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Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), American disastrous side of vanity in “The Birth Mark” (1843),
author wrote the Gothic RomanceThe Scarlet or “Ethan Brand’s” (1850) Unpardonable Sin, many
Letter (1850); of Hawthorne’s works remain popular and have
IAmerican novelist and short-story writer who was a inspired numerous other authors’ works, and
master of the allegorical and symbolic tale. One of adaptations to film.
the greatest fiction writers in American literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on 4 July 1804 in
he is best-known for The Scarlet Letter (1850) Salem, Massachusetts in the family home at 27
and The House of the Seven Gables (1851). Hardy Street, now a museum. He was the son of
Elizabeth Clarke Manning and Nathaniel Hathorne, a
n a moment, however, wisely judging that one token Captain in the U. S. Navy who died when Nathaniel
of her shame would but poorly serve to hide was four years old. His ancestors were some of the
another, she took the baby on her arm, and with a first Puritans to settle in the New England area and
burning blush, and yet a haughty smile, and a the lingering guilt Hawthorne felt from his great
glance that would not be abashed, looked around at grandfather having officiated during the Salem Witch
her townspeople and neighbours. On the breast of Trials provided a theme for many of his stories
her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an including The House of Seven Gables. After his
elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold father died Nathaniel and his mother moved to her
thread, appeared the letter A.—Ch. 2. parents’ home just a few doors down from #27,
Like many of Hawthorne’s works, the setting is New which Hawthorne referred to as ‘Castle Dismal’.
England and protagonist Hester Prynne’s adultery in Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick,
a Puritanical 17th century town provides the Maine (1821-24) along with fellow poet Henry
backdrop for a psychological exploration of the Wadsworth Longfellow and future American
themes of sin, repentance, and morality. The Scarlet President Franklin Pierce, of whom he wrote a
Letter achieved much critical acclaim for Hawthorne. biography of in 1852. Hawthorne was not interested
His previously written short story “The Custom in entering any of the traditional professions; he was
House” forms the prologue. His body of work an avid reader and already writing his own short
contains three other major Romantic novels; The stories and had many published in magazines. His
House of Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale novelFanshawe was published anonymously in 1828.
Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860). Upon graduation he continued to write stories and
Hawthorne was friends with and neighbor for a time sketches, some of them included in his
to some of New England’s finest intellectuals collection Twice Told Tales(1837). Longfellow would
including Amos Bronson Alcott and his write a favourable review of it in North American
daughter Louisa May Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, Reviewmagazine. It was not a lucrative pursuit so
and Ralph Waldo Emerson who was also prominent Hawthorne worked at the Salem Custom-House to
in the Transcendentalist movement. It was a augment his income. He also lived at the
tumultuous time to live in America: Hawthorne was experimental transcendentalist community ‘Brook
troubled when the American Civil War broke out a Farm’, but stayed only a year.
few years before his death. After he met President In Boston on 9 July 1842, Hawthorne married painter
Abraham Lincoln in Washington D.C. and toured and fellow transcendentalist Sophia Peabody with
battlefields he wrote his essay “Chiefly About War whom he would have three children; daughters Una
Matters” by ‘A Peaceable Man’, published in (1844-1877) and Rose (1851-1926), and future
the Atlantic Monthly’s July 1862 issue. author Julian Hawthorne (1846-1934). The newly
Hawthorne became one of the leading writers of his married couple settled in the heart of
time, moving away from formalism and exploring the Transcendentalist country Concorde, Massachusetts,
ideas of individual responsibility, the importance of living in the ‘The Old Manse’. Hawthorne’s collection
creative expression and man’s relationship to the of short stories Mosses from an Old Manse (1846)
natural world. He also at times delves into the was followed by his brooding Gothic romance The
mysterious and disturbing; House of Seven Gables (1851);
In the depths of every heart there is a tomb and a The old counter, shelves, and other fixtures of the
dungeon, though the lights, the music, and revelry little shop remained just as he had left them. It used
above may cause us to forget their existence, and to be affirmed, that the dead shop-keeper, in a white
the buried ones, or prisoners whom they hide. But wig, a faded velvet coat, an apron at his waist, and
sometimes, and oftenest at midnight, these dark his ruffles carefully turned back from his wrists,
receptacles are flung wide open. In an hour like might be seen through the chinks of the shutters,
his....pray that your griefs may slumber. “The any night of the year, ransacking his till, or poring
Haunted Mind”. over the dingy pages of his day-book. From the look
While Hawthorne avidly read and enjoyed the short of unutterable woe upon his face, it appeared to be
stories of James Fenimore Cooper and Sir Walter his doom to spend eternity in a vain effort to make
Scott, his own were not well-received at first. But his accounts balance.—Ch. 1.
whether it be Prynne’s indomitable spirit, the moral Also in 1851 Herman Melville dedicated Moby Dick to
dilemma of “Young Goodman Brown” (1835), the Hawthorne. In 1852 Hawthorne bought his home
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‘The Wayside’ where the Alcotts had once lived and ○ Dr. Heidegger's Experiment
called ‘Hillside’. He next worked on The Blithedale ○ Drowne's Wooden Image
Romance (1852) and the re-telling of ancient Greek
○ The Egotism; or Bosom Serpent
Myths in Tanglewood Tales for Girls and Boys (1853).
The same year, the Hawthorne family set sail for ○ Endicott and the Red Cross
Liverpool, England where Nathaniel served as U.S. ○ Ethan Brand
Consul. They traveled throughout Europe and lived ○ Feathertop: A Moralized Legend
for a time in France and Italy where they met fellow ○ The Gentle Boy
authors Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her ○ The Gray Champion
husband Robert Browning. While in Italy Hawthorne
wrote The Marble Faun(1860);
○ The Great Carbuncle
“More than that,” rejoined Hilda; “for there is a class ○ The Great Stone Face
of spectators whose sympathy will help them to see ○ The Hollow of the Three Hills
the perfect through a mist of imperfection. Nobody, I ○ Legends of the Province House: I.
think, ought to read poetry, or look at pictures or Howe's Masquerade
statues, who cannot find a great deal more in them ○ Legends of the Province House: II.
than the poet or artist has actually expressed. Their Edward Randolph's Portrait
highest merit is suggestiveness.”—Hilda, Ch. 41.
Back home at The Wayside, Hawthorne continued to
○ Legends of the Province House: III.
write of his travels in hisPassages From Lady Eleanore's Mantle
Notebooks volumes. ‘We sometimes congratulate ○ Legends of the Province House: IV.
ourselves at the moment of waking from a troubled Old Esther Dudley
dream; it may be so the moment after death.’ ○ The Maypole of Merry Mount
(October 25th, 1836 entry from Passages from the ○ The Minister's Black Veil
American Notebooks [1868]).Our Old Home (1863) ○ Mr. Higginbotham's Catastrophe
was his last publication before his death. Nathaniel ○ Mrs. Bullfrog
Hawthorne died on 19 May 1864. Franklin Pierce,
James Russell Lowell, Henry Wadsworth ○ My Kinsman, Major Molineux
Longfellow and Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes were ○ Peter Goldthwaite's Treasure
among the many who mourned the loss of their ○ The Procession of Life
friend. Hawthorne lies buried on Author’s Ridge in ○ Rappaccini's Daughter
the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, ○ Roger Malvin's Burial
Massachusetts among his many friends including the
Alcotts, Emerson, and Thoreau. After devoting her
○ The Shaker Bridal
remaining years to editing her husbands’ notebooks ○ The Snow Image: A Childish Miracle
for publication, Sophia died in 1871. ○ Wakefield
The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt ○ The Wedding Knell
whether one may not be going to prove one’s self a ○ Young Goodman Brown
fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and
○ John Inglefield's Thanksgiving
the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to
be resisted, and when it be obeyed. The Blithedale ○ A Bell's Biography
Romance, Ch. 2. ○ Beneath An Umbrella
• Fiction ○ Biographical Sketches
○ Doctor Grimshawe's Secret ○ Biographical Stories
○ Fanshawe ○ Buds and Bird Voices
○ The Blithedale Romance ○ A Book of Autographs
○ The House of Seven Gables ○ Chippings With A Chisel
○ The Marble Faun ○ The Christmas Banquet
○ The Scarlet Letter ○ The Dolliver Romance
• Non-Fiction ○ Dr. Bullivant
○ Our Old Home ○ Earth's Holocaust
• Short Stories ○ Edward Fane's Rosebud
○ The Ambitious Guest
○ Fancy's Show-Box
○ The Artist of the Beautiful
○ Fire Worship
○ The Birthmark
○ Footprints on the Sea-Shore
○ The Canterbury Pilgrims
○ The Gorgon's Head
○ The Celestial Railroad
○ The Hall of Fantasy
○ David Swan
○ The Haunted Mind
○ The Devil in Manuscript
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○ The Intelligence Office 'Young Goodman Brown' (1835), originally published

○ The Lily's Quest in the New-England Magazine, 'The Birthmark
(1843), published in Pioneer, and 'Rappacini's
○ Little Annie's Ramble
Daughter' (1844), which first appeared
○ The Man of Adamant in Democratic Review, and was collected in MOSSES
○ The New Adam and Eve FROM AN OLD MANSE (1846). 'Young Goodman
• Essays Brown', also included in this collection, is an
○ Chiefly About War Matters allegorical tale, in which Hawthorne touches many of
• Poetry his favorite themes, such as hypocrisy, witchcraft,
the Puritan guilt, and the sins of fathers. The
Novelist and short story writer, a central figure in the protagonist, a young man, is from Salem. Against
American Renaissance. Nathaniel Hawthorne's best- the wishes of his wife, named Faith, he sets off on a
known works include THE SCARLET LETTER (1850) journey through the dark woods, and returns home a
and THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1851). Like changed man, disillusioned after nightmarish
Edgar Allan Poe, Hawthorne took a dark view of experiences.
human nature. In 1842 Hawthorne became friends with the
"Not to be deficient in this particular, the Transcendentalists in Concord, Ralph Waldo
author has provided himself with a moral - the Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, who also drew
truth, namely, that the wrongdoing of one on the Puritan legacy. However, generally he did not
generation lives into the successive have much confidence in intellectuals and artists,
ones." (from The House of the Seven Gables) and eventually he had to admit, that "the treasure of
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, intellectual gold" did not provide food for his family.
Massachusetts. His father, Nathaniel Hathorne, was In 1842 Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody, an
a sea captain and descendent of John Hathorne, one active participant in the Transcendentalist
of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692. movement. Only the bride's family attended the
He died when the young Nathaniel was four year old. wedding. Hawthorne settled with Sophia first in
Elizabeth Clarke Manning Hathorne, his mother, Concord, but a growing family and mounting debts
withdrew to a life of seclusion, which she maintained compelled their return to Salem. Hawthorne was
till her death. From Salem the family moved to unable to earn a living as a writer and in 1846 he
Maine, where Hawthorne was educated at the was appointed surveyor of the Port of Salem. Once
Bowdoin College (1821-24). In the school among his he wrote to his friend Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
friends were Longfellow and Franklin Pierce, who "I have locked myself in a dungeon and I can't find
became the 14th president of the U.S. the key to get out." He worked there for three years
Between the years 1825 and 1836, Hawthorne until he was fired. "I detest this town so much,"
worked as a writer and contributor to periodicals. Hawthorne said, "that I hate to go out into the
Among Hawthorne's friends was John L. O'Sullivan, streets, or to have people see me."
whose magazine the Democratic Reviewpublished The Scarlet Letter was a critical and popular success.
two dozen stories by him. According to an anecdote, The illicit love affair of Hester Prynne with the
Hawthorne burned his first short-story Reverend Arhur Dimmesdale and the birth of their
collection, Seven Tales of My Native Land, after child Pearl, takes place before the book opens. In
publishers rejected it. Hawthorne's first novel, Puritan New England, Hester, the mother of an
FANSHAWE (1828), appeared anonymously at his illegitimate child, wears the scarlet A (for adulteress,
own expense. The work was based on his college named in the book by this initial) for years rather
life. It did not receive much attention and the author than reveal that her lover was the saintly young
burned the unsold copies. However, the book village minister. Her husband, Roger Chillingworth,
initiated a friendship between Hawthorne and the proceeds to torment the guiltstricken man, who
publisher Samuel Goodrich. He edited in 1836 confesses his adultery before dying in Hester's arms.
theAmerican Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Hester plans to take her daughter Pearl to Europe to
Knowledge in Boston, and compiled in 1837 PETER begin a new life. Toward the end of the dark
PARLEY'S UNIVERSAL HISTORY for children. In was romance Hawthorne wrote: "Be true! Be true! Show
followed by a series of books for children, freely to the world, if not your worst, yet some trait
GRANDFATHER'S CHAIR (1841), FAMOUS OLD whereby the worst may be inferred!" Hester Prynne
PEOPLE (1841), LIBERTY TREE (1841), and has been seen as a pioneer feminist in the line from
BIOGRAPHICAL STORIES FOR CHILDREN (1842). Anne Hutchinson to Margaret Fuller, a classic
Hawthorne's second, expanded edition of TWICE- nurturer, a sexually autonomous woman, and an
TOLD TALES (1837), was praised by Edgar Allan Poe American equivalent of Anna Karenina. The influence
in Graham's Magazine. "We know of few of the novel is apparent in Henry James's The
compositions which the critic can more honestly Portrait of a Lady (1881), in Kate Chopin's The
commend that these Twice-Told Tales," Poe stated. Awakening(1899), and in William Faulkner's As I Lay
"As Americans, we feel proud of the book." Among Dying (1930). Hawthorne's daughter Una, christened
Hawthorne's most widely anthologized stories are
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after Spenser's heroine in The Faerie Queene, presiding magistrate in the Salem witch trials. After
served as the model for Pearl. his father was lost at sea when Nathaniel was only
Hawthorne was one of the first American writers to four, his mother became overly protective and
explore the hidden motivations of his characters.
pushed him toward relatively isolated pursuits.
Among his allegorical stories is 'The Artist of the
Beautiful' (1844) in which his protagonist creates an Hawthorne's childhood left him overly shy and
insect, perhaps a steam-driven butterfly. A girl he bookish, which molded his life as a writer.
admires asks whether he made it, and he answers:
"Wherefore ask who created it, so it be beautiful?" Hawthorne turned to writing after his graduation
Eventually the insect is killed by an unfeeling child. from Bowdoin College. His first novel, Fanshawe, was
Of his own workroom Hawthorne said: "This unsuccessful and Hawthorne himself disavowed it as
deserves to be called a haunted chamber, for
amateurish. He wrote several successful short
thousands and thousands of visions have appeared
to me in it." stories, however, including "My Kinsman, Major
"The Custom-House" sketch, prefatory to The Scarlet Molyneaux," "Roger Malvin's Burial," and "Young
Letter, was based partly on his experiences in Goodman Brown." Still, his insufficient earnings as a
Salem. The novel, which appeared in 1850, told a writer forced Hawthorne to enter a career as a
story of the earliest victims of Puritan obsession and Boston Custom House measurer in 1839. After three
spiritual intolerance. Again the central theme is the years Hawthorne was dismissed from his job with
effects of guilt and anxiety. Hawthorne's picture of
the Salem Custom House. By 1842, his writing finally
the sin-obsessed Puritans has subsequently been
criticizedthey
 were less extreme than presented in gave Hawthorne a sufficient income to marry Sophia
the works of Hawthorne, Arthur Miller, Steven King, Peabody and move to The Manse in Concord, which
and many others. The House of the Seven was the center of the Transcendental movement.
Gableswas published the following year. The story is Hawthorne returned to Salem in 1845, where he was
based on the legend of a curse pronounced on appointed surveyor of the Boston Custom House by
Hawthorne's own family by a woman, who was President James Polk, but he was dismissed from this
condemned to death during the Salem witchcraft
post when Zachary Taylor became president.
trials. The curse is mirrored in the decay of the
Pyncheons' seven-gabled mansion. Finally the Hawthorne then devoted himself to his most famous
descendant of the killed woman marries a young novel, The Scarlet Letter. He zealously worked on
niece of the family, and the hereditary sin ends. the novel with a determination he had not known
THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE (1852), set in a utopian before. His intense suffering infused the novel with
New England community, examines the flaws imaginative energy, leading him to describe it as a
inherent in practical utopianism. Hawthorne had "hell-fired story." On February 3, 1850, Hawthorne
earlier invested and lived in the Brook Farm
read the final pages to his wife. He wrote, "It broke
Commune, West Roxbury. This led to speculations,
that the doomed heroine was a portrait of the her heart and sent her to bed with a grievous
transcendentalist Margaret Fuller. During this headache, which I look upon as a triumphant
productive period Hawthorne also established a success."
warm friendship with Herman Melville, who The Scarlet Letter was an immediate success that
dedicated Moby-Dick to him. allowed Hawthorne to devote himself to his writing.
In 1853 Franklin Pierce became President. He left Salem for a temporary residence in Lenox, a
Hawthorne, who had written a campaign biography
small town in the Berkshires, where he completed
for him, was appointed as consul in Liverpool,
England. He lived there for four years, and then the romance The House of the Seven Gables in
spent a year and half in Italy writing THE MARBLE 1851. While in Lenox, Hawthorne became
FAUN (1860), a story about the conflict between acquainted with Herman Melville and became a
innocence and guilt. It was his last completed novel. major proponent of Melville's work, but their
In his Concord home, The Wayside, he wrote the friendship became strained. Hawthorne's
essays contained in OUR OLD HOME (1863). subsequent novels, The Blithedale Romance--based
Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, N.H.
on his years of communal living at Brook Farm--and
on a trip to the mountains with his friend Franklin
Pierce. After his death, Sophia Hawthorne edited and the romance The Marble Faun were both considered
published his notebooks. Modern editions of these disappointments. Hawthorne supported himself
works include many of the sections which she cut through another political post, the consulship in
out or altered. The author's son Julian was convicted Liverpool, which he was given for writing a campaign
in 1912 of defrauding the public. biography for Franklin Pierce.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in In 1852, after the publication of The Blithedale
Salem, Massachusetts, a descendant of a long line of Romance, Hawthorne returned to Concord and
Puritan ancestors including John Hathorne, a bought a house called Hillside, owned by Louisa May
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Alcott's family. Hawthorne renamed it The Wayside. 2. Initiation - involves the attempts of an alienated
He went on to travel and live in France and Italy for character to get rid of his isolated condition.
3. Problem of Guilt -a character's sense of guilt
a spell, but he returned to The Wayside just before
forced by the puritanical heritage or by society; also
the Civil War began. Indeed, he would publish an guilt vs. innocence.
article entitled "Chiefly About War Matters" for 4. Pride - Hawthorne treats pride as evil. He
the Atlantic Monthlyjust before he fell ill, detailing illustrates the following aspects of pride in various
the account of his travels to the Virginia battlefields characters: physical pride (Robin), spiritual pride
of Manassas and Harpers Ferry and to the White (Goodman Brown, Ethan Brand), and intellectual
House. pride (Rappaccini).
5. Puritan New England - used as a background and
Hawthorne passed away on May 19, 1864, in
setting in many tales.
Plymouth, New Hampshire, after a long period of 6. Italian background - especially in The Marble
illness during which he suffered severe bouts of Faun.
dementia. Hawthorne was buried in Sleepy Hollow 7. Allegory - Hawthorne's writing is allegorical,
Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Emerson didactic and moralistic.
described his life with the words "painful solitude." 8. Other themes include individual vs. society, self-
Hawthorne had maintained a strong friendship with fulfillment vs. accommodation or frustration,
hypocrisy vs. integrity, love vs. hate, exploitation vs.
Franklin Pierce, but otherwise he had had few
hurting, and fate vs. free will.
intimates and little engagement with any sort of Influences on Hawthorne
social life. 1. Salem - early childhood, later work at the Custom
A number of his unfinished works were published House.
posthumously. His works remain notable for their 2. Puritan family background - one of his forefathers
treatment of guilt and the complexities of moral was Judge Hathorne, who presided over the Salem
choices. witchcraft trials, 1692.
Primary Works 3. Belief in the existence of the devil.
Twice-Told Tales, 1837; Mosses from an Old Manse, 4. Belief in determinism.
1846; The Scarlet Letter, 1850; The House of Seven Hawthorne as a Literary Artist
Gables , 1851; The Blithedale Romance, 1852; The 1. First professional writer - college educated,
Life of Franklin Pierce, 1852; The Marble Faun , familiar with the great European writers, and
1860; The Centenary Edition of the Works of influenced by puritan writers like Cotton Mather.
Hawthorne, 18 vols. ed. W. Charvat et al., 1962- 2. Hawthorne displayed a love for allegory and
1987. symbol. He dealt with tensions involving: light
Twenty Days with Julian & Little Bunny by versus dark; warmth versus cold; faith versus doubt;
Papa. Auster, Paul (introd.). NY: New York Review heart versus mind; internal versus external worlds.
Books, 2003. 3. His writing is representative of 19th century, and,
Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Documentary thus, in the mainstream due to his use of nature, its
Volume. Franklin, Benjamin, V (ed. and introd.). primitiveness, and as a source of inspiration; also in
Detroit: Gale, 2003. his use of the exotic, the gothic, and the antiquarian.
| Top | The Novel versus the Romance
Reasons for Hawthorne's Current Popularity According to Stanley Bank, Hawthorne may stand as
1. One of the most modern of writers, Hawthorne is the symbol of the 19thc. American author and his
relevant in theme and attitude. According to H. H. predicament. Europe could afford the luxury of
Waggoner, Hawthorne's attitudes use irony, romanticizing its past and finding its ideal in the
ambiguity, and paradox. pastoral. But America's past was too close. Yet
2. Hawthorne rounds off the puritan cycle in America's literature was in need of tradition in which
American writing - belief in the existence of an literature could flourish. Hawthorne struggled with
active evil (the devil) and in a sense of determinism the problem of relevance of the artist to the world
(the concept of predestination). and the meaning of art to America. The American
3. Hawthorne's use of psychological analysis (pre- Romanticists created a form that, at first glance,
Freudian) is of interest today. seems ancient and traditional; they borrowed from
4. In themes and style, Hawthorne's writings look classical romance, adapted pastoral themes, and
ahead to Henry James, William Faulkner, and Robert incorporated Gothic elements. Was there anything
Penn Warren. unique about the American shape of prose fiction, or
Major Themes in Hawthorne's Fiction was it merely an amalgam of long and fixed genres?
1. Alienation - a character is in a state of isolation It can be shown that romance, as practiced in
because of self-cause, or societal cause, or a America, was a departure from each of the genres,
combination of both. (See Appendix A for more although related to them. Gilbert Highet, in The
discussion of Themes 1 & 2). Classical Tradition: Greek and Roman Influences on
Western Literature lists the main elements of
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classical romance: 1. separated lovers who remain Novelist Quotes

true to each other, while the woman's chastity is Category:
preserved; 2. an intricate plot, including stories American Novelist Quotes
within stories; 3. exciting and unexpected chance Date of Birth:
events; 4. travel to faraway settings; 5. hidden and July 4, 1804
mistaken identity; and 6. written in an elaborate and Date of Death:
elegant style. Classical romance, Highet noted, is May 19, 1864
"escape" literature; American romance brings the Nationality:
reader closer to truth, not further from it. The American
pastoral is a literary form in which happy country life Find on Amazon:
is portrayed as a contrast to the complexity and Nathaniel Hawthorne
anxiety of the urban society. Such a contrast may be
seen in the American romancers' use of the frontier, Related Authors:
Indian society, Arcadian communities, Puritan Ernest Hemingway
villages, and shipboard societies. Few of the Chuck Palahniuk
characters are strictly outside the urban society to Richard Bach
which they provide contrast. It is clearly related to Truman Capote
Hawthorne's creation of "a theater, a little removed Elie Wiesel
from the highway of ordinary travel, where the William Faulkner
creatures of his brain may play their phantasmagoric Gore Vidal
antics, without exposing them to too close a Toni Morrison
comparison with the actual events of real lives," and Jack Kerouac
to his calling for a "license with regard to everyday
probability." But if the American romancer created A hero cannot be a hero unless in a heroic world.
arcadias, they are arcadias that invite criticism and Nathaniel Hawthorne
redirected that criticism to the society in which the
American romancers lived. Many gothicisms have A pure hand needs no glove to cover it.
been incorporated into American romances. Typical Nathaniel Hawthorne
are the manuscript, the castle, the crime, religion,
deformity, ghosts, magic, blood, etc. In the gothic A stale article, if you dip it in a good, warm,
novel these characteristics are used as the basis and sunny smile, will go off better than a fresh one
end of a tale of terror. In the work of American that you've scowled upon.
romancers, they are used not as the object itself, but Nathaniel Hawthorne
to serve the work.
"I have sometimes produced a singular and not A woman's chastity consists, like an onion, of a
unpleasing effect, so far as my own mind was series of coats.
concerned, by imagining a train of incidents in which Nathaniel Hawthorne
the spirit and mechanism of the fairyland should be
combined with the characters and manners of Accuracy is the twin brother of honesty;
familiar life." - N. Hawthorne inaccuracy, of dishonesty.
"When a writer calls his work a romance, he wishes Nathaniel Hawthorne
to claim a certain latitude, both as to its fashion and
material, which he would not have felt himself All brave men love; for he only is brave who has
entitled to assume had he professed to be writing a affections to fight for, whether in the daily battle
novel." - N. Hawthorne of life, or in physical contests.
"The word 'romance' must signify, besides the more Nathaniel Hawthorne
obvious qualities of the picturesque and the heroic,
an assumed freedom from the ordinary novelistic Caresses, expressions of one sort or another, are
requirements of verisimilitude, development and necessary to the life of the affections as leaves
continuity; a tendency towards melodrama and idyll; are to the life of a tree. If they are wholly
a more or less formal abstractness and, on the other restrained, love will die at the roots.
hand, a tendency to plunge into the underside of Nathaniel Hawthorne
consciousness; a willingness to abandon moral
questions or to ignore the spectacle of man in Easy reading is damn hard writing.
society, or to consider these things only indirectly or Nathaniel Hawthorne
abstractly." - Richard Chase
(from Stanley Bank, ed. American Romanticism: A Every individual has a place to fill in the world
Shape for Fiction, 1969) and is important in some respect whether he
chooses to be so or not.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Type:
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Happiness in this world, when it comes, comes Nobody, I think, ought to read poetry, or look at
incidentally. Make it the object of pursuit, and it pictures or statues, who cannot find a great deal
leads us a wild-goose chase, and is never more in them than the poet or artist has actually
attained. Follow some other object, and very expressed. Their highest merit is suggestiveness.
possibly we may find that we have caught Nathaniel Hawthorne
happiness without dreaming of it.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Our Creator would never have made such lovely
days, and have given us the deep hearts to enjoy
Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is them, above and beyond all thought, unless we were
always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you meant to be immortal.
will sit down quietly, may alight upon you. Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Our most intimate friend is not he to whom we show
In our nature, however, there is a provision, alike the worst, but the best of our nature.
marvelous and merciful, that the sufferer should Nathaniel Hawthorne
never know the intensity of what he endures by
its present torture, but chiefly by the pang that Religion and art spring from the same root and are
rankles after it. close kin. Economics and art are strangers.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne

It contributes greatly towards a man's moral and Selfishness is one of the qualities apt to inspire love.
intellectual health, to be brought into habits of Nathaniel Hawthorne
companionship with individuals unlike himself,
who care little for his pursuits, and whose sphere Sunlight is painting.
and abilities he must go out of himself to Nathaniel Hawthorne
appreciate.
Nathaniel Hawthorne The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of
human virtue and happiness they might originally
Life is made up of marble and mud. project, have invariably recognized it among their
Nathaniel Hawthorne earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the
virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the
Love, whether newly born, or aroused from a site of a prison.
deathlike slumber, must always create sunshine, Nathaniel Hawthorne
filling the heart so full of radiance, this it
overflows upon the outward world. The greatest obstacle to being heroic is the doubt
Nathaniel Hawthorne whether one may not be going to prove one's self a
fool; the truest heroism is to resist the doubt; and
Moonlight is sculpture. the profoundest wisdom, to know when it ought to
Nathaniel Hawthorne be resisted, and when it be obeyed.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Mountains are earth's undecaying monuments.
Nathaniel Hawthorne The only sensible ends of literature are, first, the
pleasurable toil of writing; second, the gratification
My fortune somewhat resembled that of a person of one's family and friends; and lastly, the solid
who should entertain an idea of committing cash.
suicide, and, altogether beyond his hopes, meet Nathaniel Hawthorne
with the good hap to be murdered.
Nathaniel Hawthorne The world owes all its onward impulses to men ill at
ease. The happy man inevitably confines himself
No man for any considerable period can wear within ancient limits.
one face to himself and another to the multitude, Nathaniel Hawthorne
without finally getting bewildered as to which
may be the true. Time flies over us, but leaves it shadow behind.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne

Nobody has any conscience about adding to the We must not always talk in the market-place of what
improbabilities of a marvelous tale. happens to us in the forest.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne

We sometimes congratulate ourselves at the

moment of waking from a troubled dream; it may be
8| Page

so the moment after death. Goodman Brown" (1835). His story collections
Nathaniel Hawthorne include Twice-Told Tales (1837), Mosses from an Old
What other dungeon is so dark as one's own heart! Manse(1846), and The Snow-Image (1851). He is
What jailer so inexorable as one's self! best known for the novels The Scarlet Letter (1850),
Nathaniel Hawthorne a story of adultery set in colonial New England
considered to be one of the best American novels,
What we call real estate - the solid ground to build a
and The House of the Seven Gables (1851), the story
house on - is the broad foundation on which nearly
all the guilt of this world rests. of a family that lives under a curse for generations.
Nathaniel Hawthorne His later works include The Blithedale
Romance (1852) and The Marble Faun (1860). A
Words - so innocent and powerless as they are, as skilled literary craftsman and a master of allegory
standing in a dictionary, how potent for good and
and symbolism, he ranks among the greatest
evil they become in the hands of one who knows
how to combine them. American fiction writers.
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne has been recognized as one of
America's most important writers. He was born in
You can get assent to almost any proposition so long Massachusetts on the Fourth of July, 1804. After his
as you are not going to do anything about it. father, ship's captain, died at sea in 1808, his
Nathaniel Hawthorne mother then brought her son and two daughters to
live with her family. In 1821 Hawthorne was
• Born: 4 July 1804
accepted to Bowdoin College. He graduated in 1825.
• Birthplace: Salem, Massachusetts Twelve years later, when Twice-told Tales was
• Died: 19 May 1864 published with Hawthorne's name on the cover, he
• Best Known As: The author of The Scarlet received much recognition from already well-
Letter established critics. In 1837 Hawthorne met Sophia
Peabody, a frail amateur artist to whom he became
One of the great American authors of the 19th
engaged the following year. He left the Custom
century, Nathaniel Hawthorne grew up in New House in November 1840. Two years later, in July
England and published his first novel, Fanshawe, in 1842, Hawthorne married Sophia and moved into
1828. Though he went on to help lay the foundations the Old Manse in Concord. His daughter Una was
of the American short story, Hawthorne is more born in 1844.
In April 1846, Hawthorne became Surveyor of the
widely known for his novels The Scarlet Salem Custom House and returned to his birthplace.
Letter (1850) andThe House of Seven Gables (1851). There, anguished by his mother's death, he wrote
(Hester Prynne, the heroine of The Scarlet Letter, is The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne moved to Berkshires
forced to wear the letter 'A' for adultery after she in the spring of 1850, where he soon produced his
second novel, The House of the Seven Gables.
has an affair with the Puritan minister Arthur
Hawthorne's third child, Rose, was born in 1851.
Dimmesdale.) Hawthorne's other books Then, Hawthorne was appointed Consul to Liverpool,
includeTwice-Told Tales (1837) and The Marble serving from 1853 to 1857. When he returned to
Faun (1860). From 1853 to 1859 Hawthorne lived in Concord in 1860, his health was broken. He died on
England and in Italy, but returned to the United May 19, 1864.
States and died in 1864.
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Descended from Puritans, he was imbued with a

Famous quotations by Nathaniel Hawthorne:
deep moral earnestness. After producing several
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unexceptional works, he wrote some of his greatest Read Kate Walbert's favorite book list exclusively at
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9| Page

considered the first American psychological novel.

 No man, for any considerable period, can wear Hawthorne's next novel, The House of the Seven
one face to himself and another to the multitude, Gables (1851), takes place in the New England of his
without finally getting bewildered as to which may own period but nevertheless also deals with the
be true. effects of Puritanism.
 What other dungeon is so dark as one's own
heart! What jailer so inexorable as one's self! For a time the Hawthornes lived at "Tanglewood,"
 Happiness is as a butterfly which when pursued is near Lenox, Mass., where he wrote A Wonder
always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit Book(1852), based on Greek mythology, which
down quietly may alight upon you. became a juvenile classic, and Tanglewood
It is not the statesman, the warrior, or the monarch Tales (1853), also for children. At this time he
that survives, but the despised poet, whom they befriended his neighbor Herman Melville , who was
may have fed with their crumbs, and to whom they one of the first to appreciate Hawthorne's genius.
owe that they are now or have - name. Returning to Concord, Hawthorne completed The
one of the great masters of American fiction. His Blithedale Romance (1852), a novel based on his
novels and tales are penetrating explorations of Brook Farm experience.
moral and spiritual conflicts.
A campaign biography of his college friend
Early Life and Works Franklin Pierce earned Hawthorne the post of consul
at Liverpool (1853-57) after Pierce became
Descended from a prominent Puritan family, President. Hawthorne's stay in England is reflected
Hawthorne was the son of a sea captain who died in the travel sketches of Our Old Home (1863), and a
when Nathaniel was 4 years old. When he was 14 he visit to Italy resulted in the novel The Marble
and his mother moved to a lonely farm in Maine. Faun (1860). After returning to the United States, he
After attending Bowdoin College (1821-25), he worked on several novels that were never finished.
devoted himself to writing. His first He died during a trip to the White Mts. with Franklin
novel, Fanshawe (1829), published anonymously, Pierce.
was unsuccessful. His short stories won notice and
were collected in Twice-Told Tales (1837; second Short Stories
series, 1842). Unable to support himself by writing
and editing, he took a job at the Boston Aside from his importance as a novelist, Hawthorne
customhouse. is justly celebrated as a short-story writer. He helped
to establish the American short story as a significant
Later, Hawthorne lived at the experimental art form with his haunting tales of human loneliness,
community Brook Farm for about six months, but he frustration, hypocrisy, eccentricity, and frailty.
did not share the optimism and idealism of the Among his most brilliant stories are "The Minister's
transcendentalist participants Black Veil," "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Young
(see transcendentalism ), and he did not feel himself Goodman Brown," "Rappaccini's Daughter," "The
suited to communal life. In 1842 he married Sophia Great Stone Face," and "Ethan Brand."
Peabody, a friend and follower of Emerson ,Thoreau ,
and Margaret Fuller , and they settled in Concord.
There he wrote the tales and sketches in the
collection Mosses from an Old Manse (1846).

Later Life and Mature Work

In order to earn a livelihood Hawthorne served as

surveyor of the port at Salem (1846-49), where he
began writing his masterpiece, The Scarlet
Letter (1850). Set in 17th-century Puritan New
England, the novel delves deeply into the human
heart, presenting the problems of moral evil and
guilt through allegory and symbolism. It is often