Nathaniel Hawthorne
The objective of this work is to examine Nathaniel Hawthorne's works and to conduct a comparison of the life of Hawthorne to his short stories and to examine how his life and his works paralleled one another.

The life of Nathaniel Hawthorne many times was played out in his stories as his life events and experiences bled forth into his works demonstrating the struggles that the writer faced within himself and his own life. unning through the threads of the stories of Hawthorne is the theme of Puritanism and this is clearly perceived as one reads the stories of Hawthorne entitled "The Scarlet Letter," "The Minister's Black Veil and "The Birthmark." In order to understand Hawthorne's view it is necessary that one understand what Puritanism is, believes, and represents.

Puritanism

Puritanism was first presented in the works of William Tyndale (1495-1536) as well as in the work of John Hooper (d.1555) who…...

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References

Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1999) The Minister's Black Veil: Boston: Ticknor and Fields 1850. Retrieved from http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sl23.html

Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1999) The Scarlet Letter: Boston: Ticknor and Fields 1850, Retrieved from: http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sl23.html

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. (1999) The Scarlet Letter: A Romance. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1850.Retrieved from: http://eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/sl23.html

Rummel, C. (1996) Puritanism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Short Stories. 25 7 1996. American Short Stories. Retrieved from: http://bronski.net/works/hawthorne.html

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales
Hawthorne's writings serve as a social commentary on the inherent dangers in blind acceptance of religious teachings.

There is ample scope to interpret all three stories of "Young Goodman Brown," "The Birthmark," and "Ethan Brand," as Hawthorne's commentary on the consequences of allowing religion to mar true recognition of goodness and beauty. All three stories highlight the fact that human kindness and faith are more important than obsession with religious teachings.

Although Hawthorne's writings have often been interpreted as being influenced by the author's Puritan heritage, there is equally a wide acknowledgement that Hawthorne left the interpretation of any moral lesson in his tales to the reader.

Hawthorne's contemporaries have, through their writings, shared several insights into Hawthorne's real-life personality and writings, which indicate that he was a keen observer of human nature and if anything, possessed a deep concern and compassion for the deeper psychology of human nature.

Hawthorne's ritings -…...

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Works Cited

Baym, Nina. "The Tales of the Manse Period." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 1987. 427-432.

Colacurcio, Michael J. "Visible Sanctity and Spectral Evidence: The Moral World of Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 1987. 389-404.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. " Rappaccini's Daughter." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 1987. 186-209.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birthmark." Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York W.W. Norton and Company, 1987. 118-131.

Nathaniel Hawthorne
Life Imitates

ere all the literary works of Nathaniel Hawthorne compiled into a single manuscript, then appropriately filtered to include only works of prose and fiction, and if an attempt were then made to uncover a single motif spanning through the vast majority of the remaining text, it would read something like the following. A protagonist is haunted by a vague, strangely preternatural feeling of foreboding and doom that eventually manifests itself physically before mortally claiming its victim. Sadly, but not surprisingly so, this motif could also apply to Hawthorne's life. Despite the fact that the author who many have acclaimed as one of the finest in American history enjoyed a celebrated literary career (with a number of impressive, political boons as well), he was never able to fully surmount all of his 'demons' and enjoy the happiness that should have rightfully been his. Instead, the celebrated author would tap…...

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Works Cited

Cheever, Susan. American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press, 2006. Print.

Crews, Frederick. The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne's Psychological Themes. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966. Print

Clark, Nancy. "Nathaniel Hawthorne's Struggle and Romance with Salem." Literary Traveler. n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Ohio: Ohio State University Press. 1962. Print.

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an Eighteenth Century American author who through his works explored the subject of human sin, punishment and guilt. In fact, themes of pride, guilt, sin, punishment and evil is evident in all of his works, and the wrongs committed by his ancestors played a particular dominant force in Hawthorne's literary career, such as his most famous piece, "The Scarlet Letter" (Nathaniel Pp). Hawthorne and other writers of the time, Ralph aldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Herman Melville, looked to the Puritan origins of American history and Puritan styles of rhetoric to create a distinctive American literary voice (Nathaniel Pp).
Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1803. His father, who died when Nathaniel was four years old, was a sea captain and direct descendent of John Hathorne, one of the judges in the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 (Nathaniel Pp). Growing up in seclusion with his widowed…...

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Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown." Modern Library Edition.

Random House, Inc. New York. 1937; pp 1033-1042.  http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/etcbin/browse-mixed-new?id=HawYoun&tag=public&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed 

Donoghue, Denis. "Hawthorne and Sin." Christianity and Literature. January 1

2003; Pp.  http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc3.asp?docid=1G1:102905746

Lastly, Roger as the former and unknown husband of Hester has also shown depth in character by assuming the role of both a vengeful and still-caring husband for Hester. In addition to these personalities, Roger has also risen from anonymity to prominence as a physician in the town of Salem. Although Roger was consistently driven by revenge and ill feelings against the lover of Hester, he showed wisdom and righteousness during Hester's prosecution in the marketplace, wherein he was heard remarking, "A wise sentence...thus she will be a living sermon against sin, until the ignominious letter be engraved upon her tombstone." In this instance, Roger was both judgmental and fair in assessing Hester's situation: he was judgmental for he also cursed Hester for her deeds and the outcome of her sinfulness, but he also considered the fact that she was not alone in the commitment of this deed, thus he…...

The child is closely associated with the original sin and the symbol of it. The scarlet letter was, in fact, one of the first items that caught her eye. "One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant's eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped at it, smiling, not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam that gave her face the look of a much older child" (95). Such duality of sin and its symbols foreshadows Hester's eventual empowerment as a result of her punishment and ostracism by the Puritan community. Her life with Pearl is indeed lonely and filled with the challenges of single parenthood, but Hester transcends her misery by employing her own mix of pride, humility, and dignity.
As seven years pass and Pearl becomes a little girl instead of a…...

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Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. Cleveland: Economy Book League, 1933.

Given that slavery and sexism were still pervasive realities in American society in the middle of the nineteenth century, the Scarlet Letter borders on being a radical work.
awthorne also reveals how religion had pervaded Massachusetts Bay society to the extent that public laws reflected Christianity. The idea that Church and State should be separate did not emerge until much later in American consciousness, and by the time awthorne wrote the Scarlet Letter in 1850 the nation had been fully formed and founded on principles far different than those upon which the Massachusetts Bay Colony was: namely, religious plurality was protected in the Constitution. In spite of that, women had few rights in public society. Women were prohibited from voting or holding public office. Adultery and sexual freedom remained taboo, as was homosexuality and mixed-race relations.

The Scarlet Letter would have been received differently by different groups of people and individuals…...

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Hawthorne also reveals how religion had pervaded Massachusetts Bay society to the extent that public laws reflected Christianity. The idea that Church and State should be separate did not emerge until much later in American consciousness, and by the time Hawthorne wrote the Scarlet Letter in 1850 the nation had been fully formed and founded on principles far different than those upon which the Massachusetts Bay Colony was: namely, religious plurality was protected in the Constitution. In spite of that, women had few rights in public society. Women were prohibited from voting or holding public office. Adultery and sexual freedom remained taboo, as was homosexuality and mixed-race relations.

The Scarlet Letter would have been received differently by different groups of people and individuals in 1850 America. Few people of color were able to read at the time and so the book would have been read mainly by whites who could afford a decent education. The book also spoke far more to a New England audience than to a southern one because of its being set in Boston. Still, the issues Hawthorn addresses are universal among all Americans. Most of the American population in 1850 were self-described Christians. Social norms were conservative, almost as conservative as they were in the seventeenth century, when the novel was set. Puritanical settlements had long since morphed into more mercenary outposts in New England, but Hawthorne must have noticed widespread conservatism in the first and second Great Awakenings: eras of Christian evangelism in America. Evangelism usually constituted a reaction toward perceived breakdowns in morality. Those breakdowns might have meant only the transformation of social norms into those more realistic and egalitarian but conservatives by definition cling to their traditions vehemently. Hawthorne's book speaks to those who can identify with the protagonist and/or with Dimmesdale. Hester's husband Roger Chillingworth is depicted as an almost one-dimensional character consumed by the desire for revenge. Chillingworth's name is as icy as his heart; the author therefore suggests that true love and marriage have nothing to do with one another.

Individuals who believe that adulterers should be shunned like Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale were might react to Hawthorne's work differently than most readers. Religious conservatives might take offense that the author injected a healthy dose of moral relativism into the book. Although the Scarlet Letter must have irked many a Christian in its time and possibly our own, the novel stands out as being eerily relevant two centuries after it was written.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Man of Adamant" the character of Richard Digby is a religious zealot whose ideas are clearly anti-Christian. Digby disowns the brotherhood of man, and feels that he alone has earned favor in the eyes of God. He is so certain of his own piety, that his plan of salvation "could avail no sinner but himself." In his self-absorbed beliefs, Digby rejects some of the clearest beliefs of Christianity, including the principles of kindness, charity, and non-judgement. Ultimately, Digby rejects the mercy and light of Christ himself.
The Man of Adamant is the story of a man named Richard Digby. Digby was a man who was the "gloomiest and most intolerant" of all those who lived during "the old times of religious gloom and intolerance."

Digby's self-absorption and intolerance led him to venture into the wilderness, in search of a sanctuary from the heathens in the village where he…...

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Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. 1837. The Man of Adamant.

Reproduced at: Pucker Books. 09 October 2002. http://dave.pluckerbooks.com:81/works/hawthornen/adamant/story.html

Nathaniel Hawthorne's beliefs concerning ethics, morality, and guilt as made evident in one of these stories. Consider how beliefs affect characterization, setting, plotting, and theme.
In the story of Rappaccini's daughter, the narrator becomes infatuated with a young woman whose life literally has become poisoned, because of her father's influence. Unlike a conventional Christian system of morality, as is typical of most of the author's other tales, the girl is being 'punished' for no real crime, other than being born the daughter of a mad scientist. The European setting is also atypical of the author. It takes place in exotic Italy, where the fantastical narrative seems more appropriate than Puritan New England.

The title character's father is a botanist who has created a beautiful garden, but because of his extensive scientific knowledge, he has hubristically attempted to transcend the laws of nature. He has created a girl whom literally has no…...

Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Different Manifestations of Evil in Nathaniel Hawthorne's Short Stories ("the Minister's lack Veil," "Young Goodman rown," and "My Kinsman, Major Molineux")

Nathaniel Hawthorne, American writer of 19th century American literature, has become well-known for his thought-provoking stories about the lives of Americans during its early history, at the time where there exists a rigid and conservative society motivated by the teachings of Christianity. With his acclaimed novel, "The Scarlet Letter," Hawthorne is also given credit for his literary expertise in writing short stories, which will become the focus of this paper.

Discussing the works of Hawthorne, namely, "The Minister's lack Veil," "Young Goodman rown," and "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," there emerges a dominant theme among these literary works. Each story carries with a message that talks about humanity's fight against evil in pursuit of goodness. However, what differs these stories from each other is the way he portrayed humanity's…...

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Bibliography

Hawthorne, N. (1831). "My Kinsman, Major Molineux." Available at:  http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/mm.html .

____. (1837). "The Minister's Black Veil." Available at:  http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/mbv.html .

____. "Young Goodman Brown." Available at: http://unx1.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Hawthorne/Goodman-Brown.htm.

Maus, D. (2002). The Devils in the details: the role of evil in the short fiction of Nikolai Gogol and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Papers on Language and Literature, Vol. 38, Issue 1.

Comparing and Contrasting The Birthmark and Hills Like White ElephantsHawthornes The Birthmark and Hemingways Hills Like White Elephants are two stories with a similar theme and dissimilar treatment of that theme. Each represents a relationship between a man and a womana relationship in which a man is pressuring the woman into doing something that goes against her natural instinct but that she ultimately accepts to do to please the man. In The Birthmark, the issue is the removal of a birthmark on the womans face. In Hills Like White Elephants, the issue is the removal of a baby growing in the womans wombi.e., an abortion. In both stories, the woman is reluctant to take part in the removal, but eventually submits in spite of seeming to possess full awareness of the negative repercussions that will follow the removal. Essentially, the removal represented in both stories is a removal of life…...

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Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birth-Mark.”

Hemingway, Ernest. “Hills Like White Elephants.”

Anything Less Than Perfection Will Not Do in Hawthornes The BirthmarkIn The Birthmark, Hawthorne explores the theme of science vs. naturebut ultimately the story is about one mans inability to accept anything less than perfection from his spouse. The protagonist, Aylmer, is a scientist who is obsessed with perfection and sees the birthmark on his wifes cheek as a blemish that must be removed. He spends all of his time and energy trying to find a way to remove it, even though it inevitably ends up costing her life. He becomes a man obsessed with removing the symbol of imperfection, unable to see her as a human being; he sees only the birthmark, which doubles as a hideous symbol of Original Sin, in a spiritual sense. In contrast, his wife, Georgiana, is content with the way she looks and sees the birthmark as a part of her identity. The story…...

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Works Cited

Gatta, John. \\\\\\"Aylmer\\\\\\'s Alchemy in\\\\\\" The Birthmark\\\\\\".\\\\\\" Philological Quarterly 57.3

(1978): 399.

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birth-Mark.”

Religion features prominently as a theme in literature. In fact, some of the earliest works of literature are rooted in their religious and cultural traditions, including the ancient literatures of the Middle East and Mesopotamia.
As the role of religion in society changed, so too did the role of religion in literature.

Modern literature, including work by Nathaniel Hawthorne, often offers scathing critiques of religion, whereas postmodern literature allows religion to play a more complex role in shaping individual identity.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's he Scarlett Letter heavily criticizes the role of religion in a patriarchal society, whereas Yann Martel's Life of Pi presents religion more as a subjective phenomenon, revealing an important cultural shift from religion to spirituality.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's he Scarlett Letter, the author shows how religion becomes a tool of social oppression and political control.

A. Hawthorne shows that religious authorities are hypocritical, and especially fundamentalists, as the Puritans in the novel do…...

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This article offers some interesting background information on Yann Martel as an author, showing that the author's secular background proves that Life of Pi is making a clear statement about the difference between religion and spirituality. Religion is an outmoded social institution, whereas spirituality remains central to the human experience. The character of Pi illustrates the similarities between faith in God and faith in one's own ability to succeed, and through the motif of the journey also shows that "a journey toward enlightenment" can be stripped of any religious or even cultural context (Stephens 41).

Stratton, Florence. "Hollow at the core": Deconstructing Yann Martel's Life of Pi" SCI/ELC, Vol, 29, No. 2, 2004. Retrieved online:  https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/12746/13690 

This article critiques Yann Martel's novel by showing that the protagonist fails to actually show any growth, while also noting that the author takes a firm postmodern stance on the nature of truth or reality. The author points out that Life of Pi in part addresses the question of objective reality and whether a human being can even determine whether there is any objective reality, a core feature of postmodernism in general. This article offers a refreshing counterpoint to the other articles about Life of Pi.

John Updike & Nathaniel Hawthorne
John Updike and Nathaniel Hawthorne are two of the most well-known writers to have contributed to the body of American Literature. Updike, the more recent writer of the two, has been considered one of America's most prestigious writers, often honored by collegiate bodies and authoritative figures. Likewise, Nathaniel Hawthorne in his time was recognized and respected, having come from a background commanding some respect. Both authors however, during their life struggled with negative issues; Updike for example struggled with separation and health problems that plagued him since he was a child. Hawthorne struggled with his ancestry who embodied a rigid Puritanical belief system, and also struggled with the poverty of his family that he was never quite able to overcome during his lifetime.

The works of both Updike and Hawthorne tend to have some autobiographical notes. Each author draws from experiences within their own lives. Negativity, feelings…...

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Works Cited:

Jalic, LLC. "Nathaniel Hawthorne." Jalic, LLC. (2004). {Online} Available:

De Bellis, Jack. "The John Updike Encyclopedia." Greenwood Press, Westport: 2000.

Farr, J. "Haunted Hawthorne." The Wilson Quarterly, Vol. 28, winter 2004.

Rappacinni's Daughter" by Nathaniel Hawthorne [...] what the story is about, along with some other interpretations of the meaning of the story. Many different interpretations of this story exist, however, the one that seems to make the most sense is the underlying story of the father and daughter, and how their relationship alters as Beatrice grows older. The father is so immersed in his scientific study that he has ignored his daughter's growing up, but he understands her needs as a woman, and tries to supply them the only way he knows how - with a lover immune to her poison. It is the ultimate love of a father, to create the "perfect" man for his daughter.
Rappacinni's Daughter

Rappacinni's Daughter" is a complex and magical story, and so, it has been interpreted in many different ways. There are many who believe Hawthorne wrote the story as a religious allegory, with…...

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Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Rappaccini's Daughter." Sam Houston State University. 11 May 1998. 1 Dec. 2003.  http://www.shsu.edu/~eng_wpf/authors/Hawthorne/Rappaccini.htm

Selecting Essay Topics that Cover a Book

1. Character Analysis

Topic: The protagonist's struggle with identity and purpose in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Focus: Examine the protagonist's evolving self-awareness, the challenges they face, and how their journey shapes their character.

2. Theme Exploration

Topic: The theme of prejudice and its impact on society in Alice Walker's "The Color Purple."
Focus: Analyze how the novel portrays different forms of prejudice, its consequences, and the characters' responses to it.

3. Symbolism and Imagery

Topic: The use of symbolism and imagery to create atmosphere in Emily Brontë's "Wuthering Heights."
Focus: Discuss how specific symbols....

The Significance of Titles in Defining Literary Content

In the realm of literature, a title serves as the captivating gateway to a world of words, a beacon that guides readers toward the essence of a work. Beyond its immediate function of identifying a piece, a title plays a pivotal role in shaping reader expectations, providing insights into the narrative's themes, and offering a glimpse into the author's creative intentions.

Setting the Stage for Reader Expectations

Titles possess an almost magical ability to evoke anticipation and set the stage for reader expectations. By crafting carefully chosen words, authors can instill within readers a sense....

Crafting a Literary Research Paper: A Comprehensive Guide

Introduction

A literary research paper is a scholarly work that thoroughly examines a specific topic related to literature. It requires a systematic approach, critical analysis, and a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. To effectively craft a literary research paper, follow these steps:

1. Formulate a Clear Research Question

The foundation of your paper lies in a well-defined research question. This question should be specific, focused, and relevant to the literary work you will be analyzing. Consider the following factors:

Scope: Ensure your research question is narrow enough to be manageable within the constraints of your....