Nataniel Hawthorne was born on July 4, 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. He was the son of Nathaniel Hathorne and Elizabeth Clarke Manning. Hawthorne’s father was a sea captain who died before Nataniel was born. Hawthorne’s mother raised him and his two sisters.
Hawthorne attended Bowdoin College from 1821 to 1824. During his time at college, he became friends with future president Franklin Pierce. After graduating from college, Hawthorne moved back to Salem and lived with his mother and sisters. He worked various jobs before turning to writing full-time.
Hawthorne’s first novel, Fanshawe, was published anonymously in 1828. His second novel, The Scarlet Letter, was published in 1850 and is considered one of his most famous works. The book tells the story of Hester Prynne, a woman who is sentenced to wear a scarlet letter A after she has a child out of wedlock.
Hawthorne wrote several more novels throughout his career, including The House of the Seven Gables (1851) and The Blithedale Romance (1852). He also wrote a number of short stories, many of which were collected in the 1837 book Twice-Told Tales.
In 1853, after the publication of his first novel, The Boy and His Mother, he published this collection of essays on cultural topics for young people. In time, many other volumes followed; however, by 1850 the book was still in the printer. He was familiar with Thoreau’s writings from childhood because their homes were only a few blocks apart. Soon after returning to Salem from 1845 to 1849 van Wyck became involved in Democratic Party politics as surveyor of the port of Salem and secured another political appointment.
In 1850 the Hawthornes moved to Lenox, in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. The following year their first and only child, Julian, was born. During this period Nataniel Hawthorne wrote several collections of short stories, including Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) and Twice-Told Tales (1851).
These works secured his reputation as one of America’s most gifted short story writers. In addition, he also wrote a number of novels, the most famous being The Scarlet Letter (1850), which is set in Puritan New England and deals with the themes of sin, guilt, and redemption. The novel was an instant success and brought Nataniel Hawthorne both fame and fortune.
In 1853 the Hawthornes returned to Concord, where Nataniel Hawthorne spent the rest of his life. He continued to write, producing such works as The House of the Seven Gables (1851), The Blithedale Romance (1852), and The Marble Faun (1860). Nataniel Hawthorne also served for a time as consul in Liverpool, England. He died from tuberculosis on May 19, 1864, at the age of 59.
Nataniel Hawthorne’s childhood was a happy one, despite the fact that his mother was not there to raise him. He attended private schools in Salem and then entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, in 1821. He graduated from Bowdoin in 1825 and returned to Salem.
Nataniel Hawthorne did not immediately begin writing after college. Instead, he spent several years traveling around the United States and Europe. He also held a number of different jobs, including working as a customs surveyor in Salem and as a consul in Liverpool, England. It was not until 1837 that he began to seriously pursue a career in writing.
During these years, Hawthorne continued to produce Puritan tales such as “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Birthmark,” as well as volumes of short stories. Mosses from an Old Manse, his collected works, was published in 1846, while The Snow Image appeared in 1851. His termination from the surveyorship sparked a brief period of his greatest work: The Scarlet Letter in 1850, The House of the Seven Gables in 1851, and The Blithdale Romance in 1852.
These years also saw the publication of The Life of Franklin Pierce in 1852, a campaign biography written at the request of Hawthorne’s friend. From 1853 to 1857, Hawthorne served as American consul in Liverpool, England. It was during this time that he wrote The Marble Faun or The Transformation of Passages from Italia (1860), which many consider his finest work.
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an ordinary guy who saw things in a unique light. He used this power to turn it into words on paper and was able to do so. By the end of the book or short tale, he would begin to write and become emotionally involved. Nathaniel Hawthorne is regarded as a great writer because he utilized his emotional charge and creative genius to create several books and stories that will be read for decades.
The Minister’s Black Veil is one of Hawthorne’s most well-known short tales. This tale first appeared in Token and New England Magazine, which was similar to many other works published from 1828 to 1837. It is a brief novel with 13 pages and focuses on New England Puritanism. The protagonist, Reverend Hooper, is surrounded by minor characters in this short book.
On a lovely spring morning in a modest New England church, the sexton is tolling his bell to call people to services. Everything appears to be normal until the Reverend walks into view. The black veil that he has on his face throws everyone in the church for a loop. He’s wearing his regular church clothing, but his face is entirely covered except for his eyes.
In 1837, Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody. The couple had three children: Una, Julian, and Rose. The family moved to Concord, Massachusetts in 1840. There, Hawthorne wrote “The Scarlet Letter” (1850), which is considered his masterpiece. The book tells the story of Hester Prynne, a Puritan woman who bears a child out of wedlock and is forced to wear a scarlet letter “A” on her dress as punishment.
In 1842, Hawthorne published “The Life of Franklin Pierce”, a campaign biography of his friend Franklin Pierce, who was running for President of the United States. The book helped to elect Pierce, but it also cost Hawthorne his job at the Boston Custom House because he was accused of being politically partisan.
The family moved again in 1845, this time to West Newton, Massachusetts. Hawthorne continued to write and published “The Mosses from an Old Manse” (1846), a collection of short stories, in 1846. In 1850, he wrote “The Scarlet Letter” and “The House of the Seven Gables”, both of which are set in Salem and deal with themes of guilt and retribution.
In 1852, Hawthorne was appointed consul to Liverpool, England. The family moved to England, but they returned to the United States in 1857. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, at the age of 59.
