Transcript 幻灯片 1

Nathaniel
Hawthorne
(1804—1864)
1. Hawthorne’s Points of View to
Human Nature
Black vision of Obsessed, or haunted, by the
Calvinistic concept of the original sin, Hawthorne
cannot look upon any aspect of reality, either
human or natural, without finding the germ that
corrupts and destroys. For him human beings are
evil-natured and sinful and this sin and evil is
ever present in human heart and will pass on
from one generation to another. His writings are
to show how we are all wronged and wrongers,
and avenge one another.
2. Paradoxical View towards Nature
 According to Hawthorne, human beings are
predestined. They are born sinners and will
continuously sin. It is commonsensical that man
takes the responsibility for something he chooses
to do and deserves the punishment if he does it
wrong. But in his fictional world, it is vice versa.
The Calvinistic doctrine implies that no matter
how hard man tries to redeem from his sin, he can
never free himself from the depravity that is
inherited in him because of Adam’s transgression
and disobedience. Consequently, man can do
nothing but bear Adam’s guilt.
Hawthorne’s Major Works:
1. Twice – Told Tales (1837)
2. Mosses from an Old Manse(1846)
3. The House of the Seven Gables
(1851)
4. The Scarlet Letter (1850)
5. The Blithedale Romance (1852)
6. The Marble Faun (1860)
Hawthorne vs. Emersonian Transcendentalism
Hawthorne’s Black vision of human nature
proves to be antipathetic to Emersonian
Transcendentalism. Hawthorne's language, like
Emerson’s, is an attempt to extract the secret
meaning from reality, to render the sense of life
in visible terms. But while for Emerson, the
result of such a quest is nearly always positive,
a joyous revelation or rather a confirmation,
for Hawthorne it is far more frequently a
revelation of evil, of death in life, of the mystery
and ambiguity which surround us.
The Interpretation of the Themes Implied in The
Minister’s Black Veil:
1. Mr. Hooper is a Christ figure and moral
ambiguity.
2. The veil stands for a symbol of sin and
separation.
3. Its theme is about the psycic and spiritual
isolation of the individual from society.
4. The guilt of sin is omnipresent in each person’s
heart.