The Scarlet Letter (The Emc Masterpiece Series Access Editions)

288 Pages·1998·1.26 MB·English

by  Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne
THE EMC MASTERPIECE SERIES
Access Editions
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Table of Contents
TheLifeandWorksofNathanielHawthorne..........iv
TimeLineofHawthorne’sLife......................vi
TheHistoricalContextofTheScarletLetter...........viii
Charactersin TheScarletLetter .....................xii
Illustrations....................................xiv
TheCustom-House,Introductoryto“TheScarletLetter” 1
ChapterI,ThePrison-Door ....................... 42
ChapterII,TheMarket-Place.......................44
ChapterIII,TheRecognition.......................56
ChapterIV,TheInterview.........................65
ChapterV, HesteratHerNeedle....................74
ChapterVI,Pearl................................83
ChapterVII,TheGovernor’s Hall...................93
ChapterVIII,TheElf-ChildandtheMinister.........100
ChapterIX,TheLeech...........................111
ChapterX,TheLeechandHis Patient..............120
ChapterXI,TheInteriorofaHeart................ 131
ChapterXII,TheMinister’sVigil.................. 138
ChapterXIII,AnotherViewofHester .............. 150
ChapterXIV, HesterandthePhysician ............. 158
ChapterXV,HesterandPearl .................... 166
ChapterXVI,AForestWalk...................... 172
ChapterXVII,ThePastorandHisParishioner ....... 180
ChapterXVIII,AFloodofSunshine................189
ChapterXIX,TheChildattheBrook-Side...........197
ChapterXX,TheMinisterinaMaze .............. 203
ChapterXXI,TheNewEnglandHoliday ...........215
ChapterXXII,TheProcession.....................223
ChapterXXIII,TheRevelationoftheScarletLetter....235
ChapterXXIV, Conclusion .......................243
PlotAnalysisofTheScarletLetter...................250
CreativeWritingActivities .......................252
CriticalWritingActivities ........................254
Projects.......................................256
Glossary......................................258
HandbookofLiteraryTerms......................267
THELIFEANDWORKSOF
Nathaniel Hawthorne
NathanielHawthorne(1804–1864).BornonJuly4inSalem,
Massachusetts, Nathaniel was the second child and the only
son of Elizabeth and Nathaniel Hathorne. By the time
Nathaniel was born, five generations of Hathornes had lived
in Salem. Two of the most infamous of these ancestors were
William Hathorne and his son, John. William was a Puritan
leaderandafiercepersecutoroftheQuakers.Heorderedthat
aQuakernamedAnnColemanreceiveapublicwhipping;she
almost died during this harsh punishment. John was a judge
who conducted hearings during the Salem Witchcraft Trials.
NathanielHawthorne.
PeabodyEssexMuseum Asayoungman,Nathanieladdedawtohislastname.Some
speculate that he made this change to distance himself from
hisintolerantPuritanancestors.
Nathaniel’s father was a seaman who caught yellow fever
and died in Surinam (Dutch Guiana) in 1808, when
Nathaniel was only four years old. The sea captain left his
wifewithlittlemoney,soElizabethsoldtheHathornehouse
and moved her family into the home of her more wealthy
brothers,theMannings.
When Nathaniel was nine, he injured his leg and was
unable to attend school for almost two years; however, he
began reading widely on his own. Hawthorne was particular-
lyinfluencedbytheallegoryandsymbolisminworkssuchas
John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Edmund Spenser’s The
Faerie Queene, as well as by Sir Walter Scott’s historical
romances and by the works of eighteenth-century novelists
suchasHenryFieldingandTobiasSmollet.
InSeptemberof1821,HawthorneenteredBowdoinCollege,
where he befriended Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Franklin
Pierce, and Horatio Bridge. In college, Hawthorne continued
his extensive reading, enjoyed the Maine outdoors, and
excelledincomposition.HawthornegraduatedfromBowdoin
in 1825 and returned to Salem. For the next twelve years, he
wroteprodigiously,attemptingtoestablishhimselfasarespect-
edwriter.Hepublishedhisfirstromance,Fanshawe,athisown
expense but later tried to retrieve all copies of the book and
burnthem.Similarly,Hawthorneburnedhisfirstcollectionof
stories,SevenTalesofMyNativeLand,becausehefailedtofind
apublisher.Eventually,in1830,hepublishedfivestoriesinThe
SalemGazette,andin1834,someofhisstoriesappearedinNew
iv THESCARLETLETTER
EnglandMagazine.In1836,Hawthorneworkedasaneditorfor
the Boston-based The American Magazine of Useful and
EntertainingKnowledge. In1837,hepublishedTwice-ToldTales,
a collection of stories that finally brought him recognition.
HawthornewasunawarethathiscollegefriendHoratioBridge
had given the publisher financial guaranteesagainstfailureas
an incentive to publish this work. The same year, Hawthorne
met his future wife, Sophia Amelia Peabody, to whom he was
engagedin1838.Tosavemoneyforhismarriage,Hawthorne
worked as a salt and coal measurer in the Boston Custom
House, and planning for his future, bought shares in Brook
Farm, a utopian Transcendentalist community, intending to
livetherewithSophiaoncetheyweremarried.However,com-
munal living did not agree with Hawthorne, and he soon
requestedthereturnofhisstock.
HawthorneandSophiamarriedonJuly9,1842,andmoved
intotheOldManse,ahouseinConcordthattheyrentedfrom
Ralph Waldo Emerson. In Concord, Hawthorne formed
friendships with Transcendentalist writers and thinkers such
as Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Bronson Alcott. In
1845,theHawthornefamilyreturnedtoSalem,andinthefol-
Hawthorne’sfriendRalph
lowing year, Hawthorne published Mosses from an Old Manse, WaldoEmersonwasa
leadingTranscendentalist.
aworkthatbroughtcriticalacclaimbutlittlefinancialsuccess. TheTranscendentalists
Hawthorne’s financial woes were temporarily solved when believedinspiritualtruths
thatlaybeyondsenseper-
President James K. Polk made him surveyor of the Salem ceptionsandmaterial
things.Theyalsobelieved
Custom House. Hawthorne wrote little while working at the
thatonecouldglimpse
CustomHouse.In1849,ZacharyTaylor,aWhig,becamepres- thesetruthsthroughcom-
munionwithnature.
ident, and Hawthorne, a Democrat, lost his office. In
September, Hawthorne began work on The Scarlet Letter and
on “The Custom-House,” which satirizes the Salem Custom-
Houseanditsofficers,aswellastheWhigswhodeprivedhim
of his office. Hawthorne originally planned to include “The
CustomHouse,”TheScarletLetter,andotherworksinacollec-
tion called Old Time Legends; Together with Sketches,
ExperimentalandIdeal.By1850,HawthornehadpublishedThe
ScarletLetter,andhepublishedTheHouseoftheSevenGablesby
1851.Bythistime,he,hiswife,andtheirchildrenhadmoved
from Lenox, Massachusetts, to West Newton, Massachusetts,
where Hawthorne’s second daughter was born. The
HawthornefamilyreturnedtoConcordin1852.
In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Hawthorne
to the post of American consul at Liverpool, England, and
Hawthorneservedinthispositionforfouryearsbeforemov-
ing his family to Italy for a year. Hawthorne and his family
returned to Concord in 1860, where he published a collec-
tion of English sketches under the title Our Old Home in
1863. Nathaniel Hawthorne died in 1864, leaving several
unfinishedworks.
THELIFEANDWORKSOFNATHANIELHAWTHORNE v
Time Line of Hawthorne’s Life
July4,1804 Nathaniel Hathorne is born in Salem, Massachusetts, son of Elizabeth
ClarkeManningHathorneandNathanielHathorne.
1808 Nathaniel Hathorne’s father catches yellow fever and dies in Surinam
(DutchGuiana)whileworkingasaseacaptain.ElizabethHathornemoves
NathanielandhistwosistersintotheManningfamily’shouse.
April1813 Nathanielisinjuredwhenaballhitshisfoot.Unabletoattendschoolfor
almosttwoyearsafterthisinjury,hebeginsreadingwidelyonhisown.
1818 Hathorne’s family moves to Raymond, Maine, where Hathorne wanders,
hunts,andfishes.
1819 HathornereturnstoSalemtoprepareforcollege.
1821 Hathorne enters Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, near Raymond.
TherehemeetsHenryWadsworthLongfellow,HoratioBridge,andFranklin
Pierce.Shortlyafterthistime,Hawthorneaddsawtohislastname.
1825 Hawthorne graduates from college and returns to live with his family in
Salem.
1828 Hawthorne publishes Fanshawe, a romance set in a college, at his own
expense,butlatertriestorecoverandburnallthecopieshecanfind.After
hefailstofindapublisher,HawthornealsoburnsSevenTalesofMyNative
Land,acollectionofstoriesthathebegantowritewhileincollege.
1830 HawthornepublishesfivestoriesinTheSalemGazette.
1832 HawthorneplansacollectioncalledTheStoryTeller.
1834 Some of the stories Hawthorne planned to include in The Story Teller are
publishedinNewEnglandMagazine.
1836 Hawthorne moves to Boston to edit a short-lived magazine called The
AmericanMagazineofUsefulandEntertainingKnowledge.
1837 Hawthorne’sTwice-ToldTalesispublished.HawthornemeetsSophiaAmelia
Peabody,hisfuturewife.
1838 HawthornebecomesengagedtoSophiaPeabody.
1839–1840 HawthorneworksasasaltandcoalmeasurerintheBostonCustomHouse
tosavemoneyforhismarriage.
1841 HawthornetriescommunallivingintheexperimentalBrookFarmcommunity.
vi THESCARLETLETTER
HawthorneandSophiaPeabodymarryandmovetotheOldManse,ahouse 1842
thattheyrentfromRalphWaldoEmerson,inConcord,Massachusetts.
Hawthorne’sfirstdaughter,Una,isborn. 1844
HawthornemovestoSalemwithhiswifeanddaughter. 1845
Hawthorne’s Mosses from an Old Manse is published and receives critical 1846
acclaim.HawthorneisappointedsurveyorofcustomsinSalembyPresident
JamesK.Polk.Julian,Hawthorne’sfirstson,isborn.
HawthorneisremovedfromofficeafterZacharyTaylor,aWhig,iselected 1849
President.HebeginswritingTheScarletLetterand“TheCustom-House.”
TheScarletLetterispublished.HawthornemovestoLenox,Massachusetts, 1850
intheBerkshires,wherehemeetsHermanMelville.
TheHouseoftheSevenGablesispublished.TheHawthornesmovetoWest 1851
Newton, Massachusetts. Rose, Hawthorne’s second daughter and third
child,isborn.
TheBlithedaleRomanceispublished.HawthornebuysahouseinConcord, 1852
which he names The Wayside. He writes a campaign biography of
PresidentialcandidateandformerclassmateFranklinPierce.
President Pierce appoints Hawthorne American consul at Liverpool, 1853
England. Hawthorne and his family move to England. Hawthorne keeps
notebooksdealingwithhisexperiencesabroad.
Hawthornegivesuphisconsulship. 1857
HawthorneandhisfamilytraveltoRomeandtakeupresidencethereand, 1858
later,inFlorence.Hebeginswritingaromancebasedonhisobservations
inItaly.
HawthornereturnstoEnglandandcontinueswritinghisItalianromance. 1859
The Marble Fawn is published. Hawthorne returns with his family to The 1860
WaysideinConcord.
Hawthorne’sEnglishsketchesarepublishedunderthetitleOurOldHome. 1863
HawthornediesinPlymouth,NewHampshire,whiletravelingwithPierce. 1864
TIMELINEOFHAWTHORNE’SLIFE vii
THEHISTORICALCONTEXTOF
The Scarlet Letter
The Protestant Reformation and Puritanism
For approximately twelve hundred years, the major reli-
gionofEuropewasCatholicism.Inthesixteenthcentury,a
German monk named Martin Luther started a movement
thatwastooverthrowthepoweroftheCatholicChurchand
splitChristianEuropeintotwomajorgroups—theCatholics
and the Protestants. In 1517, Luther nailed to the door of a
church in Wittenburg, Germany, a list of objections to cen-
tral beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church. While
preparing for his ordination as a priest, Luther had been
struckbyhisownunworthinesstotaketheholysacraments.
He believed that because of the original sin of Adam in the
Garden of Eden, people were basically sinful and could not,
through their works, become worthy of taking such sacra-
mentsasHolyCommunionandHolyOrders.Instead,accord-
ing to Luther, people had to depend on the grace of God,
extendedtothemdespitetheirsinfulness.Lutheralsoobject-
ed to practices of the church such as the sale of indulgences,
or pardons for sins. He challenged the authority of the Pope
andofthechurchingeneral,claimingthatreligionwasamat-
ter of individual conscience to be worked out between each
person and God without a priest as intermediary. This belief
led him to emphasize reading of the Holy Scriptures, which
wasmadepossibleforordinarymenandwomenbytheinven-
tion of printing and the translation of the Bible from Latin
andGreekintoeverydayEuropeanlanguages.
Luther’s ideas spread throughout Europe, leading to a
widespread, often bloody revolt against Catholic authority
known as the Protestant Reformation. In England, King
Henry VIII broke with Catholicism and formed the Church
of England, or Anglican Church, a Protestant denomination
withhimselfatitshead,becausetheCatholicChurchwould
notallowhimtodivorce.
viii THESCARLETLETTER
A central figure in the Protestant Reformation was John
Calvin of Switzerland, who took Luther’s ideas about origi-
nal sin a step further, teaching that all events are preor-
dained by God, that God chose at the beginning of time
which people (the elect) would be saved, and which would
be damned. This Calvinist doctrine, known as predestina-
tion, became the central belief of the Puritan Movement
thatwastoflourishinEnglandandintheEnglishcolonies.
Puritanism in New England
Some Protestants in England did not accept the Anglican
Church but wished to “purify” it by simplifying services and
by enforcing stricter moral codes. Facing persecution in
England, some of these Puritans, as their opponents called
them,fledtoAmerica,wheretheyhopedtoestablishcolonies
basedonreligiousprinciples.ThePlymouthColony,founded
in 1620, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony, founded in
1630, were Puritan settlements, both in New England. The
New England colonists endured great difficulties and de-
pendedontheassistanceofNativeAmericanstosurvive.The
coregroupofthePlymouthcolonists,oftenreferredtoasthe
Pilgrims,wereSeparatistPuritans,socalledbecausetheyhad
officially separated from the Anglican Church due to its
“Popish,” or Catholic, tendencies. After moving from
England to Holland to escape religious persecution, the
PilgrimssetsailforNorthAmericaontheMayflowerin1620.
They landed on Cape Cod and established their colony by
meansoftheMayflowerCompactinwhatisnowthetownof
Plymouth, Massachusetts. After a difficult winter, the
colonistslearnedfromnativepeopleshowtoplantcropsthat
wouldgrowintheharshclimate.Underthedirectionofgov-
ernorWilliamBradford,thecolonyflourished.
In1691,Plymouthincorporatedwithamuchlargersettle-
ment of Puritans, the Massachusetts Bay Colony. This group
was made up of Congregationalist Puritans who did not sep-
arateentirelyfromtheAnglicanChurch,believingitcouldbe
reformed from within. They found courage to face the hard-
ships of their new lives in America by believing that their
actionsweredivinelyguided.Theirgovernor,JohnWinthrop,
would write in his work, A Model of Christian Charity, that
theywereinthebusinessofbuilding,asdescribedintheNew
Testament,a“cityuponahill”inthenewland.Hawthorne’s
The Scarlet Letter is set in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in
theearly1640s.
THEHISTORICALCONTEXTOFTHESCARLETLETTER ix