The Scarlet Letter

     The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne during the American Romantic Era, after he found a manuscript that sparked his writing capability. The ideas that were occuring during that era were prominent in Hawthorne's novel. An example of his incorporation was the description of the prison door. "Like all that pertains to crime, it seemed never to have know a youthful era"(Hawthorne 43). This example is a great interpretation of that era, by saying the door is scary, old, and gloomy. The description of the prison door was a moreover a theme that will be present in the rest of the novel, and shows the gothic behind it.
     In chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter, another example of the Romantic era can be found. "The penalty therefore is death. But in their great mercy and tenderness of heart, they have doomed Mistress Prynne to stand only at a space of three hours on the platform of pillory, and then and therefore, for the remainder of her natural life, to wear a mark of shame upon her bosom"(Hawthorne 57). Nathaniel Hawthorne depicts the shamefulness of Hester Prynne, and how she will be marked forever. The letter A, will be branded on her until she dies. The darkness and gothic depictions of the shame and agony that the woman will go through, show many aspects of the American Romantic era.She was shunned from society, and the everything around her became darkness and gothic, just like the American Romantic era.