The Scarlet Letter and Nathaniel Hawthorne – Flashcards
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Hawthorne's name was originally what? Why did he change it?
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Hathorne. He did not want to be associated with his Puritan great grandfather, who was a judge at the Salem Witch Trials.
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As a child, what spurred Hawthorne to read classic literature?
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The fact that he was a sickly child.
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What style literature affected his writing?
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Classic-style literature.
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What is a down side of writing in classical style?
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There are strict guidelines and formats that must be followed.
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Hawthorne was a classicist and _______________.
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Romantic
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What was Romanticism in a general sense? (5 characteristics)
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1) An arts movement in the 18th and 19th centuries 2) A rebellion against realism 3) The answer for people looking for something different 4) Contained literature, music, and art 5) Interesting, individualistic, and not necessarily true
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Discuss Romanticism in literature (4 characteristics)
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1) Involved superstition, imagination, and Gothicism, as seen in Edgar Allan Poe 2) Sentimentality (emotional) 3) Symbolic setting 4) Plots were unique and not copied out of anything
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What did it mean that Poe was a classicist and romanticist at the same time?
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He was a Romanticist that used classic formatting. He had complex sentence structure with many adjectives.
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Where did Hawthorne go to college?
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Bowdoin College, in Massechusetts.
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What did Bowdoin College specialize in?
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Classic literature, although it was innovated
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What did Hawthorne do immediately after graduating college?
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He tried to make a living writing, but he failed.
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Describe Hawthorne's job at the Customs House (3 characteristics)
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1) It was located in Boston; Customs Houses were always on a port city 2) It processed the ships that went in and out and taxed them 3) Hawthorne worked there for 3 years
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What did Hawthorne do immediately after finishing his job at the Customs House?
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He went back to writing for a little while, and worked as a minor ambassador to England.
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What year did Hawthorne marry?
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1842
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What did Hawthorne and his newlywed wife decide to do?
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Join a commune, Brook Farm.
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What was the purpose of Brook Farm?
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Brook Farm was an attempt to support the artists of the area by creating an environment that allowed them to all work minimally for enough food to get by and focus on their art.
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Why didn't Hawthorne like Brook Farm?
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It didn't suit his personality, so he and his wife left.
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What two cities did Hawthorne and his wife live in after Brook Farm?
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Concord and Boston
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Why was it important that Hawthorne lived in the Wayside House?
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Louisa May Alcott had lived there.
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Why was it important that Hawthorne lived in the Old Manse house in Salem?
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This was the house that he based The Seven Gables off of.
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What happened to Hawthorne during the Civil War?
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His health began to deteriorate.
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How did Hawthorne die?
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He died in his sleep on a hunting trip with Franklin Pierce.
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What was Hawthorne's attitude toward Puritanism?
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He met it with ambivalence- that is to say it was good in some ways, bad in some. He was critical of Puritanism.
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What was Hawthorne's attitude toward morality?
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He believed man should seek the highest moral sense possible and that everything a person did should be moral.
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What shocked Hawthorne about his time period?
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The moral decay. He couldn't believe the human suffering and was a strong abolitionist.
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Much of his work explained __________.
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The human mind (why do people do what they do?)
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What religious belief did Hawthorne oppose?
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Original Sin.
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What does Original Sin state?
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Everyone is born a sinner
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What was Hawthorne's style, overwhelmingly?
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Allegory
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What is true of allegory?
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It is story written on 2 levels: story and symbol.
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Which of the 6 literary philosophies did Hawthorne fall under?
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TRICK QUESTION: NONE OF THEM!
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What did Hawthorne do with characters and plots?
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He worked to have them unified.
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What did Hawthorne do with history?
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He used it as a basis, although he exaggerated to some extent.
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What is literary atmosphere?
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It is similar to tone. It is the feeling you get about the work, although tone is how the author feels.
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Why are his books believable?
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Although they are not necessarily a reflection of reality, but there is enough reality in them to make them believable. This is why he put the trunk in the Customs House in The Scarlet Letter.
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All of his characters have ________ ___________.
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human emotions
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What two forms of literature did Hawthorne master?
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Short Story and Novel
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What three famous short stories did Hawthorne pen?
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The Minister's Black Veil, Dr. Heidegger's Experiment, and Young Goodman Brown.
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What is the plot of The Minister's Black Veil?
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A minister has sinned so badly he wears a black veil
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What is the plot of Dr. Heidegger's Experiment?
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Dr. Heidegger discovers the elixir of youth. He gives the elixir of youth to 4 friends who swear they will not make their same mistakes. So they take it and immediately revert back to their own ways, proving people do not learn from their mistakes.
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What is the plot of Young Goodman Brown?
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An encounter in the woods, although the reader does not know if it is hallucination, actual, or witchcraft.
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Why is the vague Young Goodman Brown an important representation of Hawthorne's style? 3 reasons!
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There is lots of Gothicism; it appeals to the supernatural and "some element." It also reflects a personal and social level. You can see Hawthorne's stance on what he's writing.
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Which novel is Hawthorne's most famous?
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The Scarlet Letter
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What is the plot of The House of the Seven Gables?
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It is about the Pyncheon family. At one time they had been affluent, but they had fallen on hard times. There is a love story that goes on. Hawthorne's stories were not love stories as we know them, since there were frequently unsuccessful relationships.
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What is the plot of the novel The Marble Faun? What is different about this book?
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It is about the end of innocence. The main character is Donatello, who goes to Rome and commits murder over a woman. Donatello winds up in prison. The woman did not reciprocate his feelings, but fell in love with a sculptor. It was out of character for Hawthorne, an antithesis.
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What is the plot of the Blithedale Romance?
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It is about Hawthorne's experience on Brook Farm.
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What are the 5 themes that Hawthorne represented in general? Discuss them.
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1) Intellectual Pride- moral nature ceases to improve when you have intellectual improvement 2) Secret Sin- sin inevitably leads to guilt, and unconfessed sin has dire consequences 3) Use of Science for Prideful Reasons 4) Inheritance of Ancestral Sin- goes along with Biblical philosophy of sins of the father (the sins of the father are passed along to children) 5) Colonial History- lots of facts
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What defines the tone of The Scarlet Letter?
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It is formal, elegant, restrained, diminuative, and realistic.
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How is the tone of The Scarlet Letter formal?
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The author steps back and becomes a reporter. There is an unbiased account that follows all rules of grammar.
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How is the tone of The Scarlet Letter elegant?
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It is almost poetic.
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How is the tone of The Scarlet Letter diminuative?
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He uses terms of endearment, like "Little Pearl."
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How is the tone of The Scarlet Letter restrained?
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Hawthorne tells the story with interest, but he doesn't jump right in and get in the middle of it. He develops the story, holding his own thoughts and feelings back
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How is the tone of The Scarlet Letter realistic?
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He does not turn it into a melodrama through his tone.
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What is rhetoric?
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The study of grammar.
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What 4 rhetoric components make up The Scarlet Letter?
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1) Deliberate- he was careful as to how he worded things 2) Unhurried- he did not rush through the reading 3) Reflective- both author and reader had to think about what was going on 4) Gothic- use of sin and evil, a "glowing" A, and emphasis on the individual
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What 4 components of diction make up The Scarlet Letter?
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1) Wide range of vocabulary (medical, historical, personal) 2) Latin/Greek origins in many words 3) Formal words 4) Gothic words
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What rhetorical devices are used in The Scarlet Letter? (Hint: there are 5!)
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1) Simile- best used in descriptions of characters, mostly in Chillingworth 2) Metaphor 3) Personification- very overused, lots of nature elements 4) Oxymoron- used with Pearl (smiling malice) 5) Metonymy- the gallows stood for punishment
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What is symbolism based on in The Scarlet Letter?
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Light vs. Dark
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To arrive at allegory...
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Start with concrete setting and symbolic setting. In The Scarlet Letter, the concrete setting is a Puritan colony between Salem and Boston in the 1640's. The symbolic setting is Hester and Pearl on the scaffold.
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Give three examples of concrete vs. symbolic in The Scarlet Letter
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1) The love affair between Hester/Dimmesdale & secret sin 2) Pearl & consequence of sin 3) Chillingworth & obsession
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What were the years of Nathaniel Hawthorne's life?
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1804-1864
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When/where was Nathaniel Hawthorne born?
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July 4th in Salem, MA
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How many siblings did Hawthorne have?
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He was the 2nd of 3 children
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What was Hawthorne's father's occupation?
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He was a sea captain. When Hawthorne was 4 or 5, his father was lost at sea.
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How did Hawthorne grow up?
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Poor and sickly
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Are the characters in The Scarlet Letter flat or round?
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They are flat. Some change but not completely.
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What does most characterization of The Scarlet Letter come from?
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Interaction and suggestion
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Describe Hester Prynne
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She is proud, vivacious, and passionate (these are NOT Puritan characteristics). She was consistent in her love for Dimmesdale and protected him. She married Chillingworth in England. The best thing about Hester was her dignity. She was also a talented seamstress and sought-after confidante.
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Describe Chillingworth.
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He was captured by Indians and assumed dead. His mind and face become mis-shapen. He was mentally distorted by revenge, though was not evil to begin with. He was cold and intelligent in his knowledge about medicines. Hawthorne suggests his sin was the greatest because manipulation is the greatest evil of all.
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Describe Dimmesdale.
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Arthur Dimmesdale was weak. He sins with a member of the congregation and does not admit his guilt. Dimmesdale is sensitive and understood Pearl and Hester. He was more or less a jerk and carried this guilt with him. He was the foil of Chillingworth and demonstrates the results of unconfessed sin.
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Describe Pearl.
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She is moody and a reminder of sin. She is literally sin personified. She is not a typical Puritan; in fact, she is the foil.
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Describe the setting.
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A Puritan settlement between Boston and Salem in the 1640's. Chapter 1 starts with the prison. Symbolically, this means the door opens for evil to come out. Beside the prison is the scaffold (shame) and the rosebush (beauty in the face of evil, but all roses have thorns.) The setting is believable because of the trunk in the customs house.
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Explain the unity.
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Consists of time and place. Time is NOT handled well. It is set in parts with built in bridges of time. Chapters 1-4 take place in 1 day. Chapters 5 and 6 take place when Pearl is 3. The rest of the book takes place when Pearl is 7.
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Discuss the theme of Dr. Heidegger's Experiment.
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The theme is that people don't learn from their mistakes.
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What are motifs in Dr. Heidegger's Experiment?
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The rose symbolized the restoration/fading of youth, the mirror was a reflection of the experiment, the butterfly was the failure of the experiment
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What is a parable?
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A short narrative that draws a moral lesson or religious truth.
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What were the years of Anne Bradstreet?
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1612-1672
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Why was Anne Bradstreet unusual?
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She was an educated Puritan woman.
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Who was Edward Taylor?
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The most complex early American poet. He was more poetic than Bradstreet and used more poetic devices, whereas Bradstreet used more meter and rhyme.
