​

 

​

​

Have a test or term paper or upcoming class discussion on the rumored affair of Edgar Allan Poe and Frances Osgood in The Scarlet Letter? Read the comprehensive study guide for educators and students as uncovered by attorney Andrew Barger --- The Scarlet Letter: Edgar Poe and Frances Edition and Study Guide. The full text of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s famous novel is included. Each chapter of the novel is analyzed in relation to the rumored love affair.

 

For discerning educators and students:

• Analysis of each chapter;

• Multiple questions for each chapter; 

• Hawthorne biography by Henry James;

• List of the works of Hawthorne;

• Detail on initial printings of TSL;

• Main character comparisons to real-life authors and Puritans; and

• Summary of TSL. 

 

Andrew Barger is the author of The Affair of Edgar Poe and Frances Osgood in The Scarlet Letter. Andrew is an attorney and Poe scholar who uncovered that Hawthorne placed the rumored affair of Poe and Osgood in TSL. He is a member of the Nathaniel Hawthorne Society, Edgar Allan Poe Society, and the Poe Society of Baltimore.

​​​

​

​

 

Hacking Hawthorne by Andrew Barger  

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne                

Introduction—The Custom House    

            Analysis + Student Questions              

I.        The Prison-Door    

            Analysis + Student Questions             

II.        The Market-Place    

            Analysis + Student Questions              

III.        The Recognition    

            Analysis + Student Questions              

IV.        The Interview        

            Analysis + Student Questions              

V.        Hester at Her Needle    

            Analysis + Student Questions            

VI.        Pearl   

            Analysis + Student Questions             

VII.    The Governor’s Hall   

            Analysis + Student Questions              

VIII.    The Elf-Child and the Minister    

            Analysis + Student Questions            

IX.        The Leech    

            Analysis + Student Questions             

X.        The Leech and His Patient   

            Analysis + Student Questions             

XI.        The Interior of a Heart   

            Analysis + Student Questions             

XII.    The Minister’s Vigil    

            Analysis + Student Questions              

XIII.    Another View of Hester    

            Analysis + Student Questions          

XIV.    Hester and the Physician    

            Analysis + Student Questions        

XV.    Hester and Pearl    

            Analysis + Student Questions        

XVI.    A Forest Walk        

            Analysis + Student Questions       

XVII.    The Pastor and His Parishioner    

            Analysis + Student Questions       

XVIII.    A Flood of Sunshine    

            Analysis + Student Questions        

XIX.    The Child at the Brook-Side    

            Analysis + Student Questions        

XX.    The Minister in a Maze    

            Analysis + Student Questions       

XXI.    The New England Holiday    

            Analysis + Student Questions       

XXII.    The Procession    

            Analysis + Student Questions        

XXIII.    The Revelation of the Scarlet Letter   

            Analysis + Student Questions        

XXIV.    Conclusion    

            Analysis + Student Questions        

 

Appendices  

Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography - Henry James   

Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne    

Initial Printings of The Scarlet Letter           

Main Characters Compared    

Short Summary of The Scarlet Letter     

​​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Q: Thanks for your time, Andrew. What sections are in The Scarlet Letter: Edgar Poe and Frances Osgood Edition and Study Guide?

 

• Andrew Barger Introduction: Hacking Hawthorne. 

• Entire First Edition of The Scarlet Letter with Analysis and Questions for Every Chapter;

• Nathaniel Hawthorne Biography by Henry James;

• Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne;

• Initial Printings of The Scarlet Letter;

• Main Characters Compared; and

• Short Summary of The Scarlet Letter.    

 

Q: The cover with Poe and Osgood on the front is attention grabbing. How did you come up with it?

 

A: We now know that The Scarlet Letter is a Puritan portrayal of the rumored affair between Edgar Allan Poe and Frances Osgood. I wanted to put the authors on the front in their Puritan outfits, just as Nathaniel Hawthorne envisioned them.

 

Q: How did you uncover that Hawthorne portrayed the rumored affair of Edgar Allan Poe and Frances Osgood in The Scarlet Letter?

 

A: It began about a decade ago when I decided to figure out what Poe meant in his amazing poem: “Ulalume: A Ballad.” His former fiancée, Sarah Helen Whitman, said it was his most biographical poem. I analyzed every line to see how it could fit biographically into Poe’s life. There are definite time-date stamps throughout the ballad. After years of study I concluded that it was, in fact, biographical and an obscure confession, if you will, of his affair with Frances Osgood. I am finishing an academic book that solves “Ulalume,” at least in my view.

 

Years later, around the time of the Covid pandemic, I was rereading The Scarlet Letter. The characters started to jump out at me as having the same features and personalities as authors in Hawthorne’s day. It started with Minister Dimmesdale. He possesses numerous characteristics of Poe, including his depressed nature, sensitive temperament, large dark eyes, dark clothing, and a broad forehead. I began jotting down all the similarities I was seeing. Dimmesdale’s bad qualities, like talking to himself and praying as he walks down the street were almost identical to what Rufus Griswold claimed that Poe did in his “Ludwig” obituary he published just after Poe died. Unfortunately for Poe, Hawthorne relied heavily on this Griswold hitpiece. For kicks, I then did the same with Hester Prynne.

 

Sure enough, she appeared to be a puritanical portrayal of Frances Osgood. Their last names are a transition cipher, in a nod to Poe and his cryptography solutions. Hester’s art is highly regarded and she is able to sell all that she produces, just like Osgood did with her poetry. She often thinks of the past and childish matters, which Osgood also did in her poetry. Hester looks just like Poe described Osgood in his sketchpieces. Hester is very romantic and Osgood wrote many romantic poems. While her husband was traveling, she was left to her own devices. Osgood’s husband, Samuel Osgood, frequently traveled painting the portraits of the rich and famous. Hester’s daughter, Pearl, has fairylike qualities. The middle name of Osgood’s third child was Fay, which is another name for a fairy. That brought me to Pearl.

 

What little we know about Fanny Fay Osgood primarily comes from Osgood’s poetry. We know she was fairylike and her life was half sorrow and half joy, just like Pearl in Hawthorne’s novel. I then remembered that Mary Seward appeared to call Fanny Fay by the nickname Pearl in her poem “Our ‘Pearl,’” which she published in The Memorial collection after Osgood’s death. Chillingworth had many similarities to Rufus Griswold and there were several other authors involved in the Poe-Osgood scandal that Hawthorne appears to have modeled in The Scarlet Letter. There are ciphers in some of their names, just like Hawthorne did with Osgood and Prynne. I was beside myself to uncover this and went about deconstructing the novel by viewing it in terms of the authors of Hawthorne’s day as they related to Poe and Osgood. It took years. There are over five-hundred footnotes in the book.

 

Q: Why do you think other scholars have not recognized this in the past 176 years?

 

A: The question of the paternity of Frances Osgood’s third child, Fanny Fay, was not questioned in print until Poe scholar, Thomas Mabbott, gave passing reference in the late nineteen sixties. From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s side, scholars simply did not know, at least any great detail, about the rumored affair between Edgar Allan Poe and Frances Osgood. If you are not looking for a specific thing, you will never find it. On the Poe side, most scholars have looked the other way. There is no quicker way to get a Poe scholar into a fluster than to mention the alleged affair of Poe and Osgood.

 

Q: Why do you think Poe scholars have not done a deep dive into the rumored affair?

 

A: There are two main reasons. The first is a result of the ever-prevelent Poe Has Suffered Enough Doctrine. Poe underwent bouts of heavy drinking, loved ones dying throughout his life, poverty, and attacks from literary figures of his day. Under the PHSE Doctrine, there is no room for one more dark chapter in Poe’s life. The second primary reason, and the one I think is the main reason, is that there has never been a concerted study into the poetry of Frances Osgood from March 1845 (when she met Poe) to May 1850 (when Osgood died). I went through every magazine from this time period and studied all the Osgood poems and short stories. She was publishing up to three poems a month.

 

Q: Does this mean Poe actually did have an affair with Frances Osgood if Hawthorne went to such great lengths to put in his book?

 

A: Absolutely not. We have no record that Hawthorne met Poe nor Osgood. He likely met Osgood at some point since they were both from Boston families. In my view Hawthorne was just perpetuating the rumor and it was a well-known one during his day.

 

Q: What is your personal opinion? 

 

A: Edgar Allan Poe, Thou Art the Man, to steal a title from Poe. There is too much smoke here for there not to be fire.

 

Q: This is some revenge. Why did Hawthorne seek revenge on Poe?

 

A: Poe was Hawthorne’s harshest critic. He published no less than four articles about Hawthorne’s lack of creativity. Poe said: “[Hawthorne] is infinitely too fond of allegory, and can never hope for popularity so long as he persists in it.” As a result, Hawthorne placed Poe in his most famous allegory.

​

Q: What do you hope comes out of what you have uncovered?

 

A: I want The Scarlet Letter to be discussed in classrooms in a whole new light. If it has been years since people have read the novel, it’s time to dust it off. I also want the rumored Poe-Osgood affair to be explored on a deeper level. Also, Hawthorne’s ingenious methods at getting back at Poe, his harshest critic, need to be analyzed.

​

​

​

​

 

#PoeOsgoodAffair #AffairPoeOsgoodScarletLetterStudyGuide #GuideBargerScarletLetter