The Scarlet Letter Collierville Schools红字科利尔维尔学校.pptVIP

* * * * * * * * * The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne Introduction Background Discussion Starters  Menu The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorne The Scarlet Letter: Introduction What happens when a private sin becomes a public crime? The Scarlet Letter: Introduction In Puritan New England a young woman named Hester Prynne gives birth to a baby girl. The Scarlet Letter: Introduction Hester’s elderly husband has been missing for years. Everyone knows he can’t be the father. The town punishes Hester harshly for her adultery. The Scarlet Letter: Introduction First, they imprison her. Then, they condemn her to wear a scarlet letter A for the rest of her life. The Scarlet Letter: Introduction The townspeople treat Hester as an outcast. The Scarlet Letter: Introduction What her neighbors don’t know is the identity of the baby’s father. Hester refuses to tell. The Scarlet Letter: Introduction Her lover, whoever he is, seems to escape punishment. Or does he? The Scarlet Letter: Introduction Perhaps hidden suffering is even worse than public shame. The Scarlet Letter: Background Persecuted in England, the Puritans came to North America to form their own communities. The Scarlet Letter: Background Life in the Colonies was harsh, but it gave the Puritans the opportunity to form a society based on their religious ideals. The Scarlet Letter: Background The setting of The Scarlet Letter is Boston in the 1640s. Boston had recently been founded by about one thousand English Puritans, led by John Winthrop. The Scarlet Letter: Background Puritans sought the freedom to live by their beliefs. However, the Puritan leaders did not tolerate religious beliefs that differed from their own. The Scarlet Letter: Background As for personal freedom… every member of the community was held to strict standards of behavior. The Scarlet Letter: Background In a Puritan community such as Hester’s, no aspect of life was truly private. People kept a close watch on their neighbors. The Scarl