Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts to a family with Puritan ancestry. He was a lackluster student at Bowdoin College and later wrote in isolation. He is most famous for his novel The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, which explores themes of morality, isolation, and redemption. His short story "Rappaccini's Daughter" tells of a father who turns his daughter poisonous in a scientific experiment, with themes of trust, revenge, and morality. The characters and garden setting reference biblical stories like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.