Symbolism and allegory in Nathaniel Hawthorne's novels and tales

Abstract

The main aim of the dissertation is to analyze Nathaniel Hawthorne's treatment of the ethical problems of sin, punishment and atonement due to symbolism and allegory. This is seen through the symbolic and allegorical novels and tales, covering the years 1846 to 1852, which deal with moral conflicts and the effects of Puritanism on colonial New England. The dissertation will include a critical analysis of Hawthorne's three novels, The Scarlet Letter (1850), which deals with sin and punishment on the part of Hester and Dimmesdale; The House of the Seven Gables (1851), in which he traces the decadence of Puritanism in an old New England family and The Blithedale Romance (1852), in which he deals with the pressures of the individual between the demands of the consciousness and a failure of a social atmosphere to withdraw an integrated self. Moreover, a critical analysis of six of Nathaniel Hawthorne's tales will be tackled: "Roger Malvin's Burial," "Rappaccini's Daughter," and "Young Goodman Brown" from Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) deal with Hawthorne's preoccupation with the effects of pride, guilt, sin and secrecy, which are combined with a recurrent emphasis of symbolism and allegory. The other tales are "The Minister's Black Veil," "My Kinsman, Major Molineux" and "The Gentle Boy" from The Snow-Image and Other Twice-Told Tales (1852), which show Hawthorne's continuing preoccupation with the themes of guilt and pride. Hence, this dissertation will mainly focus on the existence of New England as a society, set up with God's special approval.