Before There Was a Scarlet Letter

As I have transitioned from a regular English class to an Honors English class, I have realized that the work load is both strenuous and tiresome. We, referring to my classmates last year, never had to analyze books and novels as in-depth as we have to this year. It seems as though every piece of work we are learning about revolves around Puritan themes and ideals, so when our teacher gave us The Scarlet Letter to dissect and read, there was no surprise that it revolved around Puritanism. But, the project that came with it, is not only interesting, but takes a different approach to writing that I have not experienced before. This time we are writing blog posts in an informal style that allows for my thoughts and opinions to be expressed in a metacognitive form. So, because I have been given the opportunity to research the book, I would like to look into other works of literature during this time period that may have affected or influenced the writing of The Scarlet Letter.

The Scarlet Letter stands out as a classic among the other works of time which include Melville’s Moby Dick, Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. But many believe that The Scarlet Letter was written during the time period of American Literature known as Realism, but in truth it was written during the Romantic Period. To me when I hear the word “romantic” I think of a couple skipping through a meadow as dramatic music plays in the background, but after researching the literary time period I find that it is far from that. Romanticism emphasizes on three main points: inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual. After taking a further look into a “true” romantic writer, I start to see many similarities between the works of Hawthorne a Melville, especially between The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick. Both Hawthorne and Melville were intrigued not only by each other’s pasts, but also through their writing styles. After hearing years ago that Melville actually dedicated Moby Dick to Hawthorne, I only thought that Hawthorne would do the same for Melville, which he did, in the novel The Scarlet Letter through the style of it. The Scarlet Letter was heavily influenced by Melville’s ideas, for instance, “the outside world through the eyes of the common man” (Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics). It is interesting that the main character in Moby Dick, Ishmael, “carries with him the Puritan tendency to focus on objects in the material world that are physically marked. In so doing, he manifests the Puritan epistemology in which social behavior is analogous to the inner scrutiny of meditation but at the same time here moves himself from the community within which the Puritans of Hawthorne’s novel create and contain their identity”  (Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics). The works of Melville were later said to be “one of the many reasons why I [Hawthorne] became a writer” (Moby Dick and the Letter A).

After examining the different works of literature during this time period, I have come across another writer who had seemed to have had a very strong link with Hawthorne’s works: Edgar Allen Poe. You must be thinking to yourself, “Chris, are you sure that one of the most intense authors of all time can be linked with Nathaniel Hawthorne?” Well, let me put it simply, yes. Both Hawthorne and Poe wrote about the human condition and human nature in a way that few other writers of the time period did. At first glance, one would think that Hawthorne was not a writer who was heavily influenced by the sin, guilt and morbidity (Valella, Rob), but it is said that he was considered to be a “Dark Romantic.” This was first seen in his early works as an author.

So, hopefully you have gotten to this part of my blog and have understood the effects of  the literary time period on the book The Scarlet Letter, but if you had decided to stop halfway because you believed this to be “too boring,” then I am sorry that I had wasted a minute of your time. But in all, Hawthorne was a man who believed that in order for a one to be successful, you must look to the past. He did exactly that, and by doing so, he wrote one of the most influential books in American literary history.

Works Cited

“Romanticism”. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

“Moby Dick and the Letter A.” Canonical Thoughts. N.p., 02 Oct. 2011. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

“Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics.” Moby-Dick: Social Physics and Metaphysics

(n.d.): 49-91. Ohio State Press. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.

Valella, Rob. “Hawthorne and Melville.” HAWTHORNE AND MELVILLE. N.p., n.d. Web. 25

Feb. 2015.