Nathaniel Hawthorne and His Projected Self in the Scarlett...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the most influential authors during the Romanticism time period. Hawthorne is most commonly known for his novel, The Scarlett Letter. That novel continues to still be read all over. In fact, I just read it for my history class. Not only can the novel be read for an English, but for a history class as well because of the Puritan background. Nathaniel Hawthorne wasn’t just an author that blended in within his era, he stood out. Hawthorne was unique. He used identifiable contexts that influenced his work, and wrote in mediums such as short stories and novels. In my opinion what made Hawthorne so unique is that he was not only just a writer but he was a very meticulous critic on himself†¦show more content†¦Not everyone agreed she should die, so instead she was thrown into jail and forced to wear a red â€Å"A† on her chest to represent her mistake. At the end of the novel when Dimmesdale exposes himself to the tow nspeople with his flesh seared â€Å"A† on his chest, then continues to fall dead, this is an obvious representation of Romanticism. The tragedy that surprises the readers allows this novel to be classified under that movement, which Nathaniel Hawthorne was know for. As Hawthorne grew older he began to grow in his writing as well. He started writing more romantic considered fiction that portrayed his own beliefs in life. In the nineteenth century, it wasn’t as modern as it may be suspected. Yes they could reproduce photos, but it was a long process. Because of this, Hawthorne wrote extensive descriptions with a lot of imagery to give the reader enough information to be able to picture what was going on at that moment. Nathaniel Hawthorne was also known to focus on the main character. He could focus on many different things, but he mainly focused on the characters daily mental struggles they had with themselves. A good example of Hawthorne doing this in his writing is i n the short story Young Goodman Brown. To me this characteristic of Hawthorne’s writing is shown throughout the whole story. Goodman struggles internally with whether or not he should continue into the forest or not. He doesn’t want to stab his family and friends in the