In the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne writes about his various meetings with Ellery Channing, Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson (Hawthorne pg. 27). These people and their experiences must have sparked something into the story’s atmosphere. Real life experiences is sometimes more interesting and, obviously, easier to understand. Vicariously, Nathaniel Hawthorne could have gone the same route exposing his Puritan attitude in the plot of the story. His intuitive senses come to life in character portrayal and true Puritan sensibility. “It is Hawthorne’s tendency in art, as in life, to trust intuition rather than analytical reason.” Author of Hawthorne’s Conception of the Creative Process, Richard J. Jacobsen, also goes on to say “…on the intuitions of its great and warm heart, the conclusions thus attained are often so profound

sting your intuition could very well be more factual and believable than interviewing the person next to you.

The discovery of the scarlet letter amid the old documents of the Customs-lists of wrecked or rotten ships and dead merchants-signalizes not a retreat into the past but a penetration into persistent meaning (Kaul pg.66).

Theology aides in the novels understanding as proof that this Puritan community did exist. Yvor Winters explains “…Puritan theology rested primarily upon the doctrine of predestination… it separated men sharply and certainly in two groups, the saved and the damned, and, technically, at least, was not concerned with any subtler shadings” (Kaul pg. 12). This is to say that the ideas of good and evil play at hand in the development of man’s attitude and, more importantly, his being as a whole. Human characteristics are encompassed with good and bad swirling around to create a balance within. Hawthorne realizes these psychological attributes and applies them to his characters, namely Hester Prynne and Mister Dimmesdale, giving them the ability to relate to his readers. The readers see this association and delve into the story with more focus, therefore believing almost entirely this story, The Scarlet Letter, has some credibility in the historical atmosphere of the Puritan age. Puritans, also, were extremely religious whence their morals would judge their everyday routine. Sin was an unspeakable trait in a person’s personality. Richard J. Jacobsen af

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