Biogram Of Nathaniel Hawthorn, How His Life Relates To Scarlet Letter :: essays research papers

BIOGRAM   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The man Nathaniel Hawthorne, an author of the nineteenth century, was born in 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. It was there that he lived a poverty-stricken childhood without the financial support of a father, because he had passed away in 1808. Hawthorne was raised strictly Puritan, his great-grandfather had even been one of the judges in the Puritan witchcraft trials during the 1600s. This and Hawthorne’s destitute upbringing advanced his understanding of human nature and distress felt by social, religious, and economic inequities. Hawthorne was a private individual who fancied solitude with family friends. He was also very devoted to his craft of writing. Hawthorne observed the decay of Puritanism with opposition; believing that is was a man’s responsibility to pursue the highest truth and possessed a strong moral sense. These aspects of Hawthorne’s philosophy are what drove him to write about and even become a part of an experiment in social reform, in a utopian colony at Brook Farm. He believed that the Puritans’ obsession with original sin and their ironhandedness undermined instead of reinforced virtue. As a technician, Hawthorne’s style in literature was abundantly allegorical, using the characters and plot to acquire a connection and to show a moral lesson. His definition of romanticism was writing to show truths, which need not relate to history or reality. Human frailty and sorrow were the romantic topics, which Hawthorne focused on most, using them to finesse his characters and setting to exalt good and illustrate the horrors of immorality. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s experiences as a man, incite as a philosopher and skill as a technician can be seen when reading The Scarlet Letter.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The man, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s religious background, seclusion from society, and devotion to his craft can be related to his novel The Scarlet Letter. His religious upbringing as a Puritan is what gave him the knowledge to write about Boston’s Puritan society in his novel. Hawthorne’s great-grandfather, who one of the judges at the Puritan witchcraft trials, was like the magistrates of The Scarlet Letter that attempted to make a society that would be a â€Å"Utopia of human virtue and happiness†. A further parallel found between Hawthorne’s life and the novel is the element of seclusion found in each. Hawthorne secluded himself from society with his few family members and close friends. In the same way Hester Prynne was secluded from society in her â€Å"little, lonesome dwelling† that â€Å"stood on the shore, looking across a basin of the sea at the forest-covered hills toward the west† out of the circle of the to wn.