Literature is a mirror of humanity and its condition, but additionally, as said by literary critic Roland Barthes, “Literature is a question minus the answer”. The questions posed in literature keeps the reader wanting to know more and makes the reading experience more enjoyable. People would not have to think about what they are reading if they are never forced to try and find the answer to an unanswered question; however, which questions the author presents often separates the decent writers from the preeminent writers. Nathaniel Hawthorne is a prime example of a writer who infused complex and meaningful questions and ideas into his literature. A vast majority, if not all of his work has this quality. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts
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Since Hawthorne wrote countless novels and short stories, it is impossible to analyze them all to display the truly allegorical and parabolic nature of his work. Three of his most prominent short stories include The Minister’s Black Veil, The Birthmark, and Rappaccini’s Daughter, so if one is able to understand the dissection and analyses of each of these works, they can comprehend the remainder of Hawthorne’s bibliography. Since The Minister’s Black Veil is his most famous short story, it shall be analyzed first. To synopsize, in Milford, a small New England town, Reverend Hooper delivers a sermon one Sabbath morning, but he wears a black veil covering his face. The community instantly begins making rumors and tries to identify exactly why the minister is wearing the veil. Ultimately it is revealed that the minister wears the veil to symbolize hidden sin. People grow to fear him and his own fiancé leaves him after he refuses to remove the veil. He eventually dies and is buried with the veil still over his face. On his deathbed he exclaims to another reverend in the town, Mr. Clark, “Why do you tremble at me …show more content…
To get a better grasp of the concept Hawthorne is trying to communicate, it is imperative that the contrast of the two characters is understood and how they play into the parable. In regards to Georgiana and her birthmark, literary critic and author Ronald Cassill interprets, “Aylmer's aspirations are misguided and likely to cause irredeemable mischief. ‘The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould…’” (Cassill). The mark on Georgiana's cheek resembles a hand and therefore represents the hold that nature has on her. As expressed, the hand is a reflection of the grip that humanism and mortality has on the highest level of flawlessness achievable without crossing over from the living world. Aylmer’s aspirations are doomed to end in tragedy since they would break this said mould, and the destruction of such a mould results in the destruction of whatever the mould represents, which in this case is Georgiana. As for Aylmer, Cassill also elucidates, “When timorous Georgiana summons courage to peer into her husband's library she finds...only a compilation of quaint errors...she finds that ‘his most splendid successes were invariably failures, if compared with the ideal at which he aimed’” (Cassill). Aylmer is exposed as a failure, contrary to his previous reputation. He is soiled in the
Since Hawthorne wrote countless novels and short stories, it is impossible to analyze them all to display the truly allegorical and parabolic nature of his work. Three of his most prominent short stories include The Minister’s Black Veil, The Birthmark, and Rappaccini’s Daughter, so if one is able to understand the dissection and analyses of each of these works, they can comprehend the remainder of Hawthorne’s bibliography. Since The Minister’s Black Veil is his most famous short story, it shall be analyzed first. To synopsize, in Milford, a small New England town, Reverend Hooper delivers a sermon one Sabbath morning, but he wears a black veil covering his face. The community instantly begins making rumors and tries to identify exactly why the minister is wearing the veil. Ultimately it is revealed that the minister wears the veil to symbolize hidden sin. People grow to fear him and his own fiancé leaves him after he refuses to remove the veil. He eventually dies and is buried with the veil still over his face. On his deathbed he exclaims to another reverend in the town, Mr. Clark, “Why do you tremble at me …show more content…
To get a better grasp of the concept Hawthorne is trying to communicate, it is imperative that the contrast of the two characters is understood and how they play into the parable. In regards to Georgiana and her birthmark, literary critic and author Ronald Cassill interprets, “Aylmer's aspirations are misguided and likely to cause irredeemable mischief. ‘The crimson hand expressed the ineludible gripe in which mortality clutches the highest and purest of earthly mould…’” (Cassill). The mark on Georgiana's cheek resembles a hand and therefore represents the hold that nature has on her. As expressed, the hand is a reflection of the grip that humanism and mortality has on the highest level of flawlessness achievable without crossing over from the living world. Aylmer’s aspirations are doomed to end in tragedy since they would break this said mould, and the destruction of such a mould results in the destruction of whatever the mould represents, which in this case is Georgiana. As for Aylmer, Cassill also elucidates, “When timorous Georgiana summons courage to peer into her husband's library she finds...only a compilation of quaint errors...she finds that ‘his most splendid successes were invariably failures, if compared with the ideal at which he aimed’” (Cassill). Aylmer is exposed as a failure, contrary to his previous reputation. He is soiled in the