The Scarlet Letter Summary, Characterisation, Analysis, Literary History PDF

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Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter The Scarlet Letter: Themes | SparkNotes published in 1850 Frame narrative: → extradiegetic narrator, overt, fixed foc // stanzel: figural narrative → nameless narrator, takes a post as surveyor of the Salem Custom House, 19th → he thinks his workers are boring and corrupt → discovers documents in the building → manuscript of the scarlet letter, a work of a custom surveyor a 100 years earlier → narrator wants to finish the body of work, loses his job and finishes the story Embedded Narrative time span: 1642-1649 → boston, massachusetts, Puritan New England, 17th → Main character Hester Prynne, brings a child to world out of wedlock → thinks she's a widow, but her husband Roger Chillingworth is alive, arrives in New England → Hester is forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her dress as punishment for Adultery, even imprisoned for a short time → Hester doesn't want to name her lover, Chillingworth wants to find out his identity → Pearl is unusual, being seen as a child of evil/satan, church members suggest to take her away → Hester goes to speak to Gorvernor Bellingham, Dimmesdale persuades Governor to let Hester keep Pearl → Dimmesdale becomes ill because of the guilt, Chillingworth „doctor“ suspects its because of some guilt, Dimmesale becomes the man in question now to be Pearl's father → C torments D, C sees a scarlet A on D's chest → Hester meanwhile becomes very emphatic and helps everyone in the village, even though she at first was disdained by everyone, her manners change her reputation a bit positively → D admits guilt to H and P, C entering scene, H telling C that he had to stop his revenge to save his own soul → H tells D a few days after of C being her husband and his plan for revenge, plan to leave Boston to Europe to start new life → Dimmesdale can't confront his inner guilt anymore, confesses adultery publicly, dies in Hesters arms → C losing his revenge kills him? literally → Hester begins a new life with daughter Pearl in Europe, years later she returns, continues to wear the letter, after her death buried next to Dimmesdale

Characters Hester Prynne protagonist, passionate, strong (continues wearing A, single mother), intelligent/wise (how she handles w the situation), thoughtful, emphatic, helpful, becomes a bit harsh over the time Pearl daughter, moody (laughter - silence) mischievous, quickly perceives things, mature (doesnt have any friends), „evil child“ Roger Chillingworth

Hester's husband in disguise, was busy in Europe, has been a ignorant husband before, comes back to New England, self-absorbed, monstrous, evil (chemical experiments verge on witchcraft and murder), wants to hurt others, The Devil, The „Black Man“ Arthur Dimmesdale intelligent, emotional (guilt, he even becomes ill because of the guilt), very good at expressing himself (eloquence), pleasant and warm aura, persuasive (when he persuades Bellingham into letting H keep P) Governor Bellingham wealthy, eldery gentleman, traditional English aristocrat, sticks to rules, blind to misbehaviors (his sister Mistress Hibbins is a witch) Mistress Hibbins widow, witch, goes to forest at night to dance with the Black Man, wants to tempt H into witchcraft bc she's alone as well Reverend Mr. John Wilson elder clergyman, stereotypical puritan father, follows rules strictly, preaches hellfire and punishment for sinners Narrator surveyor of Salem Custom-House, writer

Themes Sin & the handling of it → Hester and Dimmesdale commit adultery → Hester takes reponsibility, still choosing to help the village, to be emphatic, thoughtful, wise, still thankful for life sorta → Dimmesdale getting ill of guilt/torturing himself, but also emphatic towards sins/weakness of mankind in general (especially in his shoes! He's a believer), leads him to give powerful sermons, eventually stands up for his sin → sin leads for both to personal growth, sympathy and understanding → sin a belief of Puritans, Adam and Eve, Bible Female Independence → shattered social expectations by following heart & having sex with D, not her husband → earns her own living, single mother Identity & Society → H could leave the town anytime, but she chooses not to, running away for her would mean that society has a power over her and can direct her destiny, sees letter as a part of her and stands up right for her sin → D keeping a sin while being a saintly minister and holding sermons about the weakness/sin of the mankind → identity crisis being a christian minister and a sinner

Symbols The Scarlet Letter → symbol of shame „adulterer“, becomes powerful and a part of H's identity, e.g when Native Americans come to the Election Day they think she's got a high status because of the symbol, semiotic of a whole culture Pearl living version of the scarlet letter, physical result of sexual sin

The Meteor → as D stands on scaffold with H and P in Chaper 12, traces out an A in the sky, D interpretes it as he should be shamed publicly as H was/is Rosebush H is comforted by sight of rose bush when she's led from prison to scaffold, symbol for romantic movement, nature always a friend

Structure → introductory framing / embedded narrative / terminal framing → structured around three scaffold scenes first: beginning, Hester confesses sin while D and C look in the crowd second: climax of plot, D climbs scaffold alone and calls H and P to join, meteor, insanity of D third: end, D climbs scaffold again with H and P at side, confesses sin, dies

How would you describe the function of the narrator in the chapter „The Custom House“? → introductory framing/frame-narrative → sets flashback in motion → autobiographical sketch of author, sets atmosphere of story, connects present with past, origin of story/how it came to be written

Narrative perspective: → third person, omnisicent → genette: overt narrator, heterodiegetic, intradiegetic narrator in embedded narrative

What was an important plot development? → that Dimmesdale ended up standing for his own sin → Hester's growth The Scarlet Letter Plot Diagram Storyboard by kristy-littlehale (storyboardthat.com)

What seemed interesting in terms of the setting (time and space)? → Puritany settlers, 1640s, New England, colony Massachusetts Bay Colony → setting very important for the story: → setting emphasized power of tradition/society (bound to Bible) → government and law (H being imprisoned and humiliated by the government) → puritan values (religion over everything) → which made the thing that H did so bad → man vs. society conflict

What seemed interesting in terms of language? → long, complex sentences, often main idea in the end, „Had there been a Papist among the crowd of Puritans, he might have seen in this beautiful woman, so picturesque in her attire and mien, and with the infant at her bosom, an object to remind him of the image of Divine Maternity.”-> style is a sign for the „hiding the sin“ thingy → sentences sometimes change idea in the middle, „things are not as they first appear“ „a term long enough to rest a weary brain; long enough to break off old intellectual habits, and make room for new ones…too long, to have lived in an unnatural state, doing what was really of no advantage or delight to any human being.”(first describing positive aspects

of everything, then negative) → e.g „saintly“ Dimmesdale who is not really saintly after all → figurative language (metaphors, similes)

Which passages appeared to you as particularly dense/important? → scaffold passages because they structure the book into three parts and one can clearly see the plot development → prison door, chap 2 market-place, setting scene, introducing rose-bush, also complete setting change in contraty to chap 1 custom house AND narrative perspective changed → the market place (dimmesdale asking hester who's the father, recognition between chillingworth and hester) → forest scene where H + D meet

context: - salem witch trials (1692, accusations against community members, 20 people were killed) → pearl, mistress hibbins, (colonial massachusets, like same area) - puritanism: puritany settlers, dedicated to purify society through a strict interpretation of Christian scriptures, colonialization of north american continent, passages: chapter Prison Door: scaffold scene, passage where governor bellingham is described → typical puritan - anne hutchinson: believed church got corrupt, began holding post-church meetings with own interpretations, attracted a lot of people, fear of potential authority, because of that she was accused of heresy, defended herself, found guilty – connection points: independence and strength/bravery - political/societal system at end of 17th and mid 19th century: male and members of church could vote, close tie between church and state, all rules come from the bible, no free speech & individualism otherwise banished or executed, public appearances more important than private action (dimmesdale, chillingworth ↔ hester) - transcendentalism: individual (divine, free being) vs society (limiting, holds individual back from freedom) outcast, humiliated in front of village at scaffold, even in prison, pearl not accepted in puritan school, h & p not accepted in church, despite acts of charity; nature (rose-bush: hester scene led from prison to scaffold, pearl asking for a rose); forest: place of nature, beauty and freedom from inhibitions (meeting between H and D) sacredness within: transcendentalists didnt believe in organized religion, one develops sense of sacred and moral by turning inward → developed sense for moral hypocrisies & suffering of others, accepts her position in peace (!) and doesnt run away from the village, charity/empathy etc, recognized how Chillingworth changes passage: hester led from prison to scaffold, sees rose-bush: solace and compassion of natural world, also the comments of society about her – romanticist novel: can be located between history and imagination, fiction and reality, subjective and imaginary elements, transcens experience of reality → connected to metafictional elements → custom house (!), autobiographical impulses to Hawthorne himself, adresses the reader, talks about how reader might perceive his text Nathaniel Hawthorne – descendant of John Hathorne, one of judges at Salem trials – critizes various aspects of american culture: american puritanism, individualism

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- beginning: thesis statement (central idea of essay and sorta answer to the research question, sums up meaning of essay and what is to come), middle: paragraphs with each one central idea and topic sentence in beginning, conclusion: summary of results, maybe point to future research questions...