Scarlet+Letter+Project

 //On the breast ofd her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery andtoc//

//fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A (chapter 2)//

//A somber romance of the conscience, The Scarlet Letter represents the first great psychological novel in American literature. George Macy //

Analyses of Hawthorne and the Scarlet Letter
[|**Analysis of Hester Prynne from NPR Radio**] //"Hester Prynne, protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne's masterwork The Scarlet Letter, is among the first and most important female protagonists in American literature. She's the embodiment of deep contradictions: bad and beautiful, holy and sinful, conventional and radical."//

[|PBS American Masters Series on American Literature]

[|The Scarlet Letter Psychology of Sin], student essay from [|www.bookrags.com]

[|Introduction to Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter] by Katherine Lee Bates, pp v-xvi, New York: Thomas Y. Crowell's Company, 1902

[|**The Scarlet Letter: the Twice Told Tale a lecture about the book and movie adaptation**]Sacvan Bercovitch Nathaniel Hawthorne Review, vol 22 no 2, pp 1-20, Fall 1996, ISSN 0980-4197,

[|The Classic Text: Traditions and Interpretations] Christopher Barth, Virginia Haas, Sarah McDanie University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - Special Collections Library 2001

[|Henry James, famous American author, writing about The Scarlet Letter in 1901]

[|Henry James writing about Hawthorne and the Scarlet Letter]

[|Studies in Classic American Literature by DH lawrence, 1923: Chapter 7, Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Scarlet Letter]

[|Carl van Doren, The American Novel, Chapter 4: Nathaniel Hawthorne] New York: MacMillan, 1921

[|Some Observations about Hawthorne's Women]by Barbara Ellis//; WILLA//, Volume II, 13-18. 1993 The Women in Literacy and Life Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English

[|Hester and Pearl in the Scarlet Letter]

[|Sites re the Scarlet Letter ipl]

[|Cracking the Code of Hawthorne's Allegories]

[|Puritan Women in Literature - Witches, symbols of shame]

[|Puritan Women in Literature - Dumb those women down!]

[|Hawthorne in Salem] - good website about all aspects of hawthorne - relion, puritans, literature etc

From CTEA's Electronic Resources
[|Gale E-Books Literature] Don't forget to use the Password: empirelink

[|Grolier Encyclopedia] id: nystate617, paswd: novelhome

[|Colonial America Reference Library]



Nathaniel Hawthorne
@http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma01/lisle/dial/hawthorne.html Dictionary of Literary Biography

[|Article about Hawthorne's family involvement in the Salem Witch Trials]

[|Scroll down and find a good article on Issues and Themes in Hawthorne's Literature]

[|Nathaniel Hawthorne and the Puritan Influence]

[|Puritan Women in Literature: Witches Symbols of Shame]

Background - Puritans and Pilgrims
[|Puritans and Pilgrims] A work completed for the Capitol Project, from the American Studies group at the University of Virginia [|Scott Eric Atkins] background and differences between the Puritans and the Pilgrims: their life views, religion, politics and education.

[|Crime and Punishment in the Plymouth Colony]

[|Religious Beliefs]

Articles from JSTOR and GALE Literature Resources
[|Hawthorne's Hester Prynne]

[|Transcript for NPR radio story about Hester Prynne]

[|Sentimental Motifs in Scarlet Letter]

[|New England Sources]

[|Hester Prynne-ism]

[|Mrs. Hawthorne's Headache]

[|Romance and New England's Situation]

Psychology
the study of the mind—the means by which people learn, think, and feel. It is also the study of behavior Look up psychology in the [|Grolier Encyclopedia] online remember the id: nystate617 and password: novelhome (if it doesn't work the first time try again)

[|Psychology Today] [|CTEA Psychology Links]

Ideas for Research Papers on the Scarlet Letter
Is a person’s decision making internalized (based on a person’s perception) or externalized (outside forces play a huge part in making the decisions for a person)? Is Hester Prynne’s decision to have an affair an internal decision or external? Is //The Scarlet Letter// indicative of the humanistic perspective of psychology? Notice that this question demands that you look up Humanistic version of psychology. Search Grolier or scroll down for other psychology links
 * Analyze the following Essential question. How might it play a role in //The Scarlet Letter//**.
 * Example Question for Research**

Getting Started with a Literary Research paper
First you have to do preliminary research in order to figure out what you want to write about. If you think you're not interested in the subject how can you turn the topic to your advantage? Start by looking into the background and looking for clues as to what might interest you. As you look at the material, what questions come up?

__**History and Psychology**__

During Hawthorne's time in New England he and his friends were exploring a philosophy known as "Transcendentalism" how did that relate to or differ from "Puritanism?" What was Hawthorne's attitude towards transcendentalism? What did he think about Puritianism? What did he think about religion?

The Scarlet Letter has been described as the first great **psychological novel** in American literature. Again we might ask why, but perhaps before we do that we should understand what psychology really is. We know that psychology is a relatively modern social science about the study of the mind—the means by which people learn, think, and feel. It is also the study of behavior. What about the Scarlet Letter can be explored through the lens of psychology?

Was Hester Prynne a feminist? Was Hawthorne's wife a feminist? What relationship do they have?

Does knowing about Hawthorne's life help us understand the Scarlet Letter? What kinds of universal truths can be found in the novel? One of Hawthorne's ancestors was a judge for the Salem Witch Trials. Do you think that information is reflected in the Scarlet Letter.

__**Humanism**__

Do people make decisions based on an internalized view of the world (one of pure self-interest) or from an externalized view (having to do with society, environment, circumstances outside of one's own personal perspective)

For a key to this thinking you might want to look at [|Maslow's Hierachy of Needs]