A Brief Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the best fiction authors of the 1800’s, and is still highly praised to this day. Hawthorne paved the way for future successful authors such as William Faulkner. Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts, the second of three children born to Nathaniel and Elizabeth Hathorne (their son added the "w" to the family name when he began his writing career). In 1808, Hawthorne’s father, a ship's captain, died of yellow fever in the distant port of Surinam Hawthorne attended college at Bowdoin College where his main concentration was writing.” (Egotism; or, The Bosom Serpent) “In sketches, tales, and romances published in the second third of the nineteenth century, Hawthorne chose mainly American materials,

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He published his first novel Fanshawe, in 1828. However, he is widely known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, can be analyzed from historical, psychological and feminist critical perspectives by examining his life from the past, as well as his reflections while writing The Scarlet Letter. In order to understand the book properly, it’s necessary to use these three perspectives.

Many of Hawthorne’s works deal with religion and his characters often have to struggle with their beliefs. It could be suggested that Hawthorne too was not comfortable in his religion and in ways renounced it through his writing.

Writing an excellent book, short story,or poem is an ability very few people posses : Nathaniel Hawthorne is someone who had this talent. Hawthorne's writing is mostly centered around romantic fiction, he has written a plethora of things but he is mostly remembered for his short stories and novels. Before divulging into his work, a reader should know where his writing comes from, his inspirations, originality and what some would call pure genius. The author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an individual whose work has been and should continue to be analyzed for years to come due to his unique twist on romantic fiction. Many of his works have casted a silhouette over America through his intricate stories and writing style that revealed the themes of psychology and human nature during the 19th century. Hawthorne’s ominous style makes his works into oddities compared to the other romantic fiction novels in his time. Many of his works, such as The Scarlet Letter, exemplifies the epitome of Hawthorne’s distinct outlook on the moralistic attitudes of

The Transcendentalist Movement of the early nineteenth century proved to be especially popular with American writers. Though many critics have associated authors such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson with this movement, many other American authors utilized themes of transcendentalism in their works. Likewise, although critics often do not portray Nathaniel Hawthorne as a transcendentalist, the multitude of characteristics central to those of the American Transcendentalist Movement suggest that Hawthorne was indeed a transcendentalist. In his novel The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne represents the Transcendentalist Movement by incorporating three major transcendentalist themes: self-reliance, the importance of nature, and the innocence of youth.

Religio-historical objects are things of crafted pieces of writing that reveal the realities of religious subjects through the perspective visions of their author (C.J Bleeker). Compared to an artist who has a muse, writers also have a “muse” something that influences their writing. Whether it is a personal experience, religious belief, or common morals writers derive the context within their writing from many different aspects of life. One thing most authors derive their ideas from is their religion or just any religion that interest them. Authors like Nathaniel Hawthorne and Flannery O’Connor, writings often include many allegories and symbols to religious faiths.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of American literature's finest writers; his writing style was very distinct and unusual in some aspects. It is his background that provided this ambiguous and complex approach to writing. Hawthorne's New England heritage has, at times, been said to be the contributing factor in his works. The Puritan view of life itself was considered to be allegorical, their theology rested primarily on the idea of predestination and the separation of the saved and the damned As evident from Hawthorne's writings his intense interest in Puritanical beliefs often carried over to his novels such as, Young Goodman Brown, The Scarlet Letter, and The Minister's Black Veil just to name a few of the more well known pieces of his work.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most important authors in the history of American literature and the genre of Romanticism or Dark Romanticism, due to his unique style of writing and his focus upon subjects of Puritan religion and the unknown. I consider Hawthorne an important author, due to the fact that he skillfully and accurately based his fictional writings upon happenings of colonial times, was one of the first authors to display unfortunate outcomes for his characters’ immoral choices according to Puritan beliefs, and wrote of things that were considered taboo in his time, such as witchcraft, scientific innovation and experimentation. I strongly believe that Hawthorne’s influence for his writings were his Puritan ancestral background, his fascination with Puritan beliefs, and his interest in what was considered the unknown such as witchcraft and science. According to the Norton Anthology Textbook Vol. B, Nathaniel Hawthorne was “born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804” (370). Hawthorne belonged “to a family whose ancestral roots were tied to Puritan history, with his family being among the first settlers of Massachusetts and having one of his relatives serve as a judge during the Salem witch trials” (370). Hawthorne, as a young boy, “had a particular interest in writings such as John Bunyan’s Puritan allegory The Pilgrim’s Progress, and by his mid-teens he took interest in British novelists such as Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollet, William Godwin, and Sir Walter Scott”

Throughout all the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, one thing always reoccurs. What is this one thing? Well, it is secret sin. This Great American Writer of the Romantic era in literature had a firm grasp and understanding of human nature and what it means to be human. The darkness of Hawthorne’s writings come from his own observations of human nature and the treachery that we can commit either in front of others or in secret. A secret sin is nothing more than some sin you committed; but, you are the only one who knows. So it is something that isn’t known by the population. To understand Hawthorns obsession with secret sin we must look

American literature has changed, and expanded, throughout history. A literary movement had taken place from 1840 to 1855 known as anti transcendentalism. Anti transcendentalism was known as the struggle that mankind will face against nature, and how mankind had, and will, always be overcome by nature. A very famous author from the anti transcendentalist era was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne was the author of a very famous novel from that time known as The Scarlet Letter. This novel was written about a Puritan city in the puritanical era, which had a philosophy that was they had put their faith over everything else in their life. Puritans had wanted to have an

Romanticism took place in the early 1800's, it focused on the evolution and the effects nature has upon the universe. This time period helped grasp imagination, emotions, symbolism, and focus on the individual of one's self. I will be evaluating the authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne to demonstrate how their works relate to the time era of the 18th century.

With most writers, readers can identify what topics they tend to write about, how long their pieces often are, and what personal style these authors develop. While this is true of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are different elements that influence his writings. His life included many times of trials, many joys, and many ancestors that caused some turmoil within his mind. Two of his major works are influenced almost directly by his background (Werlock). Nathaniel Hawthorne threw his life into every single piece of his writing. His experiences, background, and the setting in which his life took place are prominent

The book opens with a description of people founding a new colony, later revealed to be Boston, and setting aside parts for a cemetery and a prison. The prison is described as ugly and weather-stained. Also pointed out is the presence of a rose bush in front of the prison gate that has somehow been kept alive. A rose is offered to the reader on the basis that it could symbolize a “moral blossom” or “relieve the darkening close of a human frailty and sorrow” (Hawthorne 42).

In the 1800’s, two literary movements became prevalent in American literature: transcendentalism and antitranscendentalism. Transcendentalism was the idea that humans were naturally good at their core and were corrupted by society; antitranscendentalism was the opposite. A man named Nathaniel Hawthorne, who subscribed to the latter school of thought, explored this in his novel The Scarlet Letter. The book follows Hester Prynne, a 17th adulteress with an illegitimate child in a Puritan society. The Scarlet Letter puts across many ideas relating to the nature of humanity, and chief among these is imperfection. Imperfection is the concept of natural good and evil, and is a recurring theme in the novel. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne uses symbols such as the wild rosebush, Arthur Dimmesdale, and the forest and sunlight to contribute to the theme of imperfection.

The Scarlet Letter, a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne may not seem to be the best novel in regards to Transcendentalist ideas. When compared to Walden, or Life in the Woods, by Henry David Thoreau, one should be able to see quite a few similarities in the way some of the characters in the story think and act. As with comparing any story to another, there will always be some differences that do seem to go against what the other story has to offer. While Walden, or Life in the Woods is primarily seen to be Transcendentalist work, The Scarlet Letter is more of a work that seems to defy many transcendental ideals, but somehow still seems to fit in some of the more popular ideas.