1. Essential Questions to Consider
Can one have individual freedom without conforming to the laws of a group?
How do hypocrisy, conformity, and vengeance affect the characters of The Scarlet Letter?
How do we become moral beings?
Why is the novel considered a Dark
Romantic?

2. Some Themes in The Scarlet Letter
Appearance versus Reality
Breaking Society’s rules – conflict of individual versus society
What is moral behavior?
Consequences of one’s actions
Personal growth through adversity
Symbols change over time.
Sins from the past influencing the present

3. Nathaniel Hawthorne Early Years
Born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts.
His parents were devout Puritans.
Great-great grandfather was a judge during The Salem Witch Trials.
Mother gave birth alone while father was out at sea.
Had aspirations to be a writer at an early age.

4. College 1821 - 1824 Attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine
Classmates with:
-Harriet Beecher Stowe who wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin
-Franklin Pierce who became the 14th President of The United States.

5. Young Adult Life
Burned first published work after it sold only 1000 copies.
1837: College friend, John O’Sullivan, published first short novel Twice Told Tales.
Worked on and off at many office jobs.
Engaged to his fiancée Sophia Peabody for 7 years before he told his mother, 6 months before they were married.

6. Hawthorne as a Puritan Puritans believed People are inherently sinful
Society is necessary for survival
The law is superior to freedom
Decisions are made for the collective good
Children are miniature adults and should be held to the same standard
The forests is the devil’s domain
Reason overrides emotion

7. Hawthorne as a Romantic
Romantics believed
People are inherently good
Society corrupts individuals
Freedom is superior to law
Emotion is superior to reason
Children are free and models for the rest of us
Nature is holy

8. Hawthorne as a Dark Romantic
Gothics believed
People are inherently depraved, and often passionate or obsessive
Settings ought to be dark, old, and creepy
An atmosphere of mystery and suspense enhances the plot
Foreshadowing and dreams play a large role
Forlorn, depressed characters important
Nature is dark and foreboding (overgrown vegetation)