The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

Introduction

Background

Discussion Starters

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The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

What happens when a private sin

becomes a public crime?

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

In Puritan New England a young woman named Hester Prynne gives birth to a baby girl.

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

Hester’s elderly husband has been missing for years.

Everyone knows he can’t be the father.

The town punishes Hester harshly for her adultery.

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

First, they imprison her.

Then, they condemn her to wear a scarlet letter A for the rest of her life.

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

The townspeople treat Hester as an outcast.

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

What her neighbors don’t know is the identity of the baby’s father.

Hester refuses to tell.

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

Her lover, whoever he is, seems to escape punishment.

Or does he?

The Scarlet Letter: Introduction

Perhaps hidden suffering

is even worse than public shame.

The Scarlet Letter: Background

Persecuted in England, the Puritans came to North America to form their own communities.

The Scarlet Letter: Background

Life in the Colonies was harsh,

but it gave the Puritans the opportunity to form a society based on their religious ideals.

The Scarlet Letter: Background

The setting of The Scarlet Letter is Boston in the 1640s.

Boston had recently been founded by about one thousand English Puritans, led by John Winthrop.

The Scarlet Letter: Background

Puritans sought the freedom to live by their beliefs.

However, the Puritan leaders did not tolerate religious beliefs that differed from their own.

The Scarlet Letter: Background

As for personal freedom…

every member of the community was held to strict standards of behavior.

The Scarlet Letter: Background

In a Puritan community such as Hester’s, no aspect of life was truly private.

People kept a close watch on their neighbors.

The Scarlet Letter: Background

Those considered sinners were publicly—and harshly—punished, as an example to others.

The Scarlet Letter: Discussion Starters

Discuss (1)

Hester goes to jail for an action that, in our society, usually would remain private.

• What kinds of wrongdoing do you think should be punished publicly?

• What kinds should remain private for the people involved?

The Scarlet Letter: Discussion Starters

Discuss (2)

Motivated by love and loyalty, Hester keeps a painful secret.

• What kinds of secrets should you keep?

• When might it be better to reveal a friend’s secret, even though that person will be angry with you?