Puritan Setting In The Scarlet Letter By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Like any novel written, it must dedicate at least some lines of context to allow a reader to visualize the setting of that novel in a way the author would like them to interpret it. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of The Scarlet Letter, clearly details the various features of this Puritan setting. His emphasis on the setting is critically crucial to further the novel’s plot by centralizing the scaffold within the city and by influencing the whole the story. Aswell, Hawthorne creates a conceit about the whole story resembling a heart and lastly, he utilizes the setting to develop the structure of the novel. Analyzing the setting allows to acknowledge the precise details that Hawthrone utilizes to not only enhance his novel but to also influence

To evaluate the setting, there is some facts to know about the novel. Hawthrone’s gothic story revolves around the Puritan society that is located in early colonial era Boston. To base his novel, he would need to change some factual evidence from this time period to create the perfect allusion within his story to make the time fit inside in the setting of The Scarlet Letter’s environment and create the center. One prime example deals with the second scaffold scene. “The good old minister came freshly from the death-chamber of Governor Winthrop, who had passed from earth to heaven within that very hour”(Hawthrone 99). Here, the novel seems to reference the actual first ever governor of Boston, Winthrop. He, in the novel, died in May instead of March, in the actual month of his death (Ryskamp). Hawthrone’s purpose to change this fact relies on the scaffold When visualizing the novel and the majority of the setting dealing with the scaffold, the forest, the city, and the various important houses, one would visulizing the center of the city to be the scaffold. The text in the novel mentions a bit of various locations of major key points. Such as Hester’s cottage is mentioned that it's on the edge of the city as well as Governor Bellingham’s balcony oversees the marketplace. Depending where the location is represent how much power or high status person has in

The heart is the most vital organ in any animal. It allows blood or vital nutrients to be circulated through the body and pumping in oxygen for any needs of breathing. In the novel, anyone’s heart can express emotions such as hatred and revenge like Chillingworth’s heart towards Dimmesdale or love and compassion like Hester and Dimmesdale’s interactions. Though one may mention this aspect of the heart, the focus should rely on how the composition of the setting is similar to the heart of a human (Sganlon). As stated before the scaffold is the center of the city, and like the cardiovascular system, the center of the system is the heart. Having a focal point in the novel adds a sense of importance to that specific part of the setting. Knowingly, the novel’s focal point repels and attracts the movements of the characters throughout the novel’s setting. Hawthrone knew that by creating the scaffold as the main focal point of the city as well resembling to a heart, he would need to support it by adding other smaller focal points in this Puritan town to enhance the middle. As the way to centerizaled the scaffold, he creates the other various parts of the town that similarly act as a way to just have a redirection back to the center. When the concept of redirecting relates to the heart, one