paper10 The American Literature

Topic : Historical background of the scarlet letter.

Name: Solanki Binita M.

Roll No: 04.

Subject: American Literature.

Paper: 10.

Submitted to:

                         Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji,

                         Bhavnagar University.

                         (Department of English).

Author Introduction:

           Nathaniel Hawthorne:

                                                  He was a 19^th Century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation’s colonial history. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850.

In ‘The Scarlet Letter’ many character. Who play different role means present the different life. Character like:

Ø Hester Prynne: She’s a self sufficient single mother. She is mother of pearl.

Ø Arthur Dimmesdale: He is man of mystery and man of Hypocrisy. He is also Hester’s secret, illicit lover.

Ø Roger Chillingworth: Roger Chillingworth is husband of Hester. He is interested in revenge.

Ø Pearl: Pearl is daughter of Hester.

                                           The central theme of the novel is that unconfused sin destroys the and its symbol, she wears the scarlet letter ‘A’. As a result , the sin does not destroy her inward spirit. Focuses his attention on the moral, emotional, and psychological effects of the sin on the people.

        Introduction about ‘The Scarlet Letter:’   

The Scarlet letter begins with a prelude in which an unnamed narrator explains the novels origin. After the narrator lost his job, he decided to develop the story told in the manuscript into a novel. The scarlet letter is that novel. The novel is set in seventeenth-century Boston, a city governed by strict puritan law. Three year pass. Hester is let out of prison and moves to outskirts of Boston near the forest. Hester and pearl leave Boston. Chillingworth dies a year after Dimmesdale, leaving pearl a small fortune as an inheritance. Many years later, Hester returns to her cabin on the outskirts of town. She still wears her latter ‘A’.

Background of the Scarlet letter and connection puritans: 

§  Massachusetts around the 1640’s:

                            Boston was founded in 1630, when a great number of puritans moved to what would be Massachusetts. As the puritans becomes stronger in Massachusetts they grew in the general court. Because of a single puritans or small group of puritans could not take total control of the court. This was the beginning of further laws to limit the power of the puritans, and their power diminished.

§  1850’s colonial American:

    The Scarlet letter was published in

1850s, by Hawthorne he began it in 1849 after he left the custom house.

ü  The term ‘puritans’ actually started out as a taunt or insult for someone who wanted to purify the Church of England in the era of Anglicanism.

ü The puritans refer to two distinct groups of people in the new colonies.

ü Puritans believed in the concept of “predestination”, which is the religious belief that god picks a select few to find salvation and the rest are sent to Hell.

Preface:  The custom House:

          In the custom House writing as an introduction to The Scarlet letter, Hawthorn give an autobiographical description of his life and time. The custom house is a root to reach the past. In this, preface, Hawthorne also shares his definition of the romance novel as he attempts to imagine Hester Prynne’s story beyond pue’s manuscript account.

          The narrator has already mentioned his  unease about attempting to make a career out of writing.

Connection between Hawthorn’s past and The Scarlet Letter:

          Hawthorn shows his critical attitude towards the puritans his book The Scarlet letter.

·      Hawthorn’s past led him to believed that maybe the puritan life style is not all it is cracked up to be.

·      Hawthorn also believed that we do not need to be shunned or banned because of one mistake.

·      Hawthorn show his critical attitude is through focusing on Hester the very embodiment of the defiance against the puritan way of life.

Conclusion:     

          The Scarlet letter is a gothic romance, not a historical novel. There was a more real life for Hester ,here in new England, that in that unknown region where pearl had found a home. So said Hester and glanced her sad eyes downward at the scarlet letter.