Nathaniel Hawthorne Quizzes

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for his works The Scarlet Letter, The House of Seven Gables, and Young Goodman Brown. Born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804, Nathaniel was the son of a sea captain and descendent of one of the oldest Puritan families in New England. Hawthorne’s writing is characterized by its dark Romanticism and Gothic themes. His work often centers around morality, guilt and sin through themes such as alienation and puritanism.Hawthorne’s early life was filled with tragedy: his father died at sea when Nathaniel was only four years old. He grew up an introverted child who spent much of his time reading books like Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress or Shakespeare’s plays. After graduating from Bowdoin College in 1825 he moved to Salem where he wrote short stories for magazines such as The Token and later published two collections: Twice-Told Tales (1837) and Mosses From an Old Manse (1846).In 1850 Hawthorne moved to Lenox, Massachusetts where he wrote perhaps his most famous work The Scarlet Letter (1850). Set in Puritan New England it tells the story of Hester Prynne who is punished for having a child out of wedlock with her lover Dimmesdale. This novel is considered one of the greatest American novels due to its themes on morality, sin, guilt, punishment and redemption which are still relevant today.Hawthorne continued writing throughout the 1850s producing works including The House Of Seven Gables (1851) which follows a cursed family living in a haunted mansion; A Wonder Book For Girls & Boys (1852), a children’s book based on Greek mythology; Tanglewood Tales (1853); or The Blithedale Romance(1852), which tells the story of idealistic utopian reforms gone wrong. In 1860 Hawthorn moved back to Concord where he died 10 years later at age 59 due to tuberculosis complications. Though many people consider him part of the Transcendentalist movement due to his rejection of strict Puritanism , Hawthorne himself denied this association stating that I cannot call myself a Transcendentalist I would rather be called a Transparentistfor so I might be said to hold up Nature to reveal something beyond herself. His legacy remains strong today with many critics considering him among America’s greatest writers for immortalizing New England culture through literary masterpieces .