The 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, has developed the main characters with many psychological mechanisms. This aspect of literature can be criticized with psychoanalysis. It is defined as "Psychoanalytic criticism builds on Freudian theories of psychology." (OWL 1). Furthermore as, "Instead, the best psychoanalytic criticism tries to trace the movements of readers' and writers' desires in texts" (Shmoop 1). Also "Freud asserted that people's behavior is affected by their unconscious" (OWL 1). The unconscious can be defined as "the storehouse of those painful experiences and emotions, wounds, fears, guilty desires, and unresolved conflicts we do not want to know about" (Hazlet 1). Furthermore, "We develop our unconscious mind at a very young age through the act of
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The main characters of the Scarlet Letter is a great example of all this. Throughout the novel the characters go through many different circumstances, that of which get repressed and cause detrimental effects to their well being. Nathaniel made the unconscious motives clear to the reader. The core issues are the main cause of these repressed emotions. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale have the most repression of the main characters. Hester on the other hand has the least and is actually a contradiction on how they handle their circumstances/situations. Starting with Dimmesdale, his development through the novel is a negative one. He repression of keeping the sin that he and Hester committed has destroyed his very well being; it causes him to not behave in ways he used to be able to, eventually killing him. This is supported by, "" more misery, Hester!- only the more misery" and "mine burns in secret!"" (Nathaniel 167/168). Hester on the other hand doesn't have this problem because she has her sin shown openly and hidden. Stated in the text as, ""Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet
The main characters of the Scarlet Letter is a great example of all this. Throughout the novel the characters go through many different circumstances, that of which get repressed and cause detrimental effects to their well being. Nathaniel made the unconscious motives clear to the reader. The core issues are the main cause of these repressed emotions. Chillingworth and Dimmesdale have the most repression of the main characters. Hester on the other hand has the least and is actually a contradiction on how they handle their circumstances/situations. Starting with Dimmesdale, his development through the novel is a negative one. He repression of keeping the sin that he and Hester committed has destroyed his very well being; it causes him to not behave in ways he used to be able to, eventually killing him. This is supported by, "" more misery, Hester!- only the more misery" and "mine burns in secret!"" (Nathaniel 167/168). Hester on the other hand doesn't have this problem because she has her sin shown openly and hidden. Stated in the text as, ""Happy are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet