Nathaniel Hawthorne, originally born as William Hawthorne (changed his name after college) was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem Massachusetts. From a very early age, he was rooted in American Literature and went from Porchester to England and then to Salem. He was the first speaker in the house of delegates. Hawthorne was the eldest grandson of one of the original judges in the Salem Witch Trials. The Hawthorne family was said to be cursed, his father died of yellow fever at sea and left Williams's mother widowed. The young William Hawthorne moved in with a family friend, the Mannings. The Manning family was very loving and nurtured to the young child's needs, they were also said to be rich in literature in their family library, and from a young age, he was influenced by great writers such as Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott. He worked as a family stagecoach and his aunt and uncle offered to send him to college, Bowdoin College in Main, specifically. Hawthorne bounced around the idea of being a writer and he even asked his mom “what do you [mom] think of becoming an author.” During his years living in almost complete solitude, he learned to write tales. His original works were usually published anonymously. He met the love of his life, Sophia Peabody, who helped him come out of solitude and they ended up getting married in 1842.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Ellery Channing, though he looked up to these writers he did not impersonate their philosophical ways of life. He was also influenced by his grandfather, Judge John Hawthorne who was a merchant and a politician in the Salem Witch Trials. During the trials, Sarah Good, a woman accused of witchcraft placed a curse on the Hawthorne family and all those who had any part in her death. Puritans believe that all people are evil and that good deeds will not get you into heaven, they also believe that if a person in a community commits a crime everyone is then punished, by God for the crime. Puritans also do not believe is pleasure or anything intricate in detail so throughout the stories it is seen that the holes in his story are very bland in style.
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Philosophical ideas can be seen in Hawthorne's stories such as guilt and hypocrisy. The characters in the stories often deal with internal guilt and the problem of good vs evil. Many believe that Hawthorne's reoccurring themes of good vs evil can be linked to his own internal affairs. He felt as if his new ideas and new ways of thinking were wrong because of the time period in which he grew up. He felt as if he struggled so much and his characters struggled with the same thing he would make peace with himself because he could determine the fate of his characters in the stories.
Hawthorne's internal affairs led him to express his true emotions and problems through his works. His new ideas made him feel guilty because he came up with new things that no other person did. This problem disconnected him from his surroundings and made him feel more isolated than he already did. The depth of his writing spoke to many different people on many different levels. He wrote in such a way that each person reading his story could feel a connection in some way or another.
With Nathaniel Hawthorne's many stories he is known for his recurring styles, themes, and strong main ideas. One main theme that he is most known for is the effects of sin on society. Growing up with a grandfather that was a judge in the Salem witch trials he felt a lot of pressure to act and portray himself as the perfect puritan person. As he felt like he was his own person and did not want to conform to the normal ways of life he spent much time alone, he felt as if he was the only person who could understand him. A sin during the Puritan times could be as simple as saying something that could be taken as anything against God, as Hawthorne was his own person he felt as if his ideas could be seen as a sin. Sin can also be seen as a state more than an act, in The Scarlett Letter a character's pregnancy is publically shown and broadcasted as she is to wear a scarlet letter to show her adultery, the sin is seen as the letter the character is forced to wear.
Evert Augustus Duyckinck is an American publisher who is also a big fan of Hawthorne’s work. He described The Scarlett Letter as a 'psychological romance...a study of character in which the human heart is anatomized, carefully, elaborately, and with striking poetic and dramatic power.' (Duyckinck). Duyckinck also stated that he appreciated Hawthorne's style of writing and how it seemed to show so much effort but be so natural at the same time. Edwin Percy Whipple was another fan of Hawthorne's story, The Scarlett Letter, he said it was 'deep in thought and… condensed in style.' (Whipple). Both Whipple and Duyckinck felt as if the story was influenced by some sort of French writing “[It] utterly determined the whole philosophy on which the rest of the French novel, by seeing further and deeper into the essence both of conventional and moral laws.” (Whipple). George Sand was a French novelist and issues that were apparent in his stories were also in Hawthorne’s story.
There was a fair share of reviewers of Hawthorne's stories who were against the French ways of life and its literature. Early reviewers of the novel were anxious in reading the story due to the idea that the novel would spread French ideas over the seas. Henry James' interpretation of The Scarlett Letter was that it was in fact, not a story but rather a piece of art, he felt as if it was “the finest piece of imaginative writing yet put forth in the country.” ( James). Another critic said the story was so in and so intense that it can be taken in several different ways. The story can be interpreted in several different ways depending on the treaders mood and how they were feeling. For example, someone who felt excluded from society would relate to the main character, Hester, who was also excluded from society, but someone who felt as if they didn't care what others thought could relate to Pearl, Hester's daughter, who was more of a nonconformist and did what she wanted.
George William Curtis took the story as more of a big picture, he felt as if the story was more of an image waiting to be interpreted by the readers. It is believed that the reason for the mellow and low stories is because at the time Hawthorne wasn't getting the credit he thought he deserved which sent him into a pit of depression which led him to write the dark stories because he was upset.
The structure of The Scarlett Letter is very uniform and very precise which the critics believe is a product of the time period due to the high puritan influence on Hawthorne's life. The Puritans believed that everything should be plain and uniform and Hawthorne's story very much shows uniformity.
With Nathaniel Hawthorne's time period and family ancestry, he was greatly influenced by Puritan values and that is mostly seen through his most popular novel, The Scarlett Letter. The Puritans believed that their entire life was to be spent pleasing God and not worrying about one's themselves. We can see that through the characters in the story's own words, “Heaven would show mercy,’ rejoined Hester, hadst thou but the strength to take advantage of it” (Hawthorne 228). God, in heaven, will punish all of those delinquent people who dong follow God's law of simplicity and adultery exactly as he has said it should be followed through.
Glorifying God is the utmost most important goal of a good puritan citizen, and it can be seen through this quote. 'A writer of storybooks! What kind of business in life,—what mode of glorifying God, or being serviceable to mankind in his day and generation may that be? Why the degenerate fellow might as well have been a fiddler!' Such are the compliments bandied between my great-grandsires and me, across the gulf of time! And yet, let them scorn me as they will, strong traits of their nature have intertwined themselves with mine.' (Hawthorne 4).
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