Excerpts from Margaret Moore's The Salem World
of Nathaniel Hawthorne (courtesy of the University
of Missouri Press)
Hawthorne's Salem background with the Doctrine of Original Sin is developed
through excerpts from the scholarship of Margaret Moore's The Salem World
of Nathaniel Hawthorne.
Excerpts from Melissa McFarland Pennell's
Student Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne
In this excerpt Pennell refers to Original Sin and the title character
of Hawthorne's short story "The Minister's Black Veil". (courtesy of
Greenwood Press)
Excerpt from Anthony Trollope's article
"The Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne," The North American Review.
Volume 129, Issue 274, September 1879
British novelist Anthony Trollope offers a view of Hawthorne reminiscent
of Melville's reference to Hawthorne's "blackness".
Both Melville and Trollope found a quality in Hawthorne's stories that
was deep and spiritual and transforming.
Full text of article available online at: American
Memory Project [note: this online article has numerous typos as
it has not yet been edited from the OCR version]
Excerpt from "Bourgeois Sexuality and
the Gothic Plot in Wharton and Hawthorne," by Monika M. Elbert. In Hawthorne
and Women Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne Tradition, edited
by John L. Idol Jr. and Melinda M. Ponder (courtesy of University
of Massachusetts Press)
Here Monika M. Elbert offers some explanation as to why Hawthorne would
have concerned himself with those who live on society's outskirts. The
groups she cites share the experience of having wickedness ascribed
to them and so, whatever faults they may have either as individuals
or as members of a specific group, they nonetheless serve to reveal,
in the treatment of others toward them, Hawthorne's sense that the judgment
of others is itself the profoundest evil.
Excerpt from "The Scarlet Letter
as Pre-Text for Flannery O'Connor's 'Good Country People,'" by John
Gatta in Hawthorne and Women Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne
Tradition edited by John L. Idol Jr. and Melinda M. Ponder (courtesy
of University of Massachusetts
Press)
John Gatta suggests that one of the ironies of The Scarlet Letter
is that it is the torture Roger Chillingworth inflicts upon Arthur Dimmesdale
that, in the end, leads the minister to his saving confession. Of particular
interest here is Gatta's notion that Chillingworth's work is effected
by breaking down Dimmesdale's "psychic defenses," that arrogance that
kept him from confession in the first place.
Excerpt from "The Scarlet Letter
as Pre-Text for Flannery O'Connor's 'Good Country People,'" by John
Gatta in Hawthorne and Women Engendering and Expanding the Hawthorne
Tradition edited by John L. Idol Jr. and Melinda M. Ponder (courtesy
of University of Massachusetts
Press)
In a passage that strikingly places open hearted charity in direct opposition
to "observation from an insulated standpoint," John Gatta connects Hawthorne
himself with both of these contradictory impulses and so places him
solidly in the Christian tradition.
Excerpt from Understanding The Scarlet
Letter: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents
by Claudia Johnson (courtesy of Greenwood
Press)
Claudia Johnson reminds us that on January 14, 1697, five years after
he was an eager advocate of hanging accused witches in Salem, Samuel
Sewall apologized for his role in that shameful episode. She notices
some strong similarities between Sewall's apology and Dimmesdale's confession,
similarities that may reveal the bad faith that marred the spirits of
both the historical and fictional characters.
Excerpt from Understanding The Scarlet
Letter: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents
by Claudia Johnson (courtesy of Greenwood
Press)
Dimmesdale's decision to flee Boston with Hester and Pearl and so forever
turn his back on confession--the single way he may redeem himself--is,
according to Claudia Johnson, tantamount to his yielding to witchcraft.
Excerpt from Understanding The Scarlet
Letter: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents
by Claudia Johnson (courtesy of Greenwood
Press)
Claudia Johnson makes it clear that Dimmesdale is not merely weak, but
that his ambition places him among the ranks those who commit the sin
of pride, that is among those who think of themselves before all others.
Excerpt from Understanding The Scarlet
Letter: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents
by Claudia Johnson (courtesy of Greenwood
Press)
Claudia Johnson makes it clear that Dimmesdale's "dishonorable half-measure
at attempting to confess" are in the end simply more cause for the devil
to rejoice in his fall.
Excerpt from Melissa McFarland Pennell's
Student Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne (courtesy of Greenwood
Press)
Melissa Pennell points out that Dimmesdale's hypocrisy is so deep and
so well preserved by him that, even when he attempts to shed his false
self and reveal the truth, many fail to believe he has sin. Thus the
scrupulous construction of his seven-year lie robs him of the very relief
he seeks in giving it up.
Excerpt from Melissa McFarland Pennell's
Student Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne (courtesy of Greenwood
Press)
In this passage, Melissa Pennell shows how Hawthorne makes use of names in
The Scarlet Letter to indicate the moral status of his characters.
