It is said that Nathaniel Hawthorne always knew what he wanted to do in life; to be an author. Hawthorne, author of Rappaccini’s Daughter, is quoted as saying, “I do not want to be a doctor and live by men 's diseases, nor a minister to live by their sins, nor a lawyer and live by their quarrels. So, I don 't see that there is anything left for me but to be and author." (European Graduate School p. 1, Para 2) Nathaniel Hawthorne was born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem, as one knows, is where the infamous Salem Witch Trials began. Hawthorne’s, nee Hathorne, ancestors were involved in the Salem Witch Trials and the conviction of innocent people. This is something Hawthorne has always been ashamed and felt guilty for. On the contrary,
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In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we see the underlying notions of temptation when the main female character, Hester, a married woman, struggles with being in Boston, Massachusetts, without her husband. She was sent before him and dwelled there for 2 years in waiting. Her husband’s whereabouts unknown and she had not heard from him in all this time. Hester and Arthur faced temptation, sin, and ultimately, guilt stemming from their tumultuous affair and subsequent lives after its reveal (the pregnancy and birth). A townsman remarking on her demise states, “Now, good Sir, our Massachusetts magistracy, bethinking themselves that this woman is youthful and fair, and doubtless was strongly tempted to her fall, - and that, moreover, as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea….” (The Scarlet Letter , Ch.3 The Recognition, p.56, Para 5 …show more content…
This novel focuses on imagery and nature, a common element of romanticism, and he uses it in a gloomy way to symbolize the murkier facets of life, a common element of dark romanticism. The Blithedale Romance is loosely based on his own experience at a communal farm, although he claims the characters are all fictitious. This further hints at the darker side to romanticism within his novel and the symbolism found throughout. In The Blithedale Romance, Hawthorne’s novel begins in the spring (April). The morning starts out nice and warm, however, as they progress towards the farm, the weather turns. It is suddenly cold, and snowing. Coverdale, the narrator, states, “I remember how the buildings on either side seemed to press too closely upon us, insomuch that our mighty hearts found barely room enough to throb between them. The snowfall, too, looked inexpressibly dreary (I had almost called it dingy)…” (The Blithedale Romance , Ch. 2 Blithedale, p. 8, Para 2) Later he states, “It was, indeed, a right good fire that we found awaiting us, built up of great, rough logs, and knotty limbs, and splintered fragments of an oak-tree, such as farmers are wont to keep for their own hearths….” (The Blithedale Romance , Ch.2 Blithedale, p. 9, Para
In the novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, we see the underlying notions of temptation when the main female character, Hester, a married woman, struggles with being in Boston, Massachusetts, without her husband. She was sent before him and dwelled there for 2 years in waiting. Her husband’s whereabouts unknown and she had not heard from him in all this time. Hester and Arthur faced temptation, sin, and ultimately, guilt stemming from their tumultuous affair and subsequent lives after its reveal (the pregnancy and birth). A townsman remarking on her demise states, “Now, good Sir, our Massachusetts magistracy, bethinking themselves that this woman is youthful and fair, and doubtless was strongly tempted to her fall, - and that, moreover, as is most likely, her husband may be at the bottom of the sea….” (The Scarlet Letter , Ch.3 The Recognition, p.56, Para 5 …show more content…
This novel focuses on imagery and nature, a common element of romanticism, and he uses it in a gloomy way to symbolize the murkier facets of life, a common element of dark romanticism. The Blithedale Romance is loosely based on his own experience at a communal farm, although he claims the characters are all fictitious. This further hints at the darker side to romanticism within his novel and the symbolism found throughout. In The Blithedale Romance, Hawthorne’s novel begins in the spring (April). The morning starts out nice and warm, however, as they progress towards the farm, the weather turns. It is suddenly cold, and snowing. Coverdale, the narrator, states, “I remember how the buildings on either side seemed to press too closely upon us, insomuch that our mighty hearts found barely room enough to throb between them. The snowfall, too, looked inexpressibly dreary (I had almost called it dingy)…” (The Blithedale Romance , Ch. 2 Blithedale, p. 8, Para 2) Later he states, “It was, indeed, a right good fire that we found awaiting us, built up of great, rough logs, and knotty limbs, and splintered fragments of an oak-tree, such as farmers are wont to keep for their own hearths….” (The Blithedale Romance , Ch.2 Blithedale, p. 9, Para