Nathaniel Hawthorne Influences

“The scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it.” (120) Hawthorne’s description of the distorted scarlet letter illustrates the townspeople’s prejudiced view of

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a transcendentalist. He judged his Puritan ancestors in their deeds, especially the witch persecutions. Transcendentalism, Puritanism and the idea of witchcraft were reflected in his novel The Scarlet Letter. Although The Scarlet Letter doesn‘t address witchcraft directly, witchcraft saturates the background of the novel. Many factors factors had their influence on the Puritan society, be it positive or negative.

Life for the Puritans was, to say the least, not very exciting or enjoyable. In his novel, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne demonstrates how Puritan society affects its citizen’s daily lives. In the overtly religious, strict town of Boston, morals and laws are greatly enforced. When the beautiful, young woman, Hester Prynn, commits adultery, the people of Boston respond angrily. The town minister, Dimmesdale, also feels the shame and burden of the sin committed.

Hawthorne’s writings reflect the Puritan culture and history in a new way. In the past the Puritans culture was one that revolved around god and god’s providence. The idea that if you believe in god and have a good moral mindset, you will prosper and god will always be by your side. Although, if you were against god and made some immoral choices god would always find you and smite or punish you. So you could imagine the change in tone when Hawthorne writes about a witch meeting.

Born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, Nathaniel Hawthorne was an only child. His father died when he was very young. When he was still a child, an injury to his leg left him unable to move for a very long time. He spent much of his time reading and soon focused on becoming a writer. He most likely added a “w” to his real last name “Hathorne” because of his ancestor’s involvement in the infamous Salem witch trials.

Many did not know of him until his publication of The Scarlet Letter, which was a very controversial work of fiction during his time. In his stories he expressed his guilt for his family participating in the Salem Witch Trials among other things that affected his everyday life. Some of these things can be seen in his short story, “The Birth-Mark”. He confronted his feelings about Puritanism, nature, science, and beauty in this story.

What is Nathaniel Hawthorne's connection to the Puritan settlements and subsequent Salem witch trials? Nathaniel Hawthorn was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804. Hawthorn’s family lineage dates back to the early 17th century when his ancestor, William Hathorne came from England and was part of one of the first Puritan settlements. William Hathorne was a magistrate that sentenced a Quaker woman to a public whipping. One of Hawthorn’s most famous family members was John Hathorne, who served as a famous judge in the Salem Witch Trials.

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most studied and influential writers in history. His many works use symbolism and allegory to portray their purpose, filling them with deep meaning and offering a wide variety of interpretation. Hawthorne was not particularly proud of his family history; he disagreed with some of his ancestors positions in the salem witch trials. He distanced himself with that part of his family and added a “w” to his name to further do so. Hawthorne was born in Salem Massachusetts, which gave him a prevalent theme of puritanism in many of his stories.

7) The device that Hawthorne uses to set up the story of the scarlet letter is that the narrator of “Custom House” found an unusual package that contained some fabric with a faded letter A imprinted on the cloth, with some papers describing the entire story behind the letter. The narrator then used those documents to create the story of Scarlet Letter. 8)

A popular example of romanticism, The Scarlet Letter is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s critically acclaimed portrayal of Puritan society and its emphasis on sin (and punishment of said sin) during colonial America’s formative years. This portrayal consists of an exploration of isolation, as well as the effects thereof, through Hawthorne’s rich characters and their complex inner psychological turmoil. Growing up, Nathaniel Hawthorne had deep, unbreakable ties with his home in Salem, Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s ancestors consisted of Puritan magnates, judges and seamen, most of whom had been involved in religious persecution, starting with their first ancestor, William Hathorne, who pronounced sentence on the early Quakers. William’s son, John Hathorne,

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a very talented writer for his time. He has many books and some of them were really successful. One of his most famous books was called, ''The Scarlet Letter.'' He wrote other books that were successful and they were more successful once he was famous and more heard of. He wrote wonderful books all through his life.

The Scarlet Letter is a popular novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne which is mainly read during one's high school years. The Scarlet letter is set during the sixteenth century in Boston Massachusetts where a young woman named Hester Prynne is publicly shamed by the Puritans. When Hawthorne was writing this novel he described the puritans as a sad, bland society which had a reliance on the consequence of sin. His description of the Puritan society was not fully opinion-based since the Puritans that came over from England did dress simply. This leads the reader to wonder how much of his personal opinion made its way into the story and how much is historical fact.

I founded interesting that the author noticed that the Salem village is the center of the witchcraft misbelief. By everything the evil noted in Goodman Brown; it makes sense that Hawthorne would use a Salem village for this story. In my reflection about the story, I realize that is a place where the events continuously happened because it has a different incidents or devices that are widely found in the literature and recognized as motifs appear. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "

The first example of imagery that Hawthorne uses is when Young Goodman Brown is walking through the woods and he was trying to resist the devil’s temptations. “On he flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an insperation of horrid blasphemy, and now shounting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around

Imagine living in a place where one small sin could define who you are for the rest of your life. That is what happened in The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1850. The novel is set in a seventeenth-century Puritan community in Boston, Massachusetts. A young woman by the name of Hester Prynne commits a small act of adultery and is shamed for the rest of her life, by wearing a scarlet letter “A” on her breast. The book is centered around the theme of justice and judgement.