Novelist · 1804 – 1864
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Little-Known Facts
- He added a 'w' to his family name, Hathorne, possibly to distance himself from a witch-trial judge ancestor.
- He briefly lived at Brook Farm, a utopian experimental community.
Myths & Misconceptions
Is The Scarlet Letter just about adultery?
The affair is the starting point; the novel's real subject is guilt, public shame, hypocrisy and the weight of conscience in a rigid Puritan society.