The Scarlet Letter: Edgar Poe and Frances Osgood Edition and Study Guide

Andrew Barger is an attorney and Edgar Allan Poe scholar who uncovered that Nathaniel Hawthorne placed the rumored affair of Edgar Poe and Frances Osgood in The Scarlet Letter. He is the editor of several award-winning annotated anthologies, which focus on the best short stories of the nineteenth century. Visit his work at AndrewBarger.com and on X @DangerousLore.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (born Nathaniel Hathorne; July 4, 1804 - May 19, 1864) was one of the greatest American novelists and short story writers of the 19th century. He is best known for his masterpieces The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of the Seven Gables (1851), which explore themes of sin, guilt, morality, Puritanism, and the dark aspects of human nature through allegory and symbolism. Early LifeHawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, into a family with deep New England roots. His ancestors included Puritan settlers; his great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne, served as a judge in the 1692 Salem witch trials. This family history profoundly influenced Hawthorne's writing, which often grappled with inherited guilt and the legacies of the past. He added the "w" to his surname in his early twenties, possibly to distance himself from that legacy. His father, a sea captain, died of yellow fever when Hawthorne was four. He grew up with his mother and siblings, spending time in Salem and Raymond, Maine. An injury in his youth kept him somewhat reclusive, during which he read extensively. Education and Early CareerHawthorne attended Bowdoin College in Maine (1821-1825), where he was a classmate of future president Franklin Pierce and poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. After graduating, he returned to Salem and dedicated himself to writing. His first novel, Fanshawe (1828), was a failure; he later tried to suppress it. He published short stories in magazines and collected some in Twice-Told Tales (1837, expanded 1842). To support himself, he worked at the Boston Custom House and briefly joined the Brook Farm utopian community (a Transcendentalist experiment), which he later satirized in The Blithedale Romance (1852). Marriage and FamilyIn 1842, Hawthorne married Sophia Peabody, a transcendentalist and artist from Salem. They had three children: Una, Julian, and Rose. The couple lived in Concord, Massachusetts (at The Old Manse), where Hawthorne befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and later Herman Melville (whom he met in 1850 and who dedicated Moby-Dick to him). They also lived in Salem, the Berkshires, and The Wayside in Concord. Major Works and Literary SuccessHawthorne's breakthrough came with The Scarlet Letter (1850), a novel about adultery, shame, and redemption in Puritan New England. It was followed by The House of the Seven Gables (1851), examining inherited sin and family curses. Other notable works include short stories like "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birth-Mark," and novels such as The Marble Faun (1860). His writing style is noted for psychological depth, moral ambiguity, and rich symbolism, bridging Romanticism and realism.Later Life and DiplomacyA Democrat and friend of Franklin Pierce, Hawthorne wrote a campaign biography for him in 1852. When Pierce became president, he appointed Hawthorne U.S. Consul in Liverpool, England (1853-1857). The family lived in Europe for several years, which inspired The Marble Faun. They returned to Concord in 1860. DeathHawthorne's health declined in his later years. He died in his sleep on May 19, 1864, in Plymouth, New Hampshire, while traveling with Pierce. He is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts. Hawthorne remains a cornerstone of American literature, admired for his insightful critique of society and the human psyche. His works continue to be studied for their exploration of America's moral and historical complexities.