Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Born Salem, Massachusetts, July 4, 1804.

• From a prominent Puritan family.• Earliest American ancestor was

William Hathorne—1630—he was a soldier and magistrate.

– Celebrated for persecuting Quakers (whipping/hanging)

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• William mainly remembered for having condemned a Quaker woman to be led around by carts and whipped through the streets of Boston and other towns.

• This creates conflicting attitudes: solid accomplishment vs. great guilt

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Great uncle: John Hathorne– Chief interrogator in Salem Witch

Trials; also a judge– Never repented or apologized

Hawthorne felt the present is always a dark function of the past

Nathaniel Hawthorne

• Hawthorne associated these attitudes with Puritanism as a whole.

• His works deal with guilt and the Puritan moral code as well as human loneliness and sin.

“Young Goodman Brown”

• Short story is a dark allegory• Set in 1690s during Witch Trials

• Young [to distinguish from Old] Goodman [church member who is married and received Catechism] Brown

• Faith “Goodwife”

“Young Goodman Brown”

• Set on Halloween (All Hallow’s Eve): all demons come out for one night before returning to hell; pagan ritual