The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

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The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
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Introduction Background Discussion Starters
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The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne

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The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
What happens when a private sin
becomes a public crime?
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
In Puritan New England a young woman named Hester
Prynne gives birth to a baby girl.
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
Hesters elderly husband has been missing for
years.
Everyone knows he cant be the father.
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
The town punishes Hester harshly for her
adultery.
First, they imprison her.
Then, they condemn her to wear a scarlet letter A
for the rest of her life.
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
The townspeople treat Hester as an outcast.
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
What her neighbors dont know is the identity of
the babys father.
Hester refuses to tell.
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
Her lover, whoever he is, seems to escape
punishment.
Or does he?
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The Scarlet Letter Introduction
Perhaps hidden suffering
is even worse than public shame.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
Persecuted in England, the Puritans came to North
America to form their own communities.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
Life in the Colonies was harsh,
but it gave the Puritans the opportunity to form
a society based on their religious ideals.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
The setting of The Scarlet Letter is Boston in
the 1640s.
Boston had recently been founded by about one
thousand English Puritans, led by John Winthrop.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
Puritans sought the freedom to live by their
beliefs.
However, the Puritan leaders did not tolerate
religious beliefs that differed from their own.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
As for personal freedom
every member of the community was held to strict
standards of behavior.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
In a Puritan community such as Hesters, no
aspect of life was truly private.
People kept a close watch on their neighbors.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
Those considered sinners were publiclyand
harshlypunished, as an example to others.
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The Scarlet Letter Background
The Puritans believed that all things are
controlled beforehand by the will of God. This
doctrine is called predestination.

• No one could know for certain if they were
  destined to receive salvation.

• However, a good Puritan still had to live as pure
  and righteous a life as possibleand to watch for
  signs of sinfulness in others.

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The Scarlet Letter Discussion Starters

• Discuss (1)
• Hester goes to jail for an action that, in our
  society, usually would remain private.

• What kinds of wrongdoing do you think should be
  punished publicly?
• What kinds should remain private for the people
  involved?

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The Scarlet Letter Discussion Starters

• Discuss (2)
• Motivated by love and loyalty, Hester keeps a
  painful secret.

• What kinds of secrets should you keep?
• When might it be better to reveal a friends
  secret, even though that person will be angry
  with you?