Biogram of Nathaniel Hawthorne
The man Nathaniel Hawthorne, an author of the nineteenth century, was born in 1804, in Salem, Massachusetts. It was there that he lived a poverty-stricken childhood without the financial support of a father, because he had passed away in 1808. Hawthorne was raised strictly Puritan, his great-grandfather had even been one of the judges in the Puritan witchcraft trials during the 1600s. This and Hawthorne's destitute upbringing advanced his understanding of human nature and distress felt by social, religious, and economic inequities. Hawthorne was a private individual who fancied solitude with family friends. He was also very devoted to his craft of writing. Hawthorne observed the decay of Puritanism with opposition; believing that is was a man's responsibility to pursue the highest truth and possessed a strong moral sense. These aspects of Hawthorne's philosophy are what drove him to write about and even become a part of an experiment in social reform, in a utopian colon!y at Brook Farm. He believed that the Puritans' obsession with original sin and their ironhandedness undermined instead of reinforced virtue. As a technician, Hawthorne's style in literature was abundantly allegorical, using the characters and p
His character has no other part in the plot other than to seek cold-blooded retaliation on Dimmesdale. Pearl says that the reason her mother wears the scarlet letter "is for the same reason that the minister keeps his hand over his heart". Hawthorne was dedicated to his craft of writing. His definition of romanticism was writing to show truths, which need not relate to history or reality. His religious upbringing as a Puritan is what gave him the knowledge to write about Boston's Puritan society in his novel. In The Scarlet Letter, Dimmesdale only stands on the scaffold with Prynne and Pearl at midnight. The man, Nathaniel Hawthorne's religious background, seclusion from society, and devotion to his craft can be related to his novel The Scarlet Letter. Human frailty and sorrow were the romantic topics, which Hawthorne focused on most, using them to finesse his characters and setting to exalt good and illustrate the horrors of immorality. In the dark, when no one is looking he is willing to show the world his part in Prynne's adultery. This iron hand the church held over communities of the time is what Hawthorne resented. Hawthorne also manipulates the atmosphere of his novel to enlighten his readers with a moral lesson. Prynne now felt in "every gesture, every word and even the silence of !those with whom she came in contact, implied, and often expressed, that she was banished, and as much alone as if she inhabited another sphere". It is this same harshness that kept Dimmesdale silent for many years fearful of the consequences of confessing his sin publicly because he fears "the penalty. In his novel The Scarlet Letter Hawthorne's philosophies can easily be perceived. Hawthorne had a discrepancy with the moral decay of Puritanism.
Common topics in this essay:
Hester Prynne's,
Salem Massachusetts,
Scarlet Letter,
Brook Farm,
Hawthorne Prynne,
Dimmesdale Thou,
Roger Chillingworth,
Letter Hawthorne's,
Hester Prynne,
Throughout Pearl,
scarlet letter,
light/dark imagery,
moral lesson,
novel scarlet letter,
novel scarlet,
scarlet letter hawthorne,
puritan witchcraft,
examples hawthorne's,
letter hawthorne's,
enlighten readers,
witchcraft trials,
puritan witchcraft trials,
scarlet letter hawthorne's,
seen reading scarlet,
nathaniel hawthorne's,
|
Acceptance Essays
