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Two kinds literary analysis
Two kinds literary analysis
Thesis on nathaniel hawthorne
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More handpicked essays just for you.
Two kinds literary analysis
Two kinds literary analysis
Thesis on nathaniel hawthorne
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Chris Ocampo Period 4A October 18,2015 Character Analysis/symbolism/Theme Identification-Analysis Essay Nathaniel Hawthorne’s use of symbolic commentary and conventional themes in The Scarlet Letter, The Ministers Black Veil, and The Birthmark, characterizes sin and judgment as deformations within us all. Within each of Hawthorne’s’ works sin reflects internal and exposed sins, as well in people’s flaws. However, there deformations expand further than the objects that they wear. All of the major symbols and themes in Hawthorns selected works embody Alienation. Hester Prynne, Aylmer, and Mr. Hooper are linked to the ambiguity of Puritan morals.
The hand on Georgiana’s cheek is a symbol for the sins of this world. Even Aylmer states that, “as being the visible mark of earthly imperfection.” I personally think Georgiana knows that she will die in order for Aylmer to remove the Birth Mark. That is why she keeps putting the surgery off. Rosenberg explains, “Aylmer never truly sees his wife; even when she is dying, he misperceives the true import of her symptoms.
Rhetorical Analysis of The Scarlet Letter Dissenters were people who opposed the Church of England and, as a result, many branches of Christianity formed. One of the newly formed branches was known as Puritanism which had very strict guidelines and punished society accordingly. Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter which properly shows the strict Puritan rules and how people dealt with them. In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism along with motifs to help demonstrate that guilt can attack different people in different ways.
In society, symbols are extremely prominent, yet they seem to operate as a product of pure laziness. For example, “red” is a symbol for hot or stop, but the words are rarely ever spelled for a person to read. However, this is not similar to symbolism in literature. Authors use symbolism to challenge the reader’s critical thinking skills, which is the polar opposite of society’s use. In both passages from The Scarlet Letter and The Great Gatsby, their respective authors use similar and contrasting symbolism, which enhance their overarching themes, as well as the reader’s critical thinking skills.
He writes “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire” (Edwards, par.30) This conveys his idea that the readers are dangling over hell because of their wicked ways. Hawthorne uses symbolism to explain the deeper meaning of the black veil. He writes “Do not desert me, though this veil must be between us here on earth… It is but a mortal veil…”
The birthmark itself symbolizes morality. Aylmer, this brilliant scientist and husband to Georgiana, sees it has as fatal flaw. It also represents this imperfection of human nature. Nothing is perfect in nature, but science can help improve to make it seem flawless.
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, conveys many objects and characters that are used as a symbol of a trait or deed, this, in literary terms, is called symbolism. Symbolism allows writers and authors to explicate their works in a more complex way. An example of an object that Nathaniel Hawthorne uses as a symbol in The Scarlet Letter, is simply the scarlet letter A. This letter A was sewn onto one of the characters’ clothing as a symbol of her past. This character’s name was Hester Prynne.
The first and most important use of symbolism we receive is that of the birthmark. We learn that, “in the centre of Georgians's left cheek, there was a singular mark, deeply interwoven, as it were, with the texture and substance of her face” (205). Upon further reading Hawthorne tells us that, “Its shape bore not a little similarity to the human hand” (205). Georgiana had a birthmark right in the middle of her left cheek that resembled a tiny hand in which Aylmer thought was very imperfect. The birthmark symbolizes mortality or an imperfection of
I feel that both Hawthorne and Byatt used a lot of the same symbols in their very different stories. In The Birth Mark Aylmer is disgusted by Georgiana’s mark on her face and even cringes at the site of it. Some symbols that I see in this story are: Love, fear, control, change and death. In the story The Thing in the Forest two girls Penny and Primrose are sent away from their home on a train. They meet a young girl names Alys
Georgiana’s birthmark represents her grasp on humanity as shown in its shape as a hand. The hand symbolizes humanity’s role in nature and the continuous struggle between nature and science. Georgiana is someone who Aylmer sees as created “nearly perfect from the hand of Nature” (Hawthorne 1). Her birthmark is an imprint left by nature and is representative of humanity’s ties to it. Altering nature isn’t something that humans should be able to do because it is more powerful than any creation made by man.
Hawthorne made this tiny, crimson birthmark to be shaped as a hand in order to further envelop in theme of mortality, which Aylmer detests. Aylmer obsession to remove this tiny hand came not only from his presence of science, but also from the nightmare he had, presenting this hand as “[grasping]. . .hold of Georgiana’s heart” (8). It can be safely concluded that the shape of Georgiana’s birthmark was meant to represent her humanity, her “liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death” (7). Whether Aylmer wanted to remove it for the sake of his love for her is rather is a disruptive assumption.
However, he also uses these allusions to create a new side to his narrative as evident when he describes Hester’s resilience, and to create a new element in the plot as evident in his description of Dimmesdale’s penance and need for redemption. Therefore, Hawthorne demonstrates an effective use of allusions to craft a religious and detailed narrative for The Scarlet Letter by reviewing on parallels between the Bible and the novel’s main characters. There’s more to The Scarlet Letter than these allusions though, and there are many questions to answer about this book. These questions may never be answered fully, but by reading the novel itself, we might find the right places to start searching for answers and formulate our own opinions on the matter. What’s important from this novel is the realistic warning about what might happens when an individual place themselves too highly among others, a message Hawthorne writes to warn against the fervor of transcendentalism of his time.
The interactive oral covered multiple topics during its session that aided my understanding of the cultural and contextual elements of the work. This is beneficial since the pace of the play can cause these elements to be missed. Discussion and analysis of the audience, characters, and ideas in Tartuffe allowed more cultural and contextual elements to be understood. There was a lengthy discussion on the intended target audience since there was evidence for the upper and lower classes. As time passed, the consensus was that upper class culture would not appreciate the attack on them.
People of all ages and sizes are judged by their physical appearance and even the most righteous ones have committed at least one sin throughout their lives. As Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” develops, it becomes evident that everyone in society is consistently judging the protagonist, Mr. Hooper, upon how he perpetually wears his black veil; even when he is the ‘priest’ during a wedding or when he is conferencing with his fiancée, Elizabeth, who too has yet to see the face behind his black veil. In this short story, symbolism, which is the use of symbols to emphasize particular ideas by giving them symbolic meanings which are not close to their literal definition, is key to this story. Mr. Hooper’s black veil is a symbol
Nathaniel Hawthorne did not always speak positively toward the Puritans, but he has respect for the group. The main symbol that stands out is the scarlet letter “A” that was stuck on Hester Prynne for her actions of adultery which is a theme for this book. Another symbol is the rose bush that grew right outside of the old, rusty, decaying prison