Research Guides: Hawthorne, Nathaniel: Critical Articles

The Birthmark

"Sophia's Crimson Hand" by Megan Marshall
Ties the character of Georgiana to Hawthorne's wife, Sophie and examines the meaning of the birthmark, sexuality, and pregnancy in the story.
"The best that earth could offer": "The Birth-mark," a newlywed's story by Liz Rosenberg
Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story 'The Birth-mark' portrays a newlywed coming to terms with his wife's mortality and, in doing so, the imperfect and mortal aspects of human nature. The struggles of the protagonist, an idealist who searches for control over nature, is portrayed in terms of alchemy, animism and Emersonian Transcendentalism. The husband eventually comes to terms with mind/body dualism by seeing human nature as its own proof of divinity. This theme would posses Hawthorne's writing for the rest of his life.

"Young Goodman Brown" in Alienation by Harold Bloom; Blake Hobby (Editor)
Call Number: PN56.A45A45 2009
ISBN: 9780791097984
Publication Date: 2009-02-01
In literature, the theme of alienation is frequently represented through characters that are psychologically isolated from society. This volume contains 19 essays that explore the role of alienation in such works as The Bell Jar, Waiting for Godot, The Iliad, and many other works. Featuring original essays and excerpts from previously published critical analyses, this addition to the Bloom's Literary Themes series gives students valuable insight into the title's subject theme.

"Carnivalesque Freedom in Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown. " by S. Selina Jamil
This article presents an analysis of author Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown." The author claims Hawthorne employs imagery and the language of the carnival to mock Puritan values. The title character encounters 'evil' during a walk through the woods and feels compelled to rush towards it, while simultaneously being repelled by it.
The rewriting of the Faust myth in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown" by Hubert Zapf
Examines the Faust story, Hawthorne's knowledge of the story, and the way Faust manifests in both "The Scarlett Letter" and "Young Goodman Brown."

Rebirth and renewal (Bloom's Literary Themes series) by Harold Bloom (Contribution by); Blake Hobby (Editor)
Call Number: PN56.R37 R43 2009
ISBN: 0791098052
Publication Date: 2009-05-01
*page 191: "Hester's Bewitched Triangle: Within the Spell of the 'A'" by Blake G. Hobby

Hawthorne’s Black Man: Image of Social Evil
A literary criticism of the Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel "The Scarlet Letter" is presented. It discusses the symbolism of the Black Man, who never appears in the story but to whom various characters refer. The author sees him as the outsider. He carries a book and a pen and allows people to sign the book with their blood. They thus sign away their association with the community and commit to making themselves happy at its expense. Hawthorne thus shows the danger of breaking the laws of society.
A brief study on the symbolic meaning of the main characters' name in the scarlet letter
As a great romantic novelist in American literature in the 19th century and a central figure in the American Renaissance, Nathaniel Hawthorne is outstanding for his skillful employment of symbolism and powerful psychological insight. The Scarlet Letter, which is considered to be the greatest accomplishment of American short story and is often viewed as the first American symbolic and psychological novel, makes Nathaniel Hawthorne win incomparable position in American literature. With a brief introduction into The Scarlet Letter and a brief study on the two literary terms, i.e. symbol and symbolism, the paper attempts to expound Hawthorne's skillful employment of symbolism in his masterpiece through the analysis of the symbolic meaning of the main characters' name in this great novel.

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