Nathaniel Hawthorne

As contemporaries of each other, Emerson and Hawthorne share many similarities in their bodies of work. The central premise of Emerson's "Nature" is that unspoiled wilderness is the closest that...

One element linking themes in Romanticism and Gothic literature is the power of the imagination. In more benevolent works, the imagination is praised for its ability to link the thinker/writer with...

Both of Hawthorne's works—the novel The Scarlet Letter and the short story "Young Goodman Brown—are set in the early American colonies in the seventeenth century, and both focus on characters in...

People during Hawthorne's lifetime were still somewhat Puritanical, despite the fact that Puritanism itself was no longer popular. Most people felt that guilt and sin were things to hide and that...

The Christian faith was of profound importance to Nathaniel Hawthorne. There is no doubt, however, that he departed from and reinterpreted the faith of his ancestors, the best-known of whom is...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's purpose is to show how wrong and unnatural it is for a woman to leave her family. He achieves this purpose by showing a woman in unnatural, evil circumstances grieving until...

Gothic themes can include horror, terror, the supernatural, spiritual, melancholy, and the imaginary. In "The Haunted Mind," the narrator contemplates a realm between sleep and being awake. He is...

In "The Minister's Black Veil," Hawthorne creates a symbol of the black cloth that Mr. Hooper wears over his face. The subject of his first sermon upon donning the veil, as well as what he says to...

If we look at the third paragraph of Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Maypole of Merry Mount," we can see very clearly that he is not describing real animals dancing around the Maypole but rather men...

As the Enotes study guide on Romanticism points out, the literary movement (which in America is more commonly referred to as American Transcendentalism) stressed the importance of personal...

In Hawthorne's allegorical story, New England is composed of two groups of settlers, the residents of Mary Mount and the Puritans. In this new land, "[J]ollity and gloom were contending for an...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" is full of symbols; in fact, it is a great example of an allegory, a literary work that operates on both literal and symbolic levels. You could choose...

The principle archetypes, representing the three principal characters, are the Old Crone, the loving Mother, and the wronged though once valiant Warrior and father. Archetype theory holds that...

Although Hawthorne is often considered a novelist, he thought of himself as a writer of “romances.” “Romances,” in Hawthorne’s sense, are less “realistic” than novels. “Romances” are more...

In both novels, Hawthorne develops Dark Romanticism in his suggestion that evil is a malevolent force from which there can be no easy escape. Transcendentalist thinkers like Emerson and Thoreau...

“The Birth-Mark” is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It was first published in in 1843 and deals with the tragic story of a married couple, Aylmer and Georgiana. In order to help you...

As the "wild throng" of inhabitants who live on Merry Mount gather to celebrate the festivities on midsummer eve, a bear joins the celebration. The maypole is colorfully decorated, and rainbows of...

Whereas Washington Irving's folk tales are characterized by a wry humor with touches of mystery and sentimentality, Nathaniel Hawthorne's narratives possess a darkly meditative and uncertain tone,...

In The Devil in the Manuscript, Hawthorne conveys the message that an author’s words will endure rejection and criticism by others in society and by the author himself to live on with inexorable...

Since an inquiry about critical research of Hawthorne was also made, the student may wish to explore articles/ essays in such reference works as Critical Literary Criticisms. These volumes of...

Nathaniel Hawthorne is actually considered by critics at large to be a "Dark Romantic" rather than a Romantic, though of course it is recognised that this fits into the wider definition of...

The narrator wakes up but then sinks into the covers and has a chill, not from cold, but from the idea of a frozen world outside. He retreats to the warmth of the bed. But this confinement makes...

The effects of the secret sin motif in "The Minister's Black Veil," "The Birthmark," and "Rappaccini's Daughter" are all disastrous, with the bearers of these secret sins becoming ostracized and...

One of the most influential Hawthorne biographers is Terrence Martin, who wrote Hawthorne in 1965. Other notable biographies include Nathaniel by Harold Bloom, and Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times...

Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the most significant American writers of the Romantic period. His dark outlook on humanity, revealed both in his short stories and 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, run...

In paragraph fifty-seven, Hawthorne employs personification, imagery, hyperbole, and a brief catalog. Georgiana sees the furnace, and in the imagery that Hawthorne uses to describe it, he...

Hawthorne tended to write historically and about topics as a result of his work experiences. Like most writers he performed many side jobs to make ends meet and his writings left a greater mark...

If you have access to a college or relatively large public library, you can find in the Reference section a series of volumes that contain excellent literary essays that analyze myriad works; these...

The background to Hawthorne's understanding of natural law is both classical and Christian. In the fifth century, philosophers and sophists distinguished between "physis" or "nature/natural law"...

The Industrial Revolution introduced new manufacturing ideas and processes to the United States, Europe, and England between the years 1760 and 1840. Mechanized factory systems became the means of...

One thing worth being aware of is the degree to which fiction and reality are woven together across the entirety of this particular story. After all, if you've read or listened to professional...

Evert Augustus Duyckinck made this statement about Hawthorne: Of the American writers destined to live, he is the most original, the one least indebted to foreign models, or literary precedents of...

After Hawthorne graduated from college he spent a long period in seclusion working on his writing. He had decided to become a freelance writer. He was to be one of the first such independent,...

Nathaniel Hawthorne became interested in making Greek myths accessible to modern children. Before the mid nineteenth-century, they were considered suitable for adults. One main reason he changed...

Several factors are believed to have contributed to the dark tone found in many of Hawthorne's writings. First, Hawthorne grew up in a very strictly religious environment in New England, something...

Not unlike the Reverend Dimmesdale, Nathaniel Hawthorne was plagued by a shadow of guilt which darkened his life. Hawthorne's guilt found its source in his Puritanical ancestors, such as Judge...

Please note: The post contains numerous questions. The eNotes Homework Help policy allows for one question per post. This answer addresses the first two questions. The painter John Singleton...

Nathaniel Hawthorne was what is termed an anti-Romantic, or a dark Romantic. Dark Romanticism is a reaction to Transcendentalism, a belief that seems too optimistic to such writers as Hawthorne,...

The central background to the Hawthorne plant studies revolved around the issues of worker treatment and productivity changes. At the time of the study, early 20th Century America had become fully...

In his story “Drowne's Wooden Image,” Nathaniel Hawthorne includes a prominent artist of his day, John Singleton Copley (1738–1815). The Boston-based Copley offers a critical evaluation of the...