One of the most significant writers of the romantic period in American literature was
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne wrote stories that opposed the ideas of Transcendentalism.
Since he had ancestors of Puritan belief, Hawthorne wrote many stories about Puritan New
England. His most famous story is the Scarlet Letter. This novel tells of the punishment of a
woman, Hester Prynne, who committed adultery and gave birth to Pearl. A minister of Boston,
Arthur Dimmesdale, had an affair with Hester while believing that her husband, Roger
Chillingworth, had died. However, Chillingworth did n…
