Nathaniel Hawthorne Accomplishments

Joey Skracic
English 203
Dr. Davy
10/22/17
Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne, is arguably one of the greatest American fiction writers of the nineteenth century. Hawthorne was born on July 4th, 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts to a sixth generation Salem family(notable biographies). His family had already made quite the name for itself by playing a vital role in the Salem Witch Trials. One of his first ancestors was a man named John Hathorne, who was one of the three judges of the Salem Witch Trials and sentenced multiple people to execution for the idea that these people were witches(notable biographies). Hawthorne decided to add a W onto his last name so he could separate himself from his ancestors because of their tumultuous past(biography).

His most notable work is the “Scarlet Letter” in which he wrote in 1850 is known for its psychological exploration of the themes of sin, repentance, and morality (online literature). I believe that Hawthorne deserves to be put into the lineup of literature we address in this class because of his significant impact on the Romantic period and the idea that there is a dark side of humanity that can be expressed through literature. In order for an author to have a significant impact on society and have provided literature that can be taught to others he must be able to meet numerous amount of standards for his work. These standards include the ability to influence fellow authors, leaving a lasting legacy on society and be able to be interpreted by

First, he was a skillful craftsman with an impressive arthitectonic sense of form. The structure of The Scarlet Letter, for example, is so tightly integrated that no chapter, no paragraph, even, could be omitted without doing violence to the whole. The book’s four characters are inextricably bound together in the tangled web of a life situation that seems to have no solution, and the tightly woven plot has a unity of action that rises slowly but inexorably to the climactic scene of Dimmesdale’s public confession. The same tight construction is found in Hawthorne’s other writings also, especially in the shorter pieces, or “tales.” Hawthorne was also the master of a classic literary style that is remarkable for its directness, its clarity, its firmness, and its sureness of