Nathaniel Hawthorne Puritan Influence

Nathaniel Hawthorne Puritan Influence Nathaniel Hawthorne drew from his personal and childhood experiences to write his literary works. The event that affected him and showed in his writing was “...the infamous Salem witch trials had taken place more than 100 years earlier, the events still hung over the town and made a lasting impression on the young Hawthorne…("The Scarlet,"History.com). By the event having a impact on him from a young age it affected his writing and helped him in the development of a strong minded main character in his book The Scarlet Letter.

Knowing about the earlier life of Nathaniel Hawthorne will help the reader better understand why Puritanism is the bulk of his literary works. Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s life is described as being “steeped in the Puritan legacy his early ancestor, William Hathorne, first emigrated from England to America in 1630 and settled in Salem, Massachusetts, where he became a judge known for his harsh sentencing. William’s son John Hathorne, was one of the judges during the Salem witch trials in the 1690’s. Nathaniel later added a “w” to his name to distance himself from this side of the family” ("Nathaniel" Biography.com). In The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne talked about “...the utopian aspect of the Puritan migration to New England (Kaul p. 59). Hawthorne’s “choice of chronological setting aligns the book with all of his studies of the historical past and in particular with his explorations of the Puritans in tales like “The maypole of merry mount” and “Endicott and the Red Cross (Brodhead p.153). Since Hawthorne studied the past and was influenced by Puritan customs, Hawthorne is

Within The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne developed characters that can be related to. By Hawthorne mentioning his Puritan ancestors in the beginning of his book shows that he studied the topic of puritanism before talking about it. Hester Prynne was a character well developed by Hawthorne who goes through problems that society could possibly go through. In Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter before the novel began critics talked about the book and the characters, and gave a good description to Hester Prynne as a “Creation of someone who loved woman, saw her, as verdi did, as necessary tragic and alone, but emotionally sacred in a diminished world (Hawthorne p.ix).” This description of Hester was a excellent when it came to describing her as a bit of a outcast among her peers. As mentioned beforehand Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804 and but he passed away in 1864 in Plymouth, New