Nathaniel Hawthorne

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the author of the Romantic period, Nathaniel Hawthorne. It particularly discusses his views on Puritanism, as one of the main themes of his work was the concept of unpardonable sin, which all Puritans held very close to their hearts. The paper gives examples from Hawthorne's books of this concept and uses some of some of these examples to discuss whether Hawthorne condoned puritanical beliefs or condemned them.

From the Paper:

"Humanity means morality and faith here and represents everything good and wholesome. Hawthorne felt that when man starts to use his intellect to seek scientific knowledge to support or reject his beliefs, he is basically committing a crime and thus losing touch with humanity. The main reason Hawthorne equated knowledge with evil was because he felt evil was always a lurking possibility and as long as man doesn't engage himself in unnecessary questioning, he could keep that evil force silent. As he once noted: "There is a fund of evil in every human heart, which may remain latent, perhaps through the whole of life; but circumstances may arouse it to activity" (Coale, 1).
Even though Hawthorne was born in the Puritan society, he appears to have disliked the strict laws and regulations of the time. This is because while he endorses the view the faith must not be questioned, he also found that this view was not practiced by the people in its true spirit."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Davison, Richard Allan. "The Villagers and |Ethan Brand."' Studies in Short Fiction 4 (1967): 260-62.
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Ethan Brand." "The Celestial Railroad" and Other Stories. New York: NAL, 1963. 271-87.
• Stein, William Bysshe. A Study of the Devil Archetype. Gainesville: U of Florida P, 1953.
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Birth-Mark". Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York, 2003.
• Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "Young Goodman Brown". Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York, 2003.

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