A Postmodern approach to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Novel “The Scarlet Letter”

Abstract

Postmodernism is a late 20th century movement in literature, arts, architecture and criticism. Postmodernism is associated with Post-structuralist approach, Deconstruction and Reader-response criticism. Numerous studies have been done in various genres of literature which embody postmodernism. This research focuses on the representation of various postmodern elements in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel “The Scarlet Letter” which is a renowned romantic work of fiction, set in 17th century Puritan society. The novel has been investigated in the light of postmodern elements identified by various postmodernists. The results reveal that the author employs many elements of postmodern literature like pastiche, silence, fragmented identities, exhaustion, chaos, play, irony, absence of center, chance, indeterminacy and fabulation. The novel also represents anarchy in the society towards religion. These postmodern elements featured in “The Scarlet Letter” make it a postmodern novel.