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  • Essay / Nathaniel Hawthorne's use of his own experiences in The Scarlet Letter

    “The author should be in his work as if God were in the universe present everywhere and visible nowhere” - Gustave Flaubert. Many fiction writers enjoy presenting their ideas and points of view through their writing. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is an example of a novel where the author's life is evident in the novel. Hawthorne's Puritan origins and life experiences contributed to his creation of The Scarlet Letter, one of the most famous novels about Puritan life. In this novel, Hester Prynne, the central character, must wear the scarlet letter "A" on her chest to represent her shame to the audience. She spends her whole life paying for her sin. This is the first novel that demonstrates the Puritan way of life and beliefs. It is a masterful exploration of humanity's endless struggle against sin, guilt, and pride. Different themes in The Scarlet Letter present Hawthorne's personal beliefs. The Scarlet Letter is a reflection of Hawthorne's personal life and opinions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Hawthorne's past and family life influenced the novel The Scarlet Letter. He draws on his own experience as he attempts to give an authentic image of his time by presenting a realistic framework and precise Puritan philosophies. Hawthorne lived a relatively retired life, devoted to the development of his literary art. Hawthorne grew up in New England. Robert Spiller writes, “We can understand New England without Hawthorne, but Hawthorn without New England we cannot understand” (Diorio 22). Therefore, New England culture is closely linked to Hawthorne's life and writings. Because of this influence, Hawthorne uses the early New England colony as the setting for The Scarlet Letter. He describes the setting as a period in New England history. “…the sinister rigidity…these good people would have discussed horrible matters in hand…But, in this early severity of the Puritan character, a conclusion of this kind could not be drawn so unmistakably” (Hawthorne 95). Hawthorne maintains a special relationship with New England. Perhaps it is not just the local color of New England that Hawthorne depicts in his work, but rather the subconscious spirit of the reign. The memory of his childhood played an important role in his life; it also influenced his view of Puritan life and ultimately led to the staging of The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne was born July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. His original name was Nathaniel Hathorne, but he later added a "w" to his last name to separate himself from his Puritan origin. Hawthorne's ancestors were very strict Puritans, and his great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne, was a judge who presided over the Salem witchcraft trial of 1692. Although Hawthorne did not experience this period of strict judgment , he later learned about the history of this period. . One of the most important qualities that Hawthorne disliked about the Puritans was that they were extremely critical. They judged harshly and absolutely. For example, when Hester leaves the prison and heads to the scaffold, Hawthorne writes a paragraph of the conversation of a group of women who feel that Hester deserves a more severe punishment than what she receives. Instead of walking through the crowd, standing on the scaffold and wearing the scarlet letter “A” on her chest, they argue that she should die for her sin (Hawthorne 56). She mustreceiving cold looks from people every day. Everyone hates her just because she has a baby without a father. His punishment for his sin lasts his entire life; it's too hard. Hawthorne describes the reality of this period in New England, the crucial judgment in people's daily lives. Hawthorne did not like the way the Puritans managed their affairs and he spent much of his life renouncing the Puritans. Therefore, The Scarlet Letter becomes his best approach to convey to the readers and the world his feeling towards the Puritans. Hawthorne came from a Puritan family of declining fortune. When he was young, he read the entire Bible and attended church frequently. Therefore, he had some of his own ideas about the Puritans, some of these ideas were positive feelings for the Puritans and some were negative. He also developed these ideas in The Scarlet Letter. Although Hawthorne did not like the way the Puritans punished people, he still appreciated the practices of some Puritans. The Puritans helped the poor. This is also reflected in The Scarlet Letter. For example, once Hester knows that what she did was wrong and accepting her sin and fate helps her lead a humble life. She is very successful as a seamstress; his work becomes the latest fashion. She therefore starts a new life with Pearl thanks to her sewing. She gives her finished productions from her needlework to the needy. “None is so ready as she to give her little substance to every request of poverty…None is so devoted as Hester, when the plague was ravaging the city” (Hawthorne 146). Although it takes most of her life and sometimes the bitter-hearted poor people she helps don't accept it, she continues to do it. Hester ultimately achieves redemption when the townspeople accept her back into society. Hester does all this to fix the mistakes she made before and she helps many people in the small town. Hawthorne uses Hester to describe the Puritan values ​​that he respects and appreciates. Hester represents the values ​​of hard work and charity. Hawthorne's father was a sea captain. Like other men in town, Hawthorne's father sailed the seas to earn a living. He died when young Nathaniel was four years old. Elizabeth Clarke Manning, his mother, who was only twenty-eight years old when she returned to live with her native family, raised Hawthorne and his two sisters alone. She endured discussions from neighbors and people around. She worked every day to earn money to give her three children a better life. In Hawthorne's memory, his mother was truly powerful, beautiful and strong. Similarly, in The Scarlet Letter, Hester retreats into a life of seclusion and raises her daughter, Pearl, alone. “…Hester, with morbid purpose, had purchased the richest fabrics that could be found and had allowed her imaginative faculty to come into full play in the arrangement and decoration of the dresses which the child wore, before the public eye…” (Hawthorne 82). Hester seeks to impose tender but strict control over the infant immortality entrusted to her. Hawthorne describes Hester as a perfect mother, even though she carries sin all her life. Hester represents many of her own mother's qualities. At the age of nine, Hawthorne suffered a foot injury that left him lame for three years. This misfortune, however, probably fostered his great interest in reading. He enjoyed reading classic literature, such as The Faerie Queen, Pilgrim's Progress, the works of Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott, and countless Gothic novels. These literary works led him to see the spiritual significancenatural events (Biography 11). After graduating from Bowdoin College, he returned to his mother's house in Salem and read New England history for twelve years as well as writers such as John Milton. Perhaps, because of his love of classical readings, he had a particular interest in literature and writing. The sentiments of these literatures also influenced Hawthorne's own work later in his life. He was good at describing light things through exquisite and classic writing. Additionally, The Scarlet Letter uses beautiful illustrations to depict the scenes. For example, “…Love, whether newborn or awakened from a mortal sleep, must always create sunshine, filling the heart with such radiance that it overflows onto the outer world. If the forest had retained its sadness, it would have been bright in the eyes of Hester and bright in the eyes of Arthur Dimmesdale” (Hawthorne 183). His sensitive words can lead people to another world to see this world. Hawthorne's daughter Una, named after Spenser's heroine in The Faerie Queen, served as Pearl's model. Hawthorne acquired the idea for Pearl from Una. Una is Hawthorne's first child with his wife, Sophia. Una was a talented and natural child in Hawthorne's eyes, just as Pearl is described as a child of nature, an elf of the forest. To Hester, Pearl appears more like an airy sprite. When Pearl looks into his wild, bright, deeply black eyes, it invests her with a strange distance and intangibility. It's as if she's hovering in the air and can disappear, like a shimmering light. "At first she had flirted fancifully with her own image in a pool of water, beckoning the ghost to come out when he refused to venture, herself seeking an enemy passage into her sphere of earth impalpable and inaccessible sky” (Hawthorne 160). Una has many similarities to Pearl. For example, both of their mothers are romantics and they both love making beautiful clothes for their daughters. Both were raised without strict Puritan education or Puritan restrictions. Therefore, Hawthorne writes Pearl as a character who reflects his daughter, Una. Additionally, due to the unexpected death of Hawthorne's father, he developed a fear of abandonment. This fear had a lasting impact on his personal life and his writings. Indeed, the theme of the orphaned or abandoned child appears in a large part of his work (Diorio 25). In The Scarlet Letter, Pearl is also a character like this. In the eyes of others, Pearl is of demon origin. She is a living scarlet letter to Hester. She is treated like an elf and no child wants to play with her. She does not grow up with a religious upbringing, which makes people think she is an abomination (Hawthorne 92). Hawthorne created Pearl in The Scarlet Letter because of his fear of abandonment when he was young and his own daughter, Una. Nathaniel Hawthorne, as one of the most famous writers, is relevant in his themes and attitudes, such as irony, ambiguity and paradox. He believes in the existence of active evil, which has the same concept in The Scarlet Letter. In Hawthorn's family history, his great-great-grandfather, Judge Hathorne, was cursed by one of the condemned witches. The condemned witch, accompanied by the others, cast the curse as she made her way to the gallows in Salem. Later, when the reverend asked her to confess, she exclaimed: "I am no more a witch than you are a sorcerer, and if you kill me, God will give you blood to drink." » It is known that the reverend choked on his own blood in 1717. When he was young.