Who Wrote The Scarlet Letter, When, and Where Is It Set?
A fired customs officer, a story set two centuries back, and a bestseller in ten days
The Scarlet Letter in brief
| Fact | Answer |
|---|---|
| Author | Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804 to 1864) |
| Published | 16 March 1850, Ticknor, Reed and Fields, Boston |
| First printing | 2,500 copies, sold out in about ten days |
| Length | About 250 pages; about 63,000 words; 24 chapters |
| Setting | Boston, Massachusetts Bay Colony |
| Time | About 1642 to 1649 |
| Introduction | The Custom-House, a long autobiographical preface |
| Genre | Historical romance |
Who was Nathaniel Hawthorne?
Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1804, to a family that had lived there since the 1600s. One of his ancestors, John Hathorne, was a judge in the Salem witch trials of 1692, and Hawthorne is said to have added the w to his name partly to distance himself from that past. He wrote short stories for years with little money to show for it, and The Scarlet Letter was his first great success. His other books include The House of the Seven Gables.
↑ Back to the topWhat is The Custom-House?
The novel opens with a long introduction about Hawthorne's own job as Surveyor at the Salem Custom House, from 1846 until he was dismissed in 1849 after a change of government. In it he claims to have found, in the attic, a faded piece of red cloth shaped like an A and an old manuscript telling Hester's story. That discovery is invented, but the job, and the bitterness of losing it, were real.
↑ Back to the topWhere and when does it take place?
The story is set in the young town of Boston, roughly from 1642 to 1649, when the colony was ruled by strict laws based on its founders' beliefs. Hawthorne mentions real people, including Governor Bellingham and Governor Winthrop, whose death occurs during the story. The prison, the scaffold in the market place, Hester's cottage at the edge of town and the dark forest beyond are the main settings.
↑ Back to the topHow was it received?
It sold out almost at once and made Hawthorne famous. Some readers objected to its subject, a woman who has a child outside marriage and refuses to be crushed by shame, but most critics praised it. It is now considered one of the first great American novels and is still widely taught in schools.
↑ Back to the topThe Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published on 16 March 1850 by Ticknor, Reed and Fields of Boston. The first printing of 2,500 copies sold out in about ten days.
It is set in Boston, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, in the 1640s, about two hundred years before Hawthorne wrote it.
More about The Scarlet Letter
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