Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter Flashcards
Hawthorne Birth and Death
1804-1864
Where/When Born
July 4th, Salem MA
What notable event was an ancestor present involved in?
Salem Witch Trials Judge
Where did he go to college?
Bowdoin, contemporary of Longfellow
Early Reviews
Debated Historical Accuracy
Major Characters
Hester Prynne, Roger Chillingworth, Arthur Dimmesdale, Pearl
When was “The Scarlet Letter” published?
1850
What is the frame narrative for “The Scarlet Letter”?
A Salem Custom House worker finds historical documents, including the Letter A, telling the story.
What Transcendentalist idea is explore in “The Scarlet Letter”?
That a personalized, direct relationship with the divine should take the place of organized religion.
When does “The Scarlet Letter” take place?
The 1640’s; it is set in the past and explores the Puritan society of early Massachusetts.
What is the difference between allegory and symbolism?
An allegory has a second level of meaning that could be represented through words, but instead is represented through an object/person/situation.
A symbol is subsumed by the meaning it stands for, generally something inexpressible
Who is the wearer of the Scarlet Letter?
Hester Prynne
Who is Hester’s husband?
Roger Chillingworth
Who is Pearl’s father?
Arthur Dimmesdale
What happens to Hester?
After Chillingworth and Dimmesdale’s death, Hester and Pearl leave for Europe and are not heard from again until Hester returns many years later. She takes up her quiet, charitable life again, sometimes hearing from Pearl, who has married a European aristocrat.
When she dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale. The two share a letter “A” gravemarker,