美国文学课件4
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美国文学课件4
• “The Universe is composed of Nature and the Soul.” • “Spirit is present everywhere.”
About Transcendentalism
Club: Transcendentalist Club
Transcendentalist journal: The Dial
• Lecturing • Text-analysis
Leading writers
Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
Manifesto
In 1836 the publication of Nature by Emerson pushed American Romanticism into a new phase, the phase of New England Transcendentalism. Nature is regarded as the Bible of New England Transcendentalism. It says in the book:
2) Moby Dick
Moby Dick possesses various symbolic meanings for various individuals. 1) Symbol of nature for human beings, because it is mysterious, powerful, unknown. 2) Symbol of evil for the Captain Ahab. 3) Symbol of good and purity because of its whiteness.
美国文学PPT
在1873年，塞丝和她的女儿丹芙住在辛辛那提附近农村地区124号 的一所房子里。由于塞丝过去的经历和她的孤傲，她们受到当地 人的排斥。自从逃出“甜蜜家园”农场后十八年已经过去了。这 个农场由一个被称之为老师的凶残的男人经营着，这个人一边允 许他的侄子们残害塞丝一边做笔录用以科学地研究黑人。因此， 已经怀孕的塞丝逃跑了，逃跑的路上在一个叫做艾米的白人妇女 的帮助下生下了孩子。此时理应陪在塞丝身边的丈夫却消失了。 带着四个孩子逃往辛辛那提后塞丝只享受了28天的自由便被她的 主人追到，塞丝试图把她的孩子全都杀死而不愿让他们沦为奴隶， 但最后只杀死了其中的一个。她的主人因为认为塞丝已不能继续 当仆人而丢弃了她，而塞丝也免于绞刑继续在124号抚养剩下的三 个孩子。死去孩子的灵魂开始出没于她们居住的房子，两个儿子 霍华德和巴尔格两度遇见灵魂后心惊胆战地离开了。祖母贝比"萨 格斯也因此伤心而患病死去。贝比"萨格斯以前在辛辛那提的黑人 社区有着相当大的影响力，被许多人热奉为鼓舞人心的“圣女”。 自从塞丝出事后她便放弃讲道卧病在床。她死后数年里塞丝和丹 芙孤独地继续生活在小房子里，特别是丹芙，虽然已经十八岁， 但还是不敢离开房子半步。
获奖
此外，莫里森还荣获下列奖项： 1977年 《所罗门之歌》获全国图书评论界奖（National Book Critics Circle Award） 1977年 或美国艺术与文学学院奖（American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters Award） 1987-88年 获罗伯特·肯尼迪图书奖（Robert F. Kennedy Book Award） 1988年 《宝贝儿》获美国图书奖（American Book Award） 1988年 《宝贝儿》获安斯非尔德-沃尔夫种族关系图书奖（Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in Race Relations） 1988年 《宝贝儿》获普利策小说奖（Pulitzer Prize for Fiction） 1989年 美国现代语言协会联邦文学奖（MLA Commonwealth Award in Literature） 1993年 获法国艺术及文学司令勋章（Commander of the Arts and Letters ） 1994年 获孔多塞奖章（Condorcet Medal） 1994年 获赛珍珠奖（Pearl Buck Award） 1994年 获雷吉耶姆·朱里文学奖（Rhegium Julii Prize for Literature） 1996年 获全国图书基金美国文学突出贡献奖（National Book Foundation's Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters） 2000年 获全国人文奖章（National Humanities Medal）
外国文学史 美国文学课件
美国文化特点
• 历史短暂,多民族混合成的移民国家 • 自由原则是最基本的美国原则，是美国传统的起源。自由原则
的代表是《独立宣言》，其执笔人杰弗逊（1743-1826）是美 国文化三大创建者之一
• 美国民族是一个重视行动，强调务实的民族，这种务实精神是 美国民族生存的法宝，并积淀成一种民族的品质。务实精神的 代表是富兰克林（1706-1790），美国文化三大创建者之一。
• 比彻·斯托夫人 (1811-1896) 《汤姆 叔叔的小屋》
豪威尔斯（1837-1920）
• 现实主义奠基人 • 长篇小说《现代婚姻》 • 提倡“微笑的现实主
义”，实际创作中往 往表现为对美国现实 生活的粉饰和美化
亨利·詹姆斯(1843-1916)
⑴国际小说：美国人和欧洲人 因为文化背景的不同而产 生的冲突。
霍桑（1804-1864）
• 长篇：《红字》《七个尖 角顶的房子》《福谷传奇》 《玉石雕像》等
• 短篇小说集《古宅青苔》 《雪影》
• 霍桑小说表现了清教文学 的传统，“人皆有罪”， 悲观思想浓郁
• “心理罗曼史”，擅长人 物的心理刻画，被认为是 美国文学心理分析小说的
开创者。
Nathaniel Hawthorne
&库柏（1789-1851）《皮袜子故事 集》（《最后一个莫希干人》）
超验主义运动
• 19世纪30、40年代， 美国产生了超经验主义 思想运动，它是浪漫主 义的理论。
• 爱默生（1803-1883） 《论自然》，反对权威， 崇尚直觉，其核心是主 张人能超越感觉和理性 直接认识真理。
• 梭罗（1817-1862） 《瓦尔登湖》，自然、 人以及超验主义理想交 融汇合，浑然一体。
文学“美国梦”
• 历史短暂,多民族混合成的移民国家 • 自由原则是最基本的美国原则，是美国传统的起源。自由原则
的代表是《独立宣言》，其执笔人杰弗逊（1743-1826）是美 国文化三大创建者之一
• 美国民族是一个重视行动，强调务实的民族，这种务实精神是 美国民族生存的法宝，并积淀成一种民族的品质。务实精神的 代表是富兰克林（1706-1790），美国文化三大创建者之一。
• 比彻·斯托夫人 (1811-1896) 《汤姆 叔叔的小屋》
豪威尔斯（1837-1920）
• 现实主义奠基人 • 长篇小说《现代婚姻》 • 提倡“微笑的现实主
义”，实际创作中往 往表现为对美国现实 生活的粉饰和美化
亨利·詹姆斯(1843-1916)
⑴国际小说：美国人和欧洲人 因为文化背景的不同而产 生的冲突。
霍桑（1804-1864）
• 长篇：《红字》《七个尖 角顶的房子》《福谷传奇》 《玉石雕像》等
• 短篇小说集《古宅青苔》 《雪影》
• 霍桑小说表现了清教文学 的传统，“人皆有罪”， 悲观思想浓郁
• “心理罗曼史”，擅长人 物的心理刻画，被认为是 美国文学心理分析小说的
开创者。
Nathaniel Hawthorne
&库柏（1789-1851）《皮袜子故事 集》（《最后一个莫希干人》）
超验主义运动
• 19世纪30、40年代， 美国产生了超经验主义 思想运动，它是浪漫主 义的理论。
• 爱默生（1803-1883） 《论自然》，反对权威， 崇尚直觉，其核心是主 张人能超越感觉和理性 直接认识真理。
• 梭罗（1817-1862） 《瓦尔登湖》，自然、 人以及超验主义理想交 融汇合，浑然一体。
文学“美国梦”
美国文学课件(Poe)
• As a verse narrative, the poem is characterized by its dramatic variation of tone, which starts from mournfulness, and then progresses to trepidation and jocularity, and eventually to despair by way of hysterical self-torture. • In spite of its completeness of plot as a verse narrative, it is also characterized by its highly symbolic trait, which frequently leaves the reader with a feeling that it is difficult to read, because of its lack of adequate suggestions of certain meanings.
• 1827, a volume of poems Tamerlane and Other Poems was published in Boston • 1829, Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems, • 1831, Poems. • an editor first with The Southern Literary Messenger, later with such magazines as Graham’s and the Broadway Journal. • His marriage in 1835 to his first cousin, Virginia Clemn, deepened his financial difficulties. • 1839, “The Fall of the House of Usher” published in Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine
《文学美国文学》PPT课件
因为人类的祖先亚当和夏娃是有罪的),
total depravity(人类是完全堕落的，所以
人要处处小心自己的行为，要尽可能做到
最好以取悦上帝), limited atonement (有
限救赎，只有被上帝选中的人才能得到上
帝的拯救)
h
3
American Puritanism
Features of American Puritan
h
8
2. Early American Puritan Writers
• John Smith, one of the founders of the colony of Jamestown: His descriptions about the new world became the source of information for the later settlers.
Exercise
Colonial period and Revolutionary period Early Romanticism Transcendentalism Late Romanticism
The age of Realism
Irving Franklin Cooper Emerson Hawthorne Twain James Dreiser Melville Thoreau
himself to writing Amh erican subject
12
2. Evaluation. (Benjamin Franklin1706 – 1790)
1) He was a rare genius in human history. Everything seems to meet in this one man, mind and will, talent and art, strength and ease, wit and grace, and he became almost everything: a printer, postmaster, citizen, almanac maker, essayist, scientist, inventor, statesman, philosopher, political economist and ambassador.
lecture_4 美国文学史课件
The best poetic effect is visual and concert. Thus an imagist’s image represents a moment of revealed truth, truth revealed by a physical object and seen as such.
•1912---1914: Pound took over and championed the poetry.
• 1914---1917: Amy Lowell took over from Pound and pushed the movement in to the period of “Amygism” as Pound called it.
It offered a new way of writing which was valid not only for the Imagist poets but for modern poetry as a whole.
❖ The movement was a training school in whirned their first lessons in poetic art.
Lecture 4 Literature in 1920s 1920s American Literature
I. Background: 1. Economic Boom : “Dollar Decade” carefree prosperity pursuit of pleasure Social labor movement almost
precision new rhythms free choice of subject matter
•1912---1914: Pound took over and championed the poetry.
• 1914---1917: Amy Lowell took over from Pound and pushed the movement in to the period of “Amygism” as Pound called it.
It offered a new way of writing which was valid not only for the Imagist poets but for modern poetry as a whole.
❖ The movement was a training school in whirned their first lessons in poetic art.
Lecture 4 Literature in 1920s 1920s American Literature
I. Background: 1. Economic Boom : “Dollar Decade” carefree prosperity pursuit of pleasure Social labor movement almost
precision new rhythms free choice of subject matter
4美国文学课件
Poetic Principles
To Poe, poetic meaning is in the poem’s own poem’ composition and utterance, thus there is no utterance, exterior or transcendental truth in a poem. This emphasis on the poem’s own integrity poem’ and that a poem being absolutely independent allows people to associate Poe with the school of “art for art’s sake” and to regard him art’ sake” as a precursor to the school of New Criticism in the 20th century America.
► Quoth
the Raven, Nevermore
► Original
Burial Place of Edgar Allan Poe From October 9, 1849 Until November 17, 1875 ► Mrs. Marian Clemm, His Mother-In-Law Mother-InLies Upon His Right And Virginia Poe His Wife, Upon His Left. Under The Monument Erected To Him In This Cemetery
► Before
he became editor of Southern Literary Messenger in 1835, he had published a number of short stories, including “MS Found in a Bottle” Bottle”. In his new position as editor, Poe soon established himself as a leading critic in literature. literature. His editorship and the vitality of his critical articles and his literary creation brought him increasing fame in literary circles but never wealth; even when he was at the peak of his career, he was “as … as ever I was in my life.” life. in 1847 his wife died, and then two more years of loneliness, poverty, intoxication and illness killed Poe at the age of 40.
American Literature Lesson 4 2013 PPT
The Opening Scenes
Cameron’s
cabin was added. British company is routed/attacked by the Hurons before Hawkeye arrives.
The Characters
Hawkeye’s
name is changed from Natty Bumpo to Nathaniel Poe. Heyward loves Cora, not Alice.
How are things changed
in the massacre scene?
The
waterfall scene is moved from near the beginning to after the massacre /attack.
How are things changed at the ending?
What did Romantic Era writers focus on. . . ?
Is this always true?
People are mostly good (or very bad). Is this always true? How would you explain: “Mob politics”? The Beginnings of Industrialization/ Income gap? Slavery?
leader).
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Some people say that Irving was writing a satire about European and American values. Ichabod = Europe (intellectual, superstitious, weak) Brom = America (tough, rowdy, funloving, imaginative)
英美文学欣赏最新版教学课件美国文学Unit 4 Emily Dickinson
头脑比天空更辽阔。因为，一个 能够轻易地容纳另一个。头脑比大海 更深远，因为一个能够吸收另一个。 头脑正好等于上帝的分量。
狄金森这首诗意象新奇，意境深 邃，不为传统观念束缚，表现了诗人 对直觉、对智慧的礼赞。
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
The Brain — is wider than the Sky — For — put them side by side — The one the other will contain
To tell one’s name — the livelong June!
To an admiring Bog!
当个名流——多么——无聊！ 像个青蛙——何等火爆——
终生一个六月——对一片—— 倾倒的池塘——把自己聒噪！
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
作品欣赏
The Brain—Is Wider Than the Sky—
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
➢ Questions
1.How many specific features can you list of Emily Dickinson’s poetry? 2.What is Dickinson’s attitude toward death? How does she express her attitude?
The Roof was scarcely visible — The Cornice — in the Ground —
我们停在一座房舍前 它好似土包隆起在地上——
屋顶几乎模糊难辨—— 檐 口—— 也 隐 没 在 地 中央——
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
Since then — 'tis Centuries — and yet Feels shorter than the Day
狄金森这首诗意象新奇，意境深 邃，不为传统观念束缚，表现了诗人 对直觉、对智慧的礼赞。
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
The Brain — is wider than the Sky — For — put them side by side — The one the other will contain
To tell one’s name — the livelong June!
To an admiring Bog!
当个名流——多么——无聊！ 像个青蛙——何等火爆——
终生一个六月——对一片—— 倾倒的池塘——把自己聒噪！
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
作品欣赏
The Brain—Is Wider Than the Sky—
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
➢ Questions
1.How many specific features can you list of Emily Dickinson’s poetry? 2.What is Dickinson’s attitude toward death? How does she express her attitude?
The Roof was scarcely visible — The Cornice — in the Ground —
我们停在一座房舍前 它好似土包隆起在地上——
屋顶几乎模糊难辨—— 檐 口—— 也 隐 没 在 地 中央——
英美文学欣赏（第四版）
Since then — 'tis Centuries — and yet Feels shorter than the Day
《美国文学》教学课件Literature of the Eighteenth Century
• Poor Richard’s Almanack • An almanack is a book that gives vital
information for the years, the seasons, the sunrise and the sunset, accurate information on tides, as well as information on how to plant certain crops , how to cure hens, etc. all are practical information important to farmers.
The History and the Influence of Enlightenment
2.Newtonian ideas:
a. The universe is seen as a mechanism operating by a rational formula or by unchanging laws available to intelligent humans.
3.The Influence of the Newtonian ideas:
C. Americans believed that more reasonable political and social orders should be established.
D. Americans also learned to take actions to resist oppressive power and to criticize and reform government.
Autobiography
• C. The Autobiography is also an eloquent education of the ideas of the 18th.c. Using his life story as a shining example, Franklin eloquently demonstrated all the major principles of the enlightenment in America.
information for the years, the seasons, the sunrise and the sunset, accurate information on tides, as well as information on how to plant certain crops , how to cure hens, etc. all are practical information important to farmers.
The History and the Influence of Enlightenment
2.Newtonian ideas:
a. The universe is seen as a mechanism operating by a rational formula or by unchanging laws available to intelligent humans.
3.The Influence of the Newtonian ideas:
C. Americans believed that more reasonable political and social orders should be established.
D. Americans also learned to take actions to resist oppressive power and to criticize and reform government.
Autobiography
• C. The Autobiography is also an eloquent education of the ideas of the 18th.c. Using his life story as a shining example, Franklin eloquently demonstrated all the major principles of the enlightenment in America.
美国文学 课程ppt 04
the futility of comprehensive social reforms; the impossibility of eradicating sin from the human heart; alienation and solitude; nature and natural impulses; unconscious fantasy and dream.
Literary term
Romance Prose fiction that is conceived in terms of the fanciful and idealistic, rather than in terms of observation and faithful description of fact. A romance, on the other hand, while it must keep to “the truth of the
– has fairly a right to present that truth under circumstances…of the circumstances… writer’ writer’s own choosing or creation… creation…he may so manage his atmospherical medium as to bring out or mellow the lights and deepen and enrich the shadows of the picd in legends, in the remote, and in things that were clouded and obscure because of the passage of time. — His story displays a psychological insight into moral isolation and human emotion. — He was the first major novelist to wed morality to art, to combine high
Lesson 4 Edgar Allen Poe 美国文学
• Born in an actor and actress’ family – his parents died when he was very small –adopted by a Virginia rich businessman John Allan – entered the Virginia University at 17 – West Point where he began to write poetry – then tales – editor of magazines such as The Southern Literary Messenger, Graham’s magazine, etc.
死去也是一个最诗意的主题。
• C. Purity: Poe is opposed to the heresy of the didactic and called for pure poetry. What he seems to be saying is that art lies not so much in what is being said as in the way it says it. • 纯正：Poe被认为是主流诗歌之外的一个异类，他认为艺 术并不在于它被说成该是艺术的样子。 • Besides, he stresses rhythm, defines true poetry as ―the rhythmical creation of beauty‖ and declares that ―music is the perfection of the soul, or ideas, of poetry.‖ Poe 强调诗歌的韵 律，他认为诗歌是音律创造的美，并称音乐使得灵魂，思 想，诗歌更完美。 • He cited his own poem ―The Raven‖ of 108 lines to show his aesthetics : a sense of melancholy over the death of a beloved beautiful young woman pervades the whole poem. • 他以自己的108行诗 《乌鸦》为例子，该诗歌整个气氛就 是哀伤– 作者喜欢的美丽姑娘死去，这ons: • His criticisms against Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 他曾发
美国文学第4章emerson,thoreau,
德国哲学的影响
而客观唯心主义哲学，如谢林的同一哲学则把人的
精神视为世界发展的顶峰和最高智慧，它是绝对的、 自由的、无限的。他认为自然与精神构成一个统一 体，自然是可见的精神，精神是不可见的自然。他 把一切自然物归结为精神，或者说自然从本质上讲 是精神不断前进的揭示和体现。谢林在唯心主义基 础上将自然与人、精神与物质视为有机统一，并力 图使人相信自然界由纯粹物质向纯粹精神过渡的顶 点是人的智慧。他的同一哲学强调人的能动性创造 性，给浪漫主义者以直接营养。
德国哲学的影响
谢林“扫除了精神的阴暗的自然方面，把哲
学象艺术和宗教一样建立在天才的幻境，即 所谓智力的观照之上，他的原则和治学方法 都包含着放荡不羁的随意性，这种随意性正 是浪漫主义的核心。”（勃兰兑斯，1997： 13）柯尔律治在逗留德国期间就深受谢林的 哲学思想熏陶。正是受这些影响，柯尔律治 建立起自己的生命哲学。他认为万物皆有生 命，生命体现于两极力量的有机统一。既然 万物一体，那人与自然当然要和谐融洽。
Features (P57)
A. Emphasis on Spirit (Oversoul) (超灵)（爱
默生在超验主义里强调的超灵相当于过去宗 教里上帝的这个角色，在超验主义里超灵是 无形的，人生活的世界里所有的一切都来自 超灵，超灵在人生活的世界里也无所不在。） against “world is made of matter”; against “neglecting of spiritual life in capitalist world”
德国哲学的影响
“一个天才之所以被唤起对他自己的独创性的
情感，是因为他在艺术中如此实行了摆脱规 则束缚的自由，以至于种艺术本身由此而获 得了一种使才能由以作为典范式的而显示出 来的新的规则。” （康德，2002，163）康 德对独创性作了充分肯定，而独创性正是令 浪漫主义者不懈追求并引以为豪的主要特征。 同时，他的天才论对英国浪漫主义诗论中 “自然天才论”和“有机生长论”有着深刻 的影响。
《美国文学》课件4
LECTURE FOUR
Philip Freneau
(1752-1832)
1.Freneau’s position in American literature and his major poems: the most significant poet of the 18th century America; the “father of American poetry”;
country
side
aim
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fair, comely, hid, silent dull retreat, untouched, unseen, no crushing, in white arrayed, no vulgar eye, guardian shade:
unspoiled beauty, purity of nature; his idealization of nature; eulogy and adoration of the miraculous power of nature; romantic tendency;
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The 4th stanza: the poet’s views on the wild honeysuckle: little being, frail duration, nothing, nothing, duration but an hour
18
the 1st and 2nd stanzas: natural scenery in American (description) background the 3rd and 4th stanzas: feelings, views;
13
The 2nd stanza: ① the advantages of the suckle: bade, shun, planted, guardian shade, sent, soft waters (nature’s protection) (contrast) ② the disadvantages of the suckle: quietly . . . goes, declining, repose
Philip Freneau
(1752-1832)
1.Freneau’s position in American literature and his major poems: the most significant poet of the 18th century America; the “father of American poetry”;
country
side
aim
19
fair, comely, hid, silent dull retreat, untouched, unseen, no crushing, in white arrayed, no vulgar eye, guardian shade:
unspoiled beauty, purity of nature; his idealization of nature; eulogy and adoration of the miraculous power of nature; romantic tendency;
17
The 4th stanza: the poet’s views on the wild honeysuckle: little being, frail duration, nothing, nothing, duration but an hour
18
the 1st and 2nd stanzas: natural scenery in American (description) background the 3rd and 4th stanzas: feelings, views;
13
The 2nd stanza: ① the advantages of the suckle: bade, shun, planted, guardian shade, sent, soft waters (nature’s protection) (contrast) ② the disadvantages of the suckle: quietly . . . goes, declining, repose
4.美国文学选读_课件Benjamin_Franklin
founded the first public library, organized the first fire department and the first paid police force, founded a school and a hospital.
the great man of letters
Autobiography
A story that a person writes about his or her own life is called an autobiography. Autobiographies are written in first-person point of view, and biographies in thirdperson point of view.
bifocal glasses
politician, public-spirited citizen, prose writer
He was the only American to sign the four documents that created the United States: The Declaration of Independence, The Treaty of Alliance with France, The Treaty of Peace with England, The Constitution
Analysis of the Selected Parts on page20-21:
Autobiography
• The style: it is the pattern of Puritan simplicity, directness, and concision( 言简意赅). The narrative is lucid(易懂 的), the structure is simple, the imagery is homely(朴素的).
《美国文学》课件四
Franklin’s literary works：
The Autobiography:（1771）
The earliest autobiography in American literature; 1771 , 65 years old; a record of a man who rose to wealth and fame from a state of poverty and obscurity into which he was born, and the faithful account of the colorful career of America ’s first selfmade man.
Franklin’s Position:
• Everything seems to meet in this one man, mind and will, talent and art, strength and ease, wit and grace, and he became almost everything: a printer, postmaster, almanac maker(历书编撰者), essayist, scientist, orator, statesman, philosopher, political economist, ambassador, parlor man. • He seemed to be born with King Midas' golden touch: in whatever field he happened to appear, he achieved a peerless degree of accomplishment.
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3. Hawthorne’s moral vision in short stories (1)―Young Goodman Brown‖ : A young man’s initiation to realize the all-prevailing power of sin among the puritan community and their attempt to hide the sin.
Hawthorne’s Style: (1) Hawthorne’s truth, which is more psychological than theological, is conveyed mainly through allegory and symbol. (2 )ambiguity. Hawthorne seems to imply that polarities of good and bad can not always be reconciled..
Negative Capability in 19th Century American Literature --Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Edgar Allan Poe
I. Relationship with Transcendentalism:
II. Key concept: Negative Capability: 1. the origin of the phrase: negative capability was first used by John Keats. In a letter written in December 1817, Keats defined it as the capability in good poets of including uncertainties and other negative emotions without stretching for reason and without losing reason.
of the three, Poe was not associated with Transcendentalism or any other noticeable –isms of his age. On the other hand, Hawthorne and Melville were marginally associated with the ideas of Transcendentalism, and they would often take a critical distance from that movement.
3. different manifestation: Hawthorne, Melville and Poe were healthy skeptics. Their ability in doubts, irony and detachment enabled them to interrogate the innocence of the age. To put it differently, it is a way to question the basis of optimism so that optimism is not
Another theme : withdrawal from marriage. Many of Hawthorne’s male characters live in isolation. It seems extraordinarily difficult for them to know someone else and to disclose themselves to another person. This kind of alienation, strangely, even becomes extreme in a family setting.
(3) Hawthorne’s dramatizations of sin made him a deep explorer of human psyche and an examiner of optimism.
Ne Scarlet Letter and Hawthorne’s Moral Vision: 1. the importance of Salem: Hawthorne was a native of Salem, Massachusetts. Salem was his birthplace. Salem was a symbol of the Puritan past or the heritage of Puritanism in the ―present‖. For that reason, Salem, with its puritan heritage and its history of witchcraft, was the symbolic locale for Hawthorne’s creative imagination. Salem, together with the ―all the puritan traits, both good and evil‖ found an unalienable imprint upon Hawthorne’s works.
4. An Analysis of the Main Characters in The Scarlet Letter : Hester Prynne: being the one penalized by the community for the adultery and thus the one bearing the scarlet ―A‖ openly, gains a sympathetic knowledge of the existence of sin in other hearts. In that sense, Hester embodies this Hawthornian moral tenet:" if the truth were everywhere to be shown, a scarlet letter would blaze forth from many another bosom .‖.
Letter :
The themes in The Scarlet
(1) the juxtaposition between the puritan past and the present: nature seem to be a much higher moral force. (2) Doctrinarian morality is not the substance of Hawthorne’s moral vision. For his characters, the moral vision is acquired through an inner struggle or exploration which first places them in unfamiliar territories.
2. classical expression: Keats wrote: ―…that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.‖ The negative capability, by immersing us in ambiguities, doubts and other negative emotions, in fact strengthens us and improves our judgment by complicating our existing system of judgment. It is therefore a sign of the kind of aesthetic sophistication found only in good poets.
(2)―The Minister’s Black Veil.‖ Reverend Hooper wears a thin black veil for life because he feels a sense of personal guilt not confessed. The veil is a symbol of universal guilt concealed by hypocrisy.
Roger Chillingworth: guilty of the unpardonable sin: the invasion into another person’s soul in order to manipulate the other person’s will for a very selfish purpose. To Hawthorne, this is the worst sin and a person guilty of this sin is completely corrupt.
2. The Scarlet Letter: (1) first Great American novel. The storyline, set 200 years earlier in the Boston area, is ostensibly focused on the adulterous love between Arthur Dimmesdale, a Puritan minister, and Hester Prynne, a married woman in his congregation. (2)The focus of the novel is their moral situation in the long years in which they have to endure suffering., it is the consequence of the adultery and respective struggle of the two lovers that get us involved.