Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)“Young Goodman Brown,” “The Minister’s

Black Veil,” “The Birth-Mark”

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The David Levine Version

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Novels Short Stories

The Marble Faun “The Minister’s Black Veil”

The Blithedale Romance “Wakefield”

The House of the Seven Gables “Rappaccini’s Daughter”

The Scarlet Letter “The Maypole of Merry Mount”

“The Birth-Mark”

“My Kinsman, Major Molineaux”

“Young Goodman Brown”

“Ethan Brand”

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

By some witchcraft or other for I really cannot assign any reasonable why and wherefore I have been carried apart from the main current of life, and find it impossible to get back again. . . .

I have secluded myself from society; and yet I never meant any such thing, nor dreamed what sort of life I was going to lead. I have made a captive of myself and put me into a dungeon, and now I cannot find the key to let myself out, and if the door were open, I should be almost afraid to come out. . . . For the last ten years I have not lived, but only dreamed of living.--Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Head-Heart Imbalance

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

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Nathaniel Hawthorne

Hawthorne Prezi

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Basic Puritan Beliefs – (Tulip)

Total Depravity - through Adam and Eve's fall, every person is born sinful - concept of Original Sin.

Unconditional Election - God "saves" those he wishes - only a few are selected for salvation (predestination).

Limited Atonement - Jesus died for the chosen only, not for everyone.

Irresistible Grace - God's grace is freely given, it cannot be earned or denied. Grace is defined as the saving and transfiguring power of God.

Perseverance of the "Saints" - those elected by God have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly. If anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of God - something impossible in Puritanism.

Hawthorne was also influenced by the Salem Witch Trials which “were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693” (Wikipedia).

Nathaniel HawthorneENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Puritan Valentine Cards

Nathaniel Hawthorne

ENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

Hawthorne, however, wrote in the Romantic tradition (1820-1860) – many describe him as a “dark romantic.”

The publication of The Scarlet Letter in 1850 sparked his career and established him as a major American writer.

Nathaniel HawthorneENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

“Young Goodman Brown”

Goodman Brown | Faith | The Old Man/Devil | Goody Cloyse | The Minister | Deacon Gookin

1. Was it all a dream?2. What is the significance of names? (Goodman Brown and Faith, particularly)3. How does Goodman Brown react to his wife and others upon his return to Salem? Why? Is he justified in acting this way?4. How is Goodman Brown changed by his experience in the forest?

Nathaniel HawthorneENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

“The Minister’s Black Veil”

Reverend Hooper | Elizabeth | Reverend Clark | The Townspeople

1. Why do you think Hooper wears the veil?2. Why does Hooper not take his veil off for

Elizabeth? Why is her response to his refusal especially significant?

3. How would a first-person point of view change the story?

Nathaniel HawthorneENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

“The Birth-Mark”

Aylmer | Georgiana | Aminadab

1. Is Aylmer evil? Is he simply a stock version of a mad scientist?

2. What does the birthmark symbolize? How does Aylmer’s view of it differ from the other perspectives in the story? What is the significance of its hand-like shape?

3. In what sense can Aylmer be characterized as guilty of the sin of pride?

4. How is Aminadab a foil for Aylmer?5. What do Aylmer’s other experiments reveal about the

nature of his work? How do they foreshadow what will happen to Georgiana?

6. Is Georgiana, to an extent, responsible for her own death?

Nathaniel HawthorneENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]

“Young Goodman Brown” [Goodman Brown | Faith | The Old Man/Devil | Goody Cloyse | The Minister | Deacon Gookin

1. Was it all a dream?2. What is the significance of names? (Goodman Brown and Faith, particularly)3. How does Goodman Brown react to his wife and others upon his return to Salem? Why?

Is he justified in acting this way?4. How is Goodman Brown changed by his experience in the forest?

“The Minister’s Black Veil” [Reverend Hooper | Elizabeth | Reverend Clark | Townspeople]5. Why do you think Hooper wears the veil?6. Why does Hooper not take his veil off for Elizabeth? Why is her response to his refusal

especially significant?7. How would a first-person point of view change the story?

“The Birth-Mark” [Aylmer | Georgiana | Aminadab]8. Is Aylmer evil? Is he simply a stock version of a mad scientist?9. What does the birthmark symbolize? How does Aylmer’s view of it differ from the other

perspectives in the story? What is the significance of its hand-like shape?10. In what sense can Aylmer be characterized as guilty of the sin of pride?11. How is Aminadab a foil for Aylmer?12. What do Aylmer’s other experiments reveal about the nature of his work? How do they

foreshadow what will happen to Georgiana?13. Is Georgiana, to an extent, responsible for her own death?

Nathaniel HawthorneENGL 2030: Experience of Literature—Fiction [Lavery/Lauzon]