Hawthorne, Nathaniel

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Hawthorne, Nathaniel

Born: July 4, 1804

Salem, Massachusetts

Died: May 19, 1864

Writer and descendant of John Hathorne, chief magistrate in the Salem trials

Although American author Nathaniel Hawthorne was born more than a hundred years after the Salem witch trials, he was profoundly affected by the Puritans' persecution of innocent people during the New England witch-hunts. Hawthorne was a direct descendant of the Hathornes, one of the founding families of the Massachusetts colony, and his ancestor John Hathorne was the chief magistrate in the trials that led to the deaths of twenty people. Haunted by his Puritan past, Hawthorne explored the issue of sin in such works as "Young Goodman Brown" (1835; see primary source entry), The Scarlet Letter (1850), and The House of Seven Gables (1851), which have become American literary classics.

The "haunted chamber"

Nathaniel Hawthorne's father was a sea captain who died of yellow fever in 1808, leaving his wife and three children dependent on relatives. Nathaniel, the only son, spent his early years in Salem, Massachusetts, and at a country home in Maine. Immobilized by a leg injury for a long period of time, he developed an interest in reading and contemplation (the act of thinking or meditating about something thoughtfully). Although he was often isolated, he had a pleasant childhood, adored by his mother and two sisters and supported by relatives as he grew into adulthood. In 1821 Hawthorne's prosperous uncles, the Mannings, sent him to Bowdoin College, where fellow students were poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; future U.S. president Franklin Pierce; and Horatio Bridge, who would later finance one of Hawthorne's publications. After graduating from Bowdoin in 1825, Hawthorne returned to Salem and lived with his mother for twelve years. He spent most of his time alone in what he called a "haunted chamber," developing his skills as a writer and discovering the themes that later became the trademarks of his works. In 1838 he met Sophia Peabody, to whom he confided, "If ever I should have a biographer, he ought to make great mention of this chamber in my memoirs, because so much of my lonely youth was wasted here, and here my mind and character were formed," as quoted in the Encyclopedia of World Biography.

Hawthorne and Peabody were soon engaged, and he credited her with bringing him out into the world again. Although he had published several stories, which he called tales, his writing did not provide sufficient income to support a future wife and family. In 1839 he took a job measuring salt and coal at the Boston Custom House, where he stayed until 1841, when he invested $1000 in Brook Farm Community, a well-known commune (a group that jointly owns property and shares daily chores). Hawthorne thought Brook Farm would provide an economical home for himself and Peabody, but he soon became disenchanted with the experiment in communal living. After their marriage in 1842 the couple moved to Old Manse of Concord, a similar community whose residents included essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer Henry David Thoreau, and clergyman Ellery Channing. The Hawthornes stayed at Old Manse until 1846, when Nathaniel took a position as surveyor at the Salem Custom House. He was dismissed in January1849 as a result of local political conflicts.

Hawthorne was discouraged about losing his job, but his wife urged him to devote himself to writing. Within two years he had produced The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. Immediate acclaim from critics and other writers gave him the motivation to continue publishing his work. In 1852, when his old friend Pierce was elected president, Hawthorne was appointed overseas U.S. consul (official government representative) at Liverpool, England, where he served from 1853 to 1857. In 1857 the family moved from England to Italy, living mainly in Florence and Rome. Upon returning to the United States in 1860, they settled into their first real home at Concord, New Hampshire. Despite a lifetime of vigor and few illnesses, Hawthorne's health went into a mysterious decline. Refusing medical attention, he died in his sleep on May 19, 1864, while on an expedition with Pierce. Before his death he had started four other books, none of which was completed.

Hawthorne and the Salem trials

Hawthorne was deeply affected by the legacy of his ancestors and the shameful association of his family with the Salem witch trials. He was especially troubled by the deeds of John Hathorne. Hawthorne reportedly added a "w" to the family name in order to distinguish it from the Hathornes. This was not the only way he was affected, as his life in Salem also profoundly haunted him. Hawthorne's main literary theme was the inheritance of guilt. He felt strongly that the sins of one generation were passed on to the next generation and would play themselves out in a cycle of mischief and tragedy in small ways. From the actions of his ancestors Hawthorne

The Legacy of John Hathorne

Nathaniel Hawthorne's first Puritan ancestor was major William Hathorne, who settled in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 1630s before moving on to Salem as one of the founders of the town. In the introduction to The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne described his ancestor as "a grave, bearded, sable-cloaked and steeple-crowned progenitor—who came so early with his Bible and sword . . . and had all the Puritanical traits, both good and evil." William expressed his Puritan fervor by persecuting Quakers (members of the Society of Friends). His son John earned an even more infamous reputation for persecution as an unrepentant magistrate during the Salem witch trials of 1692–93.

Born in 1641, John inherited the privileges of an elite Salem family. During his lifetime he was a prosperous landowner, merchant, and judge. In 1684 he was appointed chief magistrate of the local court system, a position that gave him the principal role in questioning defendants during the witch trials eight years later. Transcriptions of the trials show that Hathorne presumed all accused persons to be guilty until proven innocent, so he used aggressive tactics to force them into making confessions. As an advocate of spectral (spirit) evidence, he accepted fantastical testimony as fact; therefore, the only way a suspect could avoid execution was to confess to the crime of witchcraft. Hathorne exploited the theatrical nature of the trials by calling upon supposedly bewitched (cast under a spell) girls as witnesses to confront accused witches in court, a move that doomed several people when the girls fell into fits. His bullying led many innocent people to Gallows Hill. Despite his role in the ordeal, Hathorne never expressed any remorse. Unlike his colleague Samuel Sewall (see biography and primary source entries), for instance, Hathorne did not make a public apology. Hathorne lived to an advanced age, enjoying great wealth and the respect of the community. This contradiction and Hathorne's involvement in the trials later haunted Nathaniel Hawthorne, providing the reason for the theme of inherited guilt in the author's works.

thus developed the concept of an ancestral curse. In his tales he sought to emphasize the importance of the heart and the potential calamity of over-reliance on rational thinking (ideas based on reason), which leads to destructive intellectual pride.

Hawthorne's works

Hawthorne is widely regarded as the father of the American novel, a form of literature in which characters and plot are developed in a series of interrelated events. In his first published story, "The Hollow of the Three Hills" (1830), he explored guilt and sin and included a witch in his plot. Many of his other stories addressed these same themes, often incorporating witches or an encounter with the occult (conjuring of supernatural forces). In "Young Goodman Brown" (see primary source entry) an upright Puritan man becomes permanently disillusioned with the world after he sees his wife participating in a witches' Sabbath in the forest.

The Scarlet Letter is the most widely read of Hawthorne's works. Set in seventeenth-century Salem, the novel explores the issues of forbidden pleasure and sin. Puritan officials have forced the main character, Hester Prynne, to wear a red letter "A" as a sign that she committed adultery (had sexual relations with a man who was not her husband) after she had a baby daughter out of wedlock (without being married). Hester's struggle becomes even more painful when her husband, who has taken the false name of Roger Chilling-worth, returns to Salem after an absence of several years. Learning that Hester's lover is a Puritan minister named Arthur Dimmesdale, he forces Dimmesdale to make a public confession. As the story unfolds, Hawthorne shows that Hester's surrender to passion is less troubling than the sins committed by the Puritans, who are represented by Chillingsworth and Dimmesdale. For instance, Chillingsworth is self-righteous and vindictive, while Dimmesdale is tortured by guilt and shame. Hester is eventually able to rise above adversity because she is true to the natural human spirit, but the two men ruin their lives by accepting repressive Puritan moral codes.

Literary scholars note that The Scarlet Letter and Hawthorne's other tales continue to appeal to modern readers because the author vividly depicted the era of the witch-hunts and the Salem trials. Yet his work also transcends the troubling legacy of America's Puritan past by providing an imaginative testing ground for the human struggle with the forces of evil.