What reasoning does Dimmesdale use onp. 99 Mistress Hibbins, Gov. Bellingham’s sister and the Black Man invites Hester to the forest.
What does Hawthorne use Mistress Hibbins to show? Ch IX The Leech Consider how Hawthorne uses symbolism, irony and imagery in this an all chapters. 106 Consider the close association between Chillingworth and his patient. Ch X The Leech and His Patient P. 112 Why is trusting no one a problem? 113 What does Dimmesdale believe about the heart? How does that factor into the complications in this story?
115 How does Dimmesdale assess Pearl in regard to whether she can do good? How does she illustrate freedom and law? 119 Roger Chillingsworth’s response is a remarkable as what he saw. Ch XI The Interior of a Heart Intellect comes up over and over in the story. What are the interworkings of intellect and matters of the heart and matters of conscience in human beings, in your view? P.121 Notice that Chillingworth shifts from spectator to actor in regard to Dimmesdale. How does this shift impact both men?
Ch XII The Minister’s Vigil What is Dimmesdale hoping will happen on the scaffold? P 129 What is the significance of him going there at night?
What other signs occur during that time and what are their significances? Discussion Time Out If at this point, you still don't have a clear vision as you read of the mixture of intellectual and spiritual vigor oddly coupled with the physical hardships and struggles against nature of the lives of early New Englanders, briefly scroll through from. The book is Martha Ballard's diary, kept over 27 years. That she had time to write is amazing, considering her service to women in labor. It was about 100 years after the setting of The Scarlet Letter, but much had not changed regarding living at the mercy of the sea and elements and the hard physical work both men and women performed. The is one slight change in attitudes about 'pre-marital preganancy' over those years that I noticed recorded in the diary. Guilt destroys mankind from within, as Arthur Dimmesdale's debilitating illness illustrates in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter.
Dimmesdale is unable to admit his sin of adultery and that he is the father of young Pearl driving him to a cycle of public hypocrisy that eats at his conscience destroying him from the inside out; in contrast, Hester Prynne bravely wears the Scarlet Letter, able even to face down authorities in defense of her daughter. Note the thesis: Guilt destroys mankind from within, as Arthur Dimmesdale's debilitating illness illustrates in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter.
Note the supporting ideas that follow. The paper will show his guilt, his refusal to admit it and the resulting hypocrisy and the physical effects of his inward distress.
To further empahsize the point, the writer will contrast Hester's demeanor and strength.