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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 2.5 page paper which examines how Hawthorne employs symbolism in characters and inanimate objects. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
Page Count:
2 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGhawsym.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
of the Romantic Transcendentalism that was popular during the mid-nineteenth century, especially in New England, where it fueled the creative imaginations of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Emily
Dickinson. He was a product of the moralistic fire and brimstone Calvinist culture, and the inevitable conflict between sin and virtue was ever-present in his texts. Hawthorne explored
the human condition through his careful crafting of allegorical tales, in which characters and inanimate objects symbolically pondered lifes temptations. Hawthorne represents a tortured moralist not unlike his ill-fated
character Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale, as he attempts to transform himself into a literary clergyman, with his works such as "Dr. Heideggers Experiment," "The Ministers Black Veil," "The Birth-Mark" and The
Scarlet Letter, representing his sermons. "Dr. Heideggers Experiment," which was first published in 1837, explores "the excesses of youth" (Deats and Lenker 174). The characters symbolize Hawthornes themes.
For example, Dr. Heidegger himself is a man who values wisdom, a student of life who seeks to apply knowledge to learn from the mistakes of his past. His
guests/patients include Mr. Medbourne, who represents the sin of avarice and the dehumanizing effects of the almighty dollar; Mr. Gascoigne embodies the corruption of politics; Colonel Killigrew (whose name in
itself is symbolic) personifies the evils of pleasures of the flesh; and the Widow Wycherly (whose name is pronounced "Witcherly") is the literal reflection of vanity. Hawthorne also rather
benignly introduces objects that have a deeper symbolic significance. For example, there is, in Dr. Heideggers laboratory a mirror, about which, "It was fabled that the spirits of all
the doctors deceased patients dwelt within its verge, and would stare him in the face whenever he looked thitherward" (Hawthorne). The mirror is the contemplative nature of the human
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