Background on Hawthorne and “The Scarlet Letter” publication Nathaniel Hawthorne (or, as he was known at birth, Nathaniel Hathorne) was born in Salem in 1804, bearing a heavy legacy. His great-great-great-grandfather was ...

During the 1700’s, the Enlightenment, a philosophical and literary movement emphasizing reason and science, took root in Europe, permanently altering European views on religion, art and philosophy. While the movement inspired soc...