Sophia Hawthorne

Tragic flaw: Who’s responsible In “The Birthmark”, both Aylmer and Georgiana was at fault in creating a downward spiral plummeting their happy romance into a devastating tragedy. One was through the obsession with perfection while the other was through love and compassion. In literature, a tragic flaw refers to when the main character ends up dead or defeated by a characteristic flaw that leads to their demise. “Hamartia” which was introduced by Aristotle, means that an error in judgment…

Of the three stories written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, I least enjoyed The Birthmark. This story is a dark romantic short-story that takes place in the main character’s laboratory, in the late 1700s. The reason that I enjoyed this story the least, is due to its -in my opinion- less meaningful and powerful overall message. That being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed The Birthmark, owing to the superb and powerful imagery employed by Hawthorne, in his writing. Vital to the plot of this story, is its…

from the inside, out. This theme is expanded upon throughout The Scarlet Letter, and especially during the events leading up to the second scaffold scene. Dimmesdale "kept vigils...sometimes viewing his own face in a looking glass...tortured" (Hawthorne 152). His visions of an unforgiving god and of what that god will do to him because of his sin drive him to a near-insane state of being. He fails to overcome his overwhelming guilt by confessing to his congregation, driving him even closer…

“Young Goodman Brown” is the story of a young man’s adventure through the forest, which, when examined contextually, is actually a disturbing criticism of Puritan morality. In the short story “Young Goodman Brown”, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism with the names of Goodman Brown and his wife Faith to assess the necessity of faith in the lives of religious men and the importance of faith in maintaining one’s trust of God’s goodness. Hawthorne’s use of name symbolism in “Young Goodman…

a whip used as an instrument of punishment. Both meanings are crucial to that point in the novel. On page 174 Hawthorne uses a simile to compare Hester’s moral life to a wild, untamed forest while using “like” or “as”. “She had wandered, without rule or guidance, in a moral wilderness; as vast, as intricate and shadowy, as the untamed forest.” On pages 180 - 181, Hawthorne uses a metaphor describing Pearl to be like an…

knew it was wrong? The idea of good verses evil is a common controversy found in literature because it is a relatable conflict of wanting to do something even though it is the wrong thing to do. In the story, “Young Goodman Brown,” author Nathaniel Hawthorne writes about Goodman Brown, a Christian man living in Salem, Massachusetts. Brown is constantly tempted to sin against his religion in order to satisfy his thoughts of the unknown. The theme of the short story Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short…

The most important part of any story is the plot, but what is the most important part of the plot? As shown in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the characters are what drives the plot. Characters can drive the plot in a couple of ways that can be shown with The Scarlet Letter; they can be symbols, they can be used to show aspects of the plot in a more visual and less abstract way, and they will physically move the plot forward. Without the characters there is no plot and so by…

First, she breaks into tears whenever her husband mentions the mark with a negative connotation. Hawthorne also mentions, “Georgiana soon learned to shudder at [Aylmer’s] gaze,” (Hawthorne 214). Aylmer’s reaction to her disfiguration permanently wounded her pride in herself. This phenomenon of the neurotic sort is easily explainable in today’s world; every decision a person makes, he or she is…

Faith that Leads to Fear In Nathaniel Hawthorn’s short story, “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorn used different writing techniques like mystery and suspense to get his readers’ attention. When reading the story from the beginning to the end, the author leaves readers with many different questions. The question that I primarily considered was “what does all of this witchcraft, mysticism and the lifestyles of the characters really mean?” Hawthorn did not want his readers to simply view “Young Goodman…

Ernest Hemingway “Hills Like White Elephants” is a short dialogue story about a couple’s unavoidable shift in their relationship and the dilemma that they have no choice but to face. The story takes place at a train station in Spain, where the two main characters the American and Jig are sitting outside the station’s bar having drinks before their train arrives to take them to Madrid. While waiting for their train the couple tiptoe around the difficult situation they need to face about what to…