However, Aylmer's attempt to destroy the birthmark and Georgiana's human nature fails. ... By including this symbolism, Hawthorne is displaying criticism for the Puritan's belief in total depravity, which stressed the wickedness of human nature, not the embracement of man's imperfect nature. ... This opportunity, however, leads to Georgiana's destruction and death because Aylmer fails to accept either Georgiana's human nature or his own human nature. ... Despite the views of others, humans' flawed nature must be accepted as a significant part of humanity. ......

• Word Count: 1568
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

It has not been proven that God exists; similarly, it has not been proven that humans are kind, honest, and good by nature. ... The story "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne traces Young Goodman Brown's experiences, physical and psychological, paralleling the Hero's Journey and showing how he discovers that humans are truly evil by nature; therefore, altering his views of other humans and life itself. ... He is only gone one night and nothing substantial changes in Salem village while he is gone, but since he is so dramatically changed emotionally during his excursion, he r...

• Word Count: 1258
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

One of the primary themes is science versus nature. ... To change the genes or natural form of a human being is a violation of the sacredness of life. Nathaniel Hawthorne does not favor manipulating humans with science. ... Looking at it more and more, he decides that it is a defective attribute of the human species. ... Aylmer is an egocentric intellectual, while Aminadab is a symbol of a human's earthly nature. ...

• Word Count: 1415
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

He often wrote horror stories and psychological thrillers, while at the same time exploring the human mind and individual emotions. ... "Transcendentalists accepted the neo-platonic conception of nature as a living mystery, full of signs - nature is symbolic.... The human soul was part of the oversoul, essentially the spirit of the cosmos, and upon death, would return to the oversoul. ... In his essay "Nature", Emerson describes in detail the relationship between nature and mankind. ... Each viewed nature with reverence, an idea that soon sparked the envi...

• Word Count: 1786
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Another romantic nature symbol is the forest, which symbolizes both safe and evil aspects. ... Along with the sense of nature in the novel the concept of naturalness of humanity, or naturalism also occurs. ... The act she committed was not a crime against humanity, nor was it a crime against nature. ... Just past survival, pleasure is the foremost important thing to humans. ... Pearl is a free spirit stuck in a human body, stuck in a very restricting society. ...

• Word Count: 1687
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

" (MBV pg32) This details the fear of the unknown that permeates the innermost domain of the human psyche. ... This is significant because it demonstrates an important theme across much of Hawthorne's literature, which is constant human imperfection. ... In one circumstance, the religious leaders ruin a sinful woman's life so to use her as a tool to teach their corrupt doctrine, whereas in the second quote from Young Goodman Brown, they fully embrace sin, paying no heed to the aberrant nature of their actions. ... He investigates human sin, human nature and hypocrisy. His nove...

• Word Count: 1379
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Thoreau"'s descriptions and interpretations of nature enriched all of his work; even his essays and lectures on political issues. ... He also stresses that everyone should create a more intimate relationship between human beings and nature as a remedy to the deadening influence of an increasingly industrialized society. ... Emerson still believed the physical world served humanity by providing useful goods and by making human beings aware of beauty. The transcendentalists made a universe divided into two important parts, the soul and nature. Emerson defined the soul by defining nature: "...

• Word Count: 1271
• Approx Pages: 5

In Nathaniel Hawthorn's "The Birthmark," the main character Aylmer struggles for scientific perfection; he attempts to perfect that which nature rendered imperfect. When the quest for human achievement opposes divine design it has no chance of succeeding. ... Georgiana had a mark on her cheek, hardly a cause for concern to the average human. ... These desperate attempts at perfection are indeed linked to his desires for success of a divine nature. ... Humans are able to see the results of creation, yet we have no physical formula to create. ...

• Word Count: 1411
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel, The Scarlet Letter, is a classic tale of human frailty and sin and the hardships that are caused by a single mistake. ... The Scarlet Letter uses dark romanticism as Hawthorne attempts to explain the sinfulness of human nature and why people act as they do. ... He writes, "Pearl looked as beautiful as the day, but was in one of those moods of perverse merriment which, whenever they occurred, seemed to remove her entirely out of the sphere of sympathy of human contact (p. 122)" Hawthorne makes use of situational irony at many points in the novel. ... Natur...

• Word Count: 1296
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Are humans born innately good, evil or both? ... How important is nature? ... Nature is wild and free; it gives prisoners hope that one day they might be be free too. ... In addition, nature not only gives hopes and chances but it also gives protection. ... Nature offers a happier alternative to the strict and stressful Puritan life. ...

• Word Count: 1931
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: High School

Man had marked this woman's sin by a scarlet letter, which had such potent and disastrous efficacy that no human sympathy could reach her, save it were sinful like herself. ... He is the social ideal, yet his moral nature is poisonous. ... He has violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart." ... "Hester sinned only through passion, but her lover through passion and concealment, and her husband through "violating, in cold blood, the sanctity of the human heart." ... To acknowledge our sins before god, is a phrase, and no more than that, but to acknowledge our sins before men, is...

• Word Count: 1373
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Unlike the man she married, however, he is portrayed with images of a dark nature. ... Along with Dimmesdale's denial, however, we see the beginning effects of his cover: "the trying nature of his position drove the blood from his cheek, and made his lips tremulous- (59). ... While the girl has developed many "elfish- qualities, she has a knack for pushing the buttons of human emotion. ... Though she is but a young little girl, Pearl illuminates the limited nature of Dimmesdale's confession, and she solidifies his inability to reveal himself to the town. ... The girl has now transfor...

• Word Count: 1627
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Indeed, when the voice is described a final time two pages later, it remains "a strange, vague murmur, which might be likened to an indistinct shadow of human utterance" (97)-the descriptions from before recycled to exacerbate our frustration and keep us in darkness; we never do discern the source of the voice or its words throughout the course of the novel. ... The concept of a thin veil recalls the Biblical account of the Israelites' temple, where a thin veil would separate the people in the temple from God's presence so they could not interact with His presence directly;...

• Word Count: 1547
• Approx Pages: 6
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate

Dealing with guilt and the difference between Nature and Civilization, two themes in this novel, are dealt with in this passage. ... Whatever he does, whether he goes on the scaffold and professes his sin, or moves to England with Hester and Pearl, this relationship can not work because in so many ways, Dimmesdale rejects the Scarlet Letter, in both human and supernatural forms, it now rejects him, evidenced by the reactions of Pearl in the last chapter, when she runs to the brook to was her head after she Dimmesdale kisses her. ... In this book, Nature possesses its own set of rules, allowi...

• Word Count: 1256
• Approx Pages: 5

As well as, raising the issues about human behavior. Hawthorne brought profound moral and psychological insight into his fiction as he explains the complexities of human motivation and action. ... It provides detailed biographical information on the author's life and analyzes the faith and nature of his religious perspective. ... Also, Brown discusses his self-doubt after incidences such as his discovery of the true nature of people, such as Goody Cloyse the governor, and village minister. ...

• Word Count: 1340
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

Hawthorne's works focused on what can be called the darker side of human nature. ... Dimmesdale struggles with wanting to live a religious life and dealing with the hypocrisy of his own sinful nature. ... Some of the strengths Hawthorne had in his writing is the use of symbols to imply adultery, sins, and human morality. ...

• Word Count: 1291
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses his very different characters to show that no matter what type of person one may be, human nature is absorbed with revenge. Human beings are not perfect and the feeling to "get even" or "get back" at someone who has wronged you is very normal, almost expected. ... All the main characters in the story were constructed with different lifestyles, yet Hawthorne was able to stress the theme that revenge is engraved in all of human nature, whether lifestyles or bad. ...

• Word Count: 1480
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Throughout the novel, Hawthorne uses his very different characters to show that no matter what type of person one may be, human nature is absorbed with revenge. Human beings are not perfect and the feeling to "get even" or "get back" at someone who has wronged you is very normal, almost expected. ... All the main characters in the story were constructed with different lifestyles, yet Hawthorne was able to stress the theme that revenge is engraved in all of human nature, whether lifestyles or bad. ...

• Word Count: 1589
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

As you can see, both victims of such crimes are seen differently and were once normal human beings before the news broke out of their "sins." ... There are extreme cases that require shunning because of human nature to know what is right and what is wrong and there are more mild cases that require shunning as well because of that same human nature. ...

• Word Count: 1654
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Later in the text Brown is "more conscious of the guilt in others" (Hawthorne, 615), now he is fully aware of other people's guilt, "but lacks the wisdom to reconcile the adult experience of sin and guilt as characteristics of human nature". (Grant) Meaning Brown doesn't know that sin and guilt are a part of nature. ... It takes wisdom to realize nature, but Brown lacks the maturity to know this. ...

• Word Count: 1255
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

The Puritans inquisitorially quested personal godliness and doctrinal correctness in addition to believing in absolute sovereignty of God, the total depravity of man, and the complete dependence of human beings on depravity of man, and the complete dependence of human beings on divine grace for salvation. ... Other personal influences reflected in Hawthorne's writing include his love of reading and nature. ...

• Word Count: 1751
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

The Scarlet A Multiple meanings and discussion providing insight into the letter The letter "A" was to be worn as a punishment, to be worn in shame, to be worn as "adulteress." This may not have been clearly and directly stated to the reader, but throughout reading the book, you gather possible h...

• Word Count: 1352
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

To believe so blindly in the Bible verbatim, one must know that man's innate nature is to sin. ... He doesn't realize that one can still have faith while sinning; it is just a matter of being human, and humanity throughout history has shown this very clearly. ...

• Word Count: 1393
• Approx Pages: 6
• Grade Level: High School

Knowing what only he and Hester know, the secret of theirs eats away at Dimmesdale's weakening and slowly killing him As the Puritans would call Dimmesdale a sinner, the Romantics level him as a human. ... It is easy to understand that concept as Pearl cannot make friends with other children in the town because of her status, thus leaving her only with nature and her mother as companions. ...

• Word Count: 2043
• Approx Pages: 8

Nathaniel Hawthorne used his writing skills to appropriately show the strict intolerant ways of the disciplined Puritan America of 1850, with his novel The Scarlet Letter. This novel has become a classic, because of the accurate portrayal of the conservative Puritan ways. His novel is one of few to ...

• Word Count: 2338
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: High School