The Scarlet Letter Project Maddi Mitchell Period: C-D Based on a book by: Nathaniel Hawthorn

Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American writer. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts to a family with a long New England history. The original name of the family was Hathorne, he added a 'w' to distinguish himself from the history which included John Hathorne, a prominent judge in the Salem witch trials of his father died in 1808 so growing up, Hawthorne was raised by his mother until he went to college. Hawthorne, although not entirely interested in higher education, enrolled at Bowdoin College in Shortly after college Hawthorne began working on short stories such as Fanshawe and Twice-Told Tales. However, the income from publishing short stories still left much to be desired and the couple moved in with Hawthorne's mother in Salem in 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. However in 1848 Hawthorne got fired from his job at the customs house and began working on the scarlet letter. 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. Hawthorne passed away on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, New Hampshire, after a long period of illness which still to this day remains a mystery. His works will forever stock library shelves because of his brilliance in English Puritan writings and notable moral choices. Hawthorne's was essentially a negative, elusive character. This negativity -- not pessimism, for which it was often mistaken -- distinguished him from his New England peers, an extroverted crowd that included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller and Bronson Alcott. -Henry James Nathaniel Hawthorne hawthorne/biography/

Conflict Analysis: Roger Chillingworth Throughout the novel, The Scarlet Letter, Rodger Chillingworth has not only conflicts with Hester Prynne and Pearl but the man vs. man conflict with Arthur Dimmesdale. Being gone for the 2 years he was his wife, who had assumed him dead, committed the scandalous crime of adultery. So, when Roger came back to Boston, it was o surprise he kept his identity secret and seek out revenge on Arthur as he had planned in chapter 10. In the beginning of this novel Roger had returned to Boston as planned with Hester. However, this is where the conflict began when he saw her standing upon the scaffold with a scarlet letter a and a newborn child upon her breast to stand punishment for her sin. Later he came to visit her in jail and asked about the man she had committed such sin with and Hester replied, “Ask me not! That thou shalt never know!”(pg.70) After this reply from Hester he had left simply stating that he would find the man who had wronged them both. On the other hand, at this time Arthur, sick with his guilt was growing very weak and went to Chillingworth for medical help.

With chilling worth being the man he is he began to take very close interest in Dimmesdale examining his patient closely. He soon got so close with Dimmesdale the they moved in with each other (pg ). Very soon after they had lived together Chillingworth, watching Dimmesdale very closely, had discovered that he was hiding some guilt. Guilt that was linked to Hester. In a conversation between the two men Roger says, “Then why not reveal them here? Why should the not the guilty unveil themselves of this unutterable solace?” “They mostly do.” replied Dimmesdale (pg.120). However, Dimmesdale did something that most don’t do when answering a question. He, like an old man with heart pains, gripped his chest as if a harsh pain had come upon him. Noticing this and many other odd acts such as Pearl throwing one of the prickly burs at him (pg 122) until one day as Arthur was sleeping Roger got a glimpse if his chest and the big red letter ‘A’ just as Hester had worn on her clothes (pg. 126). After finding out about this Chillingworth begins to slowly plot his revenge on Dimmesdale by giving him medicine that he doesn’t need. Slowly as his health begins to deteriorate Hester and Arthur plan to leave Boston. In the middle of planning this Chillingworth, being a sneak, finds out that they are leaving and books a place on that same boat. Finding this out Dimmesdale broke down confessing his sins among the scaffold just as Hester previously did and revealing the letter ‘A’ burned on his chest he dropped dead (pg. 227) Conflict Analysis: Roger Chillingworth

In the end Roger never got his revenge and that angered him. Shouting over and over again Roger repeated, “ thou has escaped me!” (pg. 228) meaning that he would never get his revenge. a year after Dimmesdale had died, Chillingworth passed away and left all his money to pearl as if a way to redeem himself for the act of revenge.