What historical influences are reflected in the novel The Scarlet Letter?
The majority of Hawthorne’s work takes America’s Puritan past as its subject, but The Scarlet Letter uses the material to greatest effect. The Puritans were a group of religious reformers who arrived in Massachusetts in the 1630s under the leadership of John Winthrop (whose death is recounted in the novel).
What type of literary criticism is The Scarlet Letter?
Allegory: The Scarlet Letter shows the use of allegory not only through its places, symbols, and incidents but also through the characters, which resemble abstract ideas such as sin, sense of sin, hypocrisy, authority, shame, and condemnation.
What influenced Hawthorne to write The Scarlet Letter?
“Hawthorne wrote ‘The Scarlet Letter’ in a flood of inspiration in the six months following his mother’s death,” Gilligan said. “And his daughter was six years old when he wrote the novel. To me, the character of Pearl is more observed than imagined.”
What does The Scarlet Letter teach us?
The Scarlet Letter is a book that is full of life lessons. With the intention of teaching these lessons, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Shows the importance society has on someone, and the different ways grief, shame, hate and confusion can affect you.
When was The Scarlet Letter written?
1850The Scarlet Letter / Date written
The Scarlet Letter, novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. It is considered a masterpiece of American literature and a classic moral study.
What are some of the themes of The Scarlet Letter?
The Scarlet Letter Themes
- Sin. The Puritans believed people were born sinners.
- Individuality and Conformity. As an adulterer, Hester has broken Puritan society’s harsh and strict rules.
- Puritanism. The Scarlet Letter presents a critical, even disdainful, view of Puritanism.
- Nature.
- The Occult.