Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter

Teaching Objectives  

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Understand Hawthorne’s Creation Study the main characters and theme in the novel; Study the main writing techniques in The Scarlet Letter, esp. symbolism; Understand the tradition of American Literature influenced by Puritanism;

Teaching Procedure 

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Brief Introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne and his Major Works A General Introduction to The Scarlet Letter Analysis of the main characters, symbols and theme Interprete Chapter V Appreciate the film

Nathaniel Hawthorne(1804-1864) 

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Romantic novelist, short-story writer First great American writer of fiction to work in the moralistic tradition. Combined the American romanticism with puritan moralism

Life Introduction 

Hawthorne was born on the fourth of July, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, into a prominent Puritan family and a declined aristocratic family as well.

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His father, a sea captain, died of yellow fever in 1808, leaving at Salem a widow and three children in poverty. With the financial support from his more prosperous maternal relationships, Hawthorne was able to read some books of those literary master minds, such as Shakespeare, Spenser, which were essential for his formation as a writer.

Major Works The House of Seven Gables 《有七个尖角阁的房子》  Young Goodman Brown 《好小伙子布郎》  Mosses from an Old Manse 《古屋青苔》  The Scarlet Letter 《红字》 

Hawthorne’s Sayings 

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There is evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, through the whole life; but circumstances may rouse it to activity. The wrong doing of one generation lives into the successive ones.（因果报应） A piece of literary work should show how we are wronged and wrongers, and avenge one another.

Artistic Features 

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the structures and the form of his writing are always carefully worked out. his novel is thoughtful, full of mental activities. with his special interest in the psychological aspect of human beings, there isn’t much action while he is good at exploring the complexity of human psychology. Hawthorne is a master of symbolism. The symbol can be found everywhere in his writing. .

Thematic Concerns  

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evil, guilt, sin Most of his works discuss the important issues that concern the moral life of man and human history. Hawthorne’s view of man and human history originates, to a great extent, in Puritanism. He was not a Puritan himself, but he had Puritan ancestors who played an important role in his life and works. He often wondered if he might have inherited some of their guilt. This sensibility led to his understanding of evil being at the very core of human life.

Characters Introduction

The Connotation of the Name 

Hester Prynne: First, Hester reminds the reader Hestier ---the Goddess of Beauty in Greek fairy, showing the author’s praise to Hester’s beauty and saint, Goddess-like beauty. Second, the pronunciation of Hester is very close to hastier (the comparative degree form of hasty), here the author implies that her marriage is haste, her love with Dimmesdale is haste, and to the extreme, her joy with the priest is haste.

Arthur Dimmesdale 

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First, Arthur reminds the reader of Adam, human beings ancestor who committed the Original Sin with Eve in the Garden of Eden, Arthur Dimmesdale, the initials AD are the beginning of “Adultery”; Secondly, “Dim” means lack of light,” dale” Means valley, which symbolizes the minister’s dim-interior world of his love and the shadow of sin and guilty of his mind. Arthur Dimmesdale means someone who committed adultery but dares cowardly to confess his sin or crime, and has to conceal it in the shadow and suffer it interiorly.

Roger Chillingworth 

Roger Chillingworth has two aspects. “Roger” is the homonymic of Rogue (hoodlum, scoundrel, bully), which expresses his act to his wife; “Chilling” means chilly. “Worth” tells us Roger’s act is, to some extend, worth/valuable----the author’s contradictory psychology to Puritanism.

Pearl 

“Pearl” has many symbolic meaning. First, it means treasure--- the treasure to her mother. Second, pearl is the homonymic of purl (stream), Pearl’s fate and life is like the purl in the forest, mysterious, can only flow in the forest, seldom bathe the sunshine.

Characterization Hester Prynne: strong-willed, contemplative;independent; maternal; intelligent Arthur Dimmesdale loving, conscientious, reluctant to repent, Emotional and eloquent in preaching Roger Chillingworth cold; indifferent; revenged; evil; malevolent Pearl innocent, perceptive, insightful

Symbolism 

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What are the symbolic meanings of the letter “A”? Forest Prison/ scaffold Nights Sun

Symbolic Meanings in The Scarlet Letter 

The novel started with the embroidery letter A Hester wore and ended with the scarlet letter A engraved in the tombstone. Thus, the letter A is penetrated through the novel. The symbolic A is ambiguous. A critic analyzes its meanings from the following five aspects:

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A1 = Adultery（通奸）→Apple(苹果) （文本意义） A2= Arthur (情人亚瑟) →Adam(亚当) （情感意义） A3= Angel (天使) → Able(能干) （审美意义） A4 =Amicable (和睦友好的女人) →Admirable(可尊敬的 女人) 群体层意义 A5= America (政教合一时代的美国) →Authority (上帝的 群为) 政体层意义

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The scarlet letter is meant to be a symbol of shame, but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of identity to Hester. The letter’s meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended to mark Hester as an adulteress, the “A” eventually comes to stand for “Able” or “Angel”.

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Besides Hester, Dimmesdale also ironed the letter A on his body, which provoked his self-consciousness and showed his repent for what he did.

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Pearl, their baby, wore a green letter A in a piece of seaweed while playing on the beach. This green letter A symbolizes vitality or new life, and also suggests her inheritance from her mother.

The Symbolic Meaning of Pearl 

(vital spirit and passion that engendered from sin)

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Although Pearl is a complex character, her primary function within the novel is as a symbol. Yet, even as a reminder of Hester’s “sin,” Pearl is more than a mere punishment to her mother: she is also a blessing. She represents not only “sin” but also the vital spirit and passion that engendered that sin. Thus, Pearl’s existence gives her mother reason to live, bolstering her spirits when she is tempted to give up. It is only after Dimmesdale is revealed to be Pearl’s father that Pearl can become fully “human.”

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Other scenes with symbolic meanings 

Prison -- the black flower of civilized society (crime and punishment of civilized society)

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Scaffold-- is not only a symbol of the stern Puritan

code for Hester accepted the punishment, but also becomes a symbol for the open acknowledgment of personal sin. It is the place to which Dimmesdale knows he must go for atonement, the only place where he can escape the grasp of Chillingworth or of the devil.

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Nights--is used as a symbol for concealment, and

the day for exposure; Dimmesdale mounts the scaffold to give out his pain at nights; and in the end confesses his guilt and sin in the day. 

Forests--is a symbol of darkness and devil. It is a

place where witches gather, where souls are signed away to the devil, and where Dimmesdale can “yield himself with deliberate voice”. 

Sun-- is used as of untroubled, guiltless happiness,

or the approval of God and Nature. It shines on Pearl, but flees away from Hester and from Dimmesdale, even in the forest.

Analysis of the Themes

Sin

Hester Prynne

Pearl

Dimmesdale

Chillingworth

Puritanism (another theme) 

American Puritanism is a branch of the Protestantism, and its teachings and principles are based on Calvinism. Puritanism stressed predestination, original sin, total depravity and limited atonement from God’s grace. With such doctrines in their mind, Puritans left Europe for America in order to prove that they were God’s people, who would enjoy God’s blessing on earth and in Heaven; they felt that they were exiles under the special grace of God to establish a theocracy in the New World. Over the years in the new homeland, they built a way of life that stressed hard work, thrift, piety and sobriety.

Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter (Hatred and Respect) Through challenging Puritanism, Hawthorne establishes his own “Puritanism”: 1. Their religious doctrines VS he believes in men’s ability to redeem themselves or advocates individuality. 2. Their rigid, inhuman attitude toward life and enjoyment: suppress men’s all desires, live a hard, disciplined and ascetic life, discriminate men’s rights for happiness. VS stress men’s rights and desires for pleasure. 3. Their hypocrisy VS clergymen commiting crimes against their preaching and beliefs.

Hester at her Needle (main plot) Her term of imprisonment was over, Hester is now free to go anywhere in the world, yet she does not leave Boston; instead, she chooses to move into a small, seaside cottage on the outskirts of town. She supports herself and Pearl through her skill as a seamstress. Her work is in great demand for clothing worn at official ceremonies and among the fashionable women of the town — for every occasion except a wedding. Despite the popularity of her sewing, however, Hester is a social outcast. The target of vicious abuse by the community, she endures the abuse patiently. Ironically, she begins to believe that the scarlet A allows her to sense sinful and immoral feelings in other people.

Para 1 

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To her sick and morbid heart, how did she look at the sunshine when she went out of the prison-door? The sun seems to her as though it has no other purpose than to expose the letter A on her chest. What are her complicated feelings toward the law? To destroy her and encourage her as well. Notice Hester’s worrying about her futute fate She thinks about the future spread out before of her, knowing she will become a symbol of female passion and frailty for the entire town.

Para 2 

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Did the condemnation( 判决词）force Hester not to flee to other places after her term of confinement was over? Why is the narrator marvellous at Hester Prynee’s decision? And how he convinces himself? The narrator gets a bit long-winded as he wonders why a woman would remain at the scene of her public humiliation. He philosophizes that humans are drawn to the places where "some great and marked event has given the color to their lifetime," and dark events are even more "irresistible"

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这事说来令人不可思议：既然她的判决词中没有 限制她不得超越清教徒居民区的条款，那么在这 片边远偏僻的土地之外，她面对着整个世界，原 可以自由地回到她的出生地或任何其它欧洲国家， 改头换面，隐姓埋名，一切从新开始；她还面对 着通向阴森莫测的莽林的道路，也可以在那里逃 脱制裁她的法律，使自己不驯顺的本性在生活习 俗完全两样的民族中相得益彰。看来实在不可思 议的是，她竟然仍把这地方视作自己的家园；而 恰恰在这里，况且也只有在这里，她才会成为耻 辱的典型。

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但确实有一种天数，一种具有冥冥之力的如此不可抗拒和 难以避免的感情，迫使人们象幽灵般出汲并滞留在发生过 为他终生增色添辉、引人瞩目的重大事件的地方，而且那 事件的悲伤色调愈浓，人们也就愈难以背离那块地方。她 的罪孽，她的耻辱，便是她深扎于此地的根。她在这块土 地上好象获得了比她降生人世更具融熔力量的新生，海丝 特·白兰的这一新生把所有其他移民和飘泊者仍感到格格 不入的森林地带，变成了她自己荒凉阴郁但却是终生安身 立命之家。世界上别的景色，甚至包括她度过幸福的童年 和无暇的少女时期的英格兰乡村——象是早巳换下的衣服， 交给她母亲去保管了——，相比之下，那些地方在她眼里 那是它乡异地了。将她束缚在这里的，是源源傲进她心灵 深处的铁打的锁链，永远不可能断裂了。

Para 3 more descriptions of her inner heart 

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Her affection for Dimmesdale makes her stay here with no hesitation. Here had been the scene of her guilt, and here should be the scene of her earthly punishment The torture of her daily shame would at length purge her soul, and…

Main idea of the following paragraphs 

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Hester, meanwhile, makes a home in a small cottage on the outskirts of town. She frightens children, because she is alone, shunned, and wears this strange scarlet symbol on her breast. She makes a living by needlework. She is such a good seamstress that her work becomes fashionable; her sinning hands embroider the details of clothes worn by the Massachusetts Bay governor, military men, ministers, and so on. Yet, she is never called to make or to embroider a single wedding gown for fear of symbolically staining the bride’s purity. Perhaps as penance, Hester makes a lot of clothing for the poor. But even the poor (like the rich) think that she is beneath them because of her past.

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Everywhere Hester goes, she is met with reminders of her adultery. If she enters a church, she may be the subject of the sermon. As she goes about town, children mock her. Young women glance at the scarlet letter and then haughtily glance away. This is all not so much fun. Hester feels really sad and disheartened. But sometimes, she wonders whether many more people shouldn’t have scarlet letters attached to their clothes. Perhaps those who are the most judgmental should suffer the same punishment she suffers. However, at the same time, a part of her believes that there is no greater sinner than herself.

Suggested Topics for Further Research 

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Characterization Analysis (Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale) Theme Study (Puritanism, Original Sin, Archetypal Study) Symbolism in The Scarlet Letter Feminism in The Scarlet Letter

Group Discussion 

Who should be responsible for the adultery? Hester Prynne, Dimmesdale or Chillingworth?

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Adultery, is elegantly called “extra-marital love” nowadays. Should all the “extra-marital love” be condemned? If you are involved in the “extra-marital love”, what will you do?