- Published: January 9, 2022
- Updated: January 9, 2022
- University / College: University of Surrey
- Level: College Admission
- Language: English
- Downloads: 22
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