In The Uncanny Sigmund Freud argues that the uncanny is not only that which is new, but that "the "uncanny" is that class of the terrifying which leads back to something long known to us, once very familiar" (Freud 1). In Nathaniel Hawthorne's...

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “My Kinsman, Major Molineux,” the main character Robin bears a wooden weapon called a cudgel. Throughout the short story, the cudgel comes to define Robin’s relation to the conflict between his expectations and the reality...

Hawthorne marks his characters as potential usurpers of God who are undermined by an inability to negotiate with human chaos. Confronted with examples of imperfection or fragmentation, the scientific minds of "The Birthmark," "Rappaccinis...

Critical readings of Hawthorne's "The Birth-Mark" tend to focus mainly on Aylmer's attempt to overpower the hand of God, and the boundaries between science and nature. In the vast array of scholarship on the story, however, little has been said of...

In his short story, "Roger Malvin's Burial," Nathaniel Hawthorne explores such fundamental themes as good, evil , sin, family, pride, and penance. However ,from the onset he warns us, "my tale is not of love"(Hawthorne 25). This is instead a tale...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown," is an allegory rich in sexual repression. By psychoanalyzing the main character, one can discover that "Goodman Brown" is not simply a battle between good and evil, but also one of a more...

Although "hardboiled" narratives became a popular literary genre in the early- to mid-twentieth century, these writers were not the first to create characters and stories in this genre. Early creators of the tough detective were preceded by the...

Nathaniel Hawthorne's popular short story "Young Goodman Brown" incites mystery and intrigue in its readers for several reasons. "Young Goodman Brown" produces a multitude of questions and interpretations as to the precise events of the...

“‘My Faith is gone!’” (Hawthorne 394) cries Young Goodman Brown after seeing his wife’s pink ribbon fall from the sky and then realizing that humanity is depraved. Although Faith is the name of Brown’s wife, it is also a metaphor for his interior...

Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” challenges preconceived notions of religion and offers another view. His view of religion is pessimistic, as his titular protagonist de-evolves into a disillusioned old man whose “dying hour was gloom” (12)....

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” is a tale of opposites and upset expectations. The ideal of the country or rural life is met by the overpowering, even corrupted nature of city life. Robin, the protagonist, the...

Nathanial Hawthorne, in the two different, yet morally similar stories, “Young Goodman Brown” and “Artist of the Beautiful,” displays his opinions on dominant doctrines of society. Hawthorne expresses that the protagonists in each of the stories...

Wakefield and Chillingsworth: Hawthorne’s Subtle Abusers

In his short story “Wakefield”, author Nathaniel Hawthorne represents the perverse and abusive inclinations of man at their most random. As a man of no individual value, Wakefield lives a...

In modern society, “corruption” connotes financial bribery, dishonest proceedings, or underhanded deals in business or politics. The perpetrators might waste others’ money and will supposedly suffer emotionally, but Romantic literature points out...

Some authors experiment with various styles and techniques throughout their literary career, with distinct differences between various works. This is not true in the case of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne displays striking similarities in style...

What draws masses of fans to midnight premiers of the Batman movies? What factor has made millions of people advent readers of Bruce Wayne, and other figures similar, such as the Punisher? They have no super powers, they must hide their identities...

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” depicts the journey of a young man going into the woods and losing his faith in humanity. Hawthorne uses the stories of the communion of Goodman Brown and Faith in order to portray that a loss of...

Getting Lost Along the Way

Various social movements have shaped society politically, economically, and religiously as centuries have passed. Religion especially has had a momentous impact. During the 16th and 17th centuries, a reform movement...

“The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving and “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both short stories that illustrate Puritan ideas about the place of evil in human nature. Both short stories revolve around a central character...

In the seventeenth century, genuine scientific breakthroughs were ideals of the future. The reality was alchemy, an extremely basic science in which procedures were practically guesswork. It is this sense of the unknown that induces both fear and...

Much as his name suggests, Owen Warland wages a battle on society in The Artist of the Beautiful by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Throughout the story, he strives to create the Beautiful, a lifelike butterfly, and overcomes many setbacks to succeed...

Similar to most of Hawthorne's works, The Minister's Black Veil not only exemplifies the issues of morality, repentance and sin within the setting of Puritan New England, but it also exhibits the familiar literary theme of conflict between the...

Laden with allegories, dualisms, and symbolism, Hawthorne’s "The Birth-Mark" makes light of a variety of multi-faceted and complex issues, foremost among them those of sexuality and humanity. While the character of Aylmer seems both emotionally...

There exists an entirely different dimension, where illusion and deception form people’s personalities and rule their lives, and that dimension is exists here, everyday of our own entire lives. We all live lives only according to what is in our...