Nathaniel Hawthorne A Balanced Approach to Transcendentalism

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Nathaniel HawthorneA Balanced Approach to
Transcendentalism

• Introduction to The Scarlet Letter
• AP English Language and Composition

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Hawthorne was born on July 4th, 1804 in Salem,
  Mass.
• Father Nathaniel Hathorne Sr. was a sea captain.
  
• Mother Elizabeth Clarke Manning was a descendent
  of blacksmiths

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College
• After his graduation he turned to writing.
• He wrote several successful short stories which
  were collected in Twice-Told Tales (1837).

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Hawthorne returned to Salem where he met Sophia
  Peabody.
• After a five year engagement, they were married
  in 1842.

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Unable to support his new family by writing, in
  1846 Hawthorne accepted a political appointment
  to the Salem Custom House as Surveyor of the Port
  .

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The Life of Hawthorne

• This bureaucratic position stunted Hawthornes
  creativity.
• A change in administration, however, led to his
  termination in 1849.
• Hawthornes mother died at the same time.

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Suffering these losses, Hawthorne left Salem,
  which he called "that abominable city," saying
  that he now had no reason to remain.
• He would never again return.

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Some critics have suggested that the loss of both
  his position and mother provided the creative
  impetus to write The Scarlet Letter (1850).

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Hawthornes connection to Salem haunted him.
• His great-grandfather John Hathorne was the
  chief-interrogator of the Salem Witches.

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The Life of Hawthorne

• The story that Hawthorne added the "w" to his
  name to distance himself from his Hathorne
  ancestors has no clear evidence to support it.

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The Life of Hawthorne

• In 1830, however, he published "The Hollow of
  the Three Hills," under the name of Nathaniel
  Hathorne.
• After this date his name appears as Nathaniel
  Hawthorne.

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Other Published works
• Twice-Told Tales, The House of the Seven Gables,
  The Mable Faun, Our Old Home, and childrens
  books A Wonder Book, and Tanglewood Tales.

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The Life of Hawthorne

• Nathaniel Hawthorne died on May 18, 1864 in
  Plymouth, New Hampshire.
• He is credited with writing the first truly
  American novel The Scarlet Letter.

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Influences upon Hawthornes Work

• Marriage
• Sophia desired to paint, write, and pursue a
  profession
• She was limited by social constraints and
  motherhood

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Influences upon Hawthornes Work

• Female characters are often portrayed as
  sympathetic
• Idea of Female Purity
• Influence of Puritan heritage

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Influences upon Hawthornes Work

• Puritan New England
• Many works are set in New England
• Puritan belief in an active evil (Devil)
• Salem communities are often viewed as
  hypocritical Salem Witch Trials

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Literary Themes

• Alienation a character is isolated due to
  self-cause or societal-cause
• Guilt vs. Innocence a characters sense of
  guilt caused by Puritanical values/heritage

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Literary Themes

• Individual vs. Society
• Self-reliance vs. Accommodation
• Hypocrisy vs. Integrity
• Fate vs. Free Will
• Unconventional Gender Roles
• Impossibility of Human Perfection

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Imagery

• Hawthorne makes use of the following patterns of
  images
• Light vs. Dark
• Natural vs. Unnatural
• Sunshine vs. Firelight or Moonlight and
  Reflections

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Romantic/Gothic Motifs

• Fantasies
• Dreams
• Reveries
• Open-ended endings and unanswered questions the
  open-ended possibilities of the idealistic
  Romantic

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Hawthornes Views of Transcendentalism

• Hawthorne did not conform to the Romantic focus
  on the emotions and abandonment of reason.
• Hawthorne strove to create a balance between
  head and heart.

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Hawthornes Views of Transcendentalism

• Hawthorne believed that human fulfillment was
  achieved through a balance between mind, reason,
  heart, spirit, will, and imagination.

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Hawthornes Views of Transcendentalism

• Hawthornes balanced approach placed him in
  opposition to other Transcendentalists Emerson,
  Thoreau, and Longfellow.

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• Hawthorne saw potential problems with Emersons
  idea of self-reliance.
• Self-reliance can lead to excessive pride.
• Hawthorne believed in determinism, or natural
  order.

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• Transcendentalists were overwhelmingly
  abolitionists Hawthorne wasnt entirely sure of
  his position.
• He questioned the motives and principles of the
  Northern authorities.

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• This point of contention was publicized in a
  series of articles by Hawthorne published in the
  journal The Atlantic, which was founded by
  Emerson and Longfellow.

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• The editorial staff of The Atlantic deleted large
  portions of Hawthornes articles which contained
  ideas that disagreed with the abolitionist
  beliefs of the founders of the journal.

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• Hawthorne also added sketches throughout his
  edited published articles, written from the
  perspective of a dimwitted editor to show the
  hypocritical nature of his transcendentalist
  editors.

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• Hawthornes Response
• "What a terrible thing it is to try to let off a
  little bit of truth into this miserable humbug of
  a world!"

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• In place of an unflattering description of
  President Lincoln that the editors had deleted,
  he wrote
• We are compelled to omit two or three pages, in
  which the author describes the interview, and
  gives his idea of the personal appearance and
  deportment of the President. The sketch appears
  to have been written in a benign spirit, and
  perhaps conveys a not inaccurate impression of
  its august subject but it lacks reverence.

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Clash with Transcendentalism

• In place of another deleted section he wrote
• We do not thoroughly comprehend the author's
  drift in the foregoing paragraph, but are
  inclined to think its tone reprehensible, and its
  tendency impolitic in the present stage of our
  national difficulties.

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European Romance vs. The American Novel

• Hawthorne struggled against the European model of
  the Romance.
• Through The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne developed
  the first truly American Novel.

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The European Romance

• The European Romance romanticized a rich past and
  historic culture.
• It involved archetypal adventures.
• It was escapist a means of escaping the here and
  now.

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The European Romance

• Classical Romance Characteristics
• Lovers who remain true to each other, while the
  woman's chastity is preserved
• An intricate plot, including stories within
  stories
• Exciting and unexpected chance events

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The European Romance

• Classical Romance Characteristics
• Travel to faraway settings
• Hidden and mistaken identity
• Written in an elaborate and elegant style

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European Romance vs. The American Novel

• America, however, had no rich culture or ancient
  history to draw from.
• It was primarily concerned with the here and now,
  and how to perfect it.

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European Romance vs. The American Novel

• While maintaining the elements of the European
  Romance, Hawthorne shifted the American Novels
  focus to the present.

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The American Novel

• Hawthornes Novel was not a means of escape, but
  rather a means to examine society and life.
• His novel invited criticism of the worlds he
  reflected Puritanism.

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The American Novel

• Where the Romance incorporated the Gothic
  elements of crime, religion, ghosts, etc. as the
  focus of the story, Hawthorne used these elements
  as a means to support his story.

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Hawthornes Novel

• "When a writer calls his work a romance, he
  wishes to claim a certain latitude, both as to
  its fashion and material, which he would not have
  felt himself entitled to assume had he professed
  to be writing a novel."

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Hawthornes Novel

• Hawthornes novel found relevance as more than
  mere entertainment, but as something more
  prophetic and integral to the American Identity.