Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Library Research Guide

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), American novelist and short story writer, was born to a prominent Puritan family in Salem, Massachusetts . He was educated at Bowdoin College in Maine. After graduation in 1825, he returned to Salem and began his writing career. His first novel, Fanshawe, was published in 1828. He later moved to Boston, where he found work to support his writing. Hawthorne spent several months at Brook Farm, where he met his wife, Sophia Peabody. He did not, however, share the philosophical views of American Transcendentalism. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed in 1851 by The House of Seven Gables. His writings focused on the conflicts of Puritanism - civil authority versus individual freedoms, religious mores versus emotion and passions. In 1852, he was appointed as the American consul in Liverpool, England. He and his family lived in Europe for several years, returning in 1860 to Concord, Massachusetts. Nathaniel Hawthorne is buried at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

The Scarlet Letter is rich in symbolism and built on themes of sin and redemption and the individual versus society. The Scarlet Letter is considered Hawthorne's best work and has never been out of print. The heroine, Hester Prynne, is one of the first female protagonists in American literature.

Getting Started...

The best place to start your research is by reading The Scarlet Letter. It is written in 19th century prose style which can be difficult to read for modern readers, so getting started early is a good idea. There are several places where you can get a copy of the book.

In print copy at the Library: We have several editions. Search the Library's Online Catalog to find the call number
On the Internet: Download and read it from Project Gutenberg; Read it from Bartleby.com; Download or read it from University of Virginia E-Text Center
Audiobook: Complete and unabridged on compact disc In the Library's Media Center - Call number PS1868.A1 2001c
Video: The Library owns a 5 part adaption of The Scarlet Letter produced for PBS. Call number: PS 1868.S337 1988

Librarian's Hint: Be careful! Don't substitute watching the movie for reading the book. Producers of movie sometimes change plots, eliminate characters, and even change historical context. The PBS video series is better than most movies, but the Hollywood movie made in 1994 starring Demi Moore changed a lot of key points and was very controversial.

Try a Work Overview...

Next, you might try a work overview. A work overview will give you plot synopsis, a list of the major characters and a brief description of them, and some insights into the major themes, symbolism, and meanings of The Scarlet Letter. You can use the work overviews to begin developing your topic for your research paper, or to get background information about Hawthorne's work. Here are some databases where work overviews may be found:

Magill on Literature Plus: Librarian's Hint: Type "scarlet letter" into the search box
Proquest Learning: Literature: Librarian's Hint: The Knowledge Notes section of this database has a great entry for the Scarlet Letter under Hawthorne's name
Literature Resource Center: Librarian's Hint: Select a Title Search, then type "scarlet letter" and select "exact title". The work overviews will appear as the second tab "Literary Criticism, Articles, & Work Overviews".

Video

Great Books: The Scarlet Letter. Produced by the Learning Channel. Bethesda: Discovery Communications, 1996. Located in the Media Center PS 1868.S32 1996.: Filmed throughout the world, episodes in TLC's Great Books series include film clips from movies and interviews with scholars, writers, musicians, filmmakers and world leaders, thus presenting a variety of interpretations about the book and its effect on the world today. In this episode on The Scarlet Letter, Roland Joffe, director of the 1994 movie, The Scarlet Letter, shares his thoughts on a story that illustrates "the potent elixir of vengeance, guilt, hypocrisy, and repressive religion" (from the cover notes).

Librarian's Hint: Check with your instructor before you use a work overview as a source in your paper.

Now for the Research...

Books

Books can be very helpful when working on an assignment involving literary criticism. As Hawthorne is a MAJOR American writer, much has been written about his works - historical background, character analyses, and much more.

To find books, use the Online Catalog. There are several ways to search using keywords, here are some examples:

"scarlet letter" - a keyword search by the title of the book will get you criticism about the work itself, in addition to entries pointing you to copies of the book in the library's collection
"nathaniel hawthorne" - a keyword search by the author's name will get you everything the library has ABOUT Nathaniel Hawthorne as well as everything the library has BY Nathaniel Hawthorne
"puritans" - a search for this keyword will bring up items about the historical background and context of The Scarlet Letter

You will find citations to printed books, electronic books, audiovisual materials and other types of library materials in the Online Catalog. However, if you want to just use the electronic books, you can go straight to NetLibrary. NetLibrary is a collection of over 45,000 electronic books covering just about any academic topic. Librarian's Hint: Search "scarlet letter" in NetLibrary to find books covering this topic.

Databases for Journal Articles and so much more...

Databases purchased by the Library for research use can be used to find articles in journals, magazines, and newspapers. They are also provide access to illustrations and information in reference books.

Many of the articles you locate in a database will be available to you full-text in the database. Others will give you reference to the citation only. If you find an interesting article that is not full-text, you may request it through interlibrary loan (I.L.L.). Interlibrary Loan is free service available to all students. I.L.L. service takes about 2 days for a journal article to reach us and will be sent to your email.

The databases most helpful for literary criticism research have been set aside for you under the subject link for LITERATURE on the Library's home page. Listed here are database we suggest you do not miss:

MLA International Bibliography: Although this database provides access to only a few full-text articles, it is the most complete index for literary journals and literary criticism.
Literature Resource Center: This database is designed to be a one stop shop for literature information. You can find biographical information about authors, as well as literary criticism from reference books and journals. There is also a link to the MLA International Bibliography. Librarian's Hint: Search the title of your work - "scarlet letter". Searching by your author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, will retrieve too much information covering other stories and novels by him.
ProQuest Learning: Literature: This is another one stop shop. We already mentioned the Knowledge Notes, but you can also find information about literary periods and other articles about your novel here. Librarian's Hint: Do a quick search using "scarlet letter".

The Internet

The open Internet (stuff you find with a Google search) can reveal very interesting information, but you need to be very careful to evaluate the information for accuracy, level of scholarship, and content. If you are in doubt about the usefulness of an Internet site, check with your instructor before adding it to your works cited.

Some more help

Here are some other study guides which might be useful for this assignment:

Guide created by Karen Locher, 3/09