Nathaniel Hawthornes Works - Essay Example

work (Literature Hawthorne's Plots: Discuss the relation of prefaces and expository introductions to Hawthorne's plots. Why do you think he uses this writing style In Fanshawe, Hawthorne used the long expository introduction to introduce the setting of the novel. He apologized for the physical, moral, ethnics and various aspects of 'Harley College'. His Romantic work rebelled against the formalism of his nineteenth century. He challenged the status quo when he questioned the reputation of Harley College.

He did make fun of everything and everybody, but with justification, since he explained his rationale behind each of his logic; 'Few of them, perhaps, have been deep and finished scholars; but the College has supplied - what the emergencies of the country demanded - a set of men more useful in its present state, and whose deficiency in theoretical knowledge has not been found to imply a want of practical ability.' (Hawthorne 3). The end. Word count: 124 words. 2) Hawthorne Challenging Popular Assumptions: Hawthorne's writing seems to challenge many assumptions from his time period: gender roles, parent-child relationships, social and scientific progress, and trustworthiness of believing what you see.

Discuss at least one of these assumptions in relation to at least one of Hawthorne's works. Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, published in 1850, challenged the status quo on the woman's sexual freedom, right of choice, single motherhood, female gender role conflict and woman's rights in society. The female protagonist, Hester Prynne, had braved criticism by giving birth to a child out of wedlock. Her Puritan England governor sentenced her to a lifetime of shame by making it mandatory for her to wear the scarlet letter A, sewn onto all her clothing, as the mark of the adulteress.

Hester is a heroine who echoed Hawthorne's sentiment of disregarding the society. One predominant theme is on sin. Hester lived her life in repentance for her former sins and she changed for the better in her personal development. The end. Word count: 119. 3) Short Stories in the 1800s: The short story became an important form between 1830 and 1860 as result of Poe and Hawthorne. Discuss the characteristics of the short story. Compare Poe's and Hawthorne's approaches to the short story.

A short story is a short, fictional, narrative prose. It is simpler than a novel, has a single plot, a single setting, a small limited of characters and it spans over a short period of time. Edgar Allan Poe wrote horror, mystery, detective and crime short stories. He, like Hawthorne, also wrote long expository introductions. Poe wrote his philosophies analyzing the human conditions in a serious tone. Hawthorne preferred writing funny and witty criticisms on social conventions. Poe's short stories were famous for his Gothic sub-genre in Romantic literature.

He, in contrast to Hawthorne, preferred using science to explain his rationales in his sort stories. Poe emphasized on a single theme on a human trait for each story while Hawthorne had several themes in each short story. The end. Word count: 127. 4) Understanding Hawthorne: In what ways do you find "Hawthorne and Moses" helpful for understanding Hawthorne's fiction In what ways do you find it helpful to illuminating Melville's own artistic practices Mosses from an Old Manse is a collection of Hawthorne's short stories.

Hawthorne showed his skill in writing allegories of even the horror genre which his critic, Edgar Allan Poe specialized in. This was Hawthorne's usual method of criticizing his contemporaries and society. Hawthorne had been accused of plagiarism because of his allegories which used others' tales. Herman Melville wrote a review on this book and named it, 'Hawthorne and His Mosses.' He praised Hawthorne's works. Hawthorne was Melville's source of inspiration for his famous novel, Moby-Dick, which he dedicated to Hawthorne.

Melville, like Hawthorne, also wrote short stories and poems with criticisms on his society, gender sexuality and inequalities. The end. Word count: 110 words. Bibliography. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Collected Novels: Fanshawe, The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance, The Marble Faun (Library of America) (Hardcover). USA: Amazon.com Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Mosses from an Old Manse (Modern Library Classics).

Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mary Oliver. USA:Amazon.com Levine, Robert. Conspiracy and Romance: Studies in Brockden Brown, Cooper, Hawthorne, and Melville (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) (Hardcover). USA:Amazon.com Poe, Edgar Allan. Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (Hardcover). USA: Amazon.com