In the early century, when Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The scarlet letter, americans hadmixed feelings about tge religous and phil
osophical legacy left by their putitain ancestors. Describe the conflicts that many americans felt regarding puttianism ingluence on the development of anational ifentity. What putitain ideals should br kepy, and which onee ehould be teeisted or left out.
In choosing Puritan New England as his backdrop, Hawthorne had provided a rich texture for his drama of human suffering. His ending, written in the nineteenth century, seems a hopeful sign that future generations will move toward a less gloomy, less repressive society where human compassion and tolerance will balance the community laws.
Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical.
