ENGL 4334 Spring 2014 The Scarlet LetterStudy Guide Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter Major Publications:Twice-Told Tales(1837) Mosses from an Old Manse(1846) The Scarlet Letter(1850), Romance The Snow-Image(1851) The House of the Seven Gables(1851), Romance The Blithedale Romance(1852), Romance The Marble Faun(1860), Romance Historical Setting ofThe Scarlet Letter:Massachusetts Bay Colony (Boston), 1642-1649 Chapter Titles and Emphasis of Chapter “The Custom-House”:Getting even with his political enemies and putting the best face he can on a national scandal that humiliated him, Hawthorne creates authorial persona of a man rescued from intellectual and moral degeneration in the bureaucratic hell of apathy by being fired.In writing, he returns to his true self.He creates the narrative fiction of finding a moth-eaten scarlet letter and a manuscript by Inspector Pue, which he has merely “edited” and “expanded on” to createThe Scarlet Letter.Very importantly, note the passages in which he contrasts himself with his ancestors, describes the aesthetic process of “romance” as opposed to “realism” (familiar objects in a familiar room transformed by moonlight and firelight and seen in a mirror), emphasizes his concern with the “modes and motives” of passion and thought in his characters (psychological/moral analysis rather than action), and acknowledges (teasingly--but humorously or seriously?) that the scarlet letter burned his breast when he held it to his chest. Chapter 1:The Prison-Door (May 1642) --Puritan utopian dreams marred by flawed bodies and flawed characters, cemetery and prison- house.Note contrast of “black flower” of civilization with Nature’s “red rose” and which the narrator offers you. Chapter 2:The Market-Place (May 1642) --Note description of the “iron-like” characters of Puritan men and women, the attitudes of the women toward Hester, and the detailed description of Hester, the scarlet letter, and the scaffold. Chapter 3:The Recognition(May 1642) --Dramatic attempt to break Hester down and have her reveal the identity of her lover and Pearl’s father.Pay close attention to the description of Rev. Arthur Dimmesdale and to attitude and choice of words when pleading with Hester.Note descriptions of Hester and her attitude.What is “recognized”? By whom? Chapter 4:The Interview(May 1642) --Contrast Hester’s emotions in private with her public bearing.Pay very close attention to what Roger says about why he married Hester and to what Hester says in reply.What deal does Hester make
