The Scarlet Letter

Article written by Victor Onuorah

Degree in Journalism from University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Through the rich and captivating storyline of ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ Hawthorne explores the reality of the puritan era of a 1600s Bay Colony in Massachusetts. Hawthorne’s book proves to be a tight one – as it dishes out a stern moral discourse to its readership, dwelling mostly on heavy subjects such as adultery, social shaming, sin, and penitence.

Key Facts about The Scarlet Letter

• Book title: ‘The Scarlet Letter‘
• Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
• Publisher: Ticknor, Reed & Fields
• Date: 1850
• Page count: 255
• Backstory: 1630s incoming of the puritan movement. American colonial era
• Genre: Historical Fiction. Romance. Gothic
• Climax: preacher Arthur Dimmesdale denies Roger Chillingworth his revenge by confessing to the public that he is Hester’s lover and the legitimate father of Pearl.
• Setting: Bay Colony. Massachusetts. New England.

Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Scarlet Letter

After attaining his formal education from the Bowdoin institute, Hawthorne did not immediately embark on his professional writing career – but instead observed what would rightly be referred to as the preparatory phase of his later career.

Hawthorne, apparently feeling literary inadequate, decided against going into what he loved so much (his writing career) with only the limited language comprehension and composition knowledge he obtained from formal schooling.

So for the next twelve years after Bowdoin, effectively from 1825 – 1837, the author returned to his family home – lodging and isolating himself in an old, mysterious room; one described to be distressing and haunting. Hawthorne occasionally went outdoors attending public and social gatherings during this twelve years of isolation – according to his sister Elizabeth’s later remark of him.

However, the author spent most of his hours in this place of isolation reading and self-educating himself by studying the works of great writers such as those Edgar Allan Poe among other works of literature.

Hawthorne’s inspiration for ‘The Scarlet Letter’ came from a combination of two events. The first was his interest and extended observation of the legacy and cultures of Puritanism – a tradition that had been prominent for generations through the history of his lineage (from at least the early 1630s to his eventual birth in 1804 and continuing into his adult years).

The second was his decade-plus learning and studying of great works in the gothic narrative and English romanticism – during which time he simultaneously spent in an old and haunted family property absorbing the creativity in utter outlandishness and mysteriousness of such place and writings.

Hawthorne began and finished writing ‘The Scarlet Letter’ in six months – following years of preparation and mastery of the framework for the book. The book was published in 1850 and immediately began pulling attention to itself and its author. Sales commenced instantly as the book was constantly reprinted in large amounts to match the ever-growing demands.

‘The Scarlet Letter’ was not Hawthorne’s first published work, but it was the book that thrust his name into the limelight as a literary prospect and later – legend. The book also relieved him of the increasing financial burdens he began facing during this demanding period of his life.

Books Related to The Scarlet Letter

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s ‘The Scarlet Letter’ is one of the earliest American classics to dissect the captivating legacy and cultures of the puritan era which was popular across America from the early to late 17th century.

Hawthorne found himself in a family with centuries of history in extreme observance of the tenets of Puritanism – which were based on a repressive Christian doctrine and the belief in the supremacy and absolute dominance of God and his laws over men.

Through his book, ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ Hawthorne captures the puritan civilization, beginning from the early years of its coming into the Bay Colony in the 1630s and pioneered by his great grandfathers.

In the book’s reality, the author covers all the fascinating corners of the gothic – in terms of death, romance, sin, curses, repression, evil, and ghosts in haunted houses and places – and appears to question the rationale behind the over control and stifling of peoples’ rights by such an era.

‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a book that appears honorably as one of the earliest books of its genre – and for this had inspired – and is still inspiring – book authors who, through the centuries, study the rich narrative of Hawthorne’s work in creating their genre books.

Several books pass as being similar to ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne in many regards – both from the perspective of it being a gothic fiction and a historical book. However, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Brontë seems to be the closest in our list in terms of relatedness to ‘The Scarlet Letter’ – as both were written about the same time (1849 and 1850 respectively).

Still, Hawthorne’s work is set two centuries behind that of Charlotte Brontë, but both share striking characteristics; for example, both books’ frontal characters are similar in their feminist mindset – despite their different approaches to it – and their struggle to be relevant in society is big on cancel culture for their kind.

The Lasting Impact of The Scarlet Letter