The major works of Nathaniel Hawthorne include a number of recurring references which appear to be linked with one another. There is mention of electric rings, glavanism, sympathies between people, somnambulism, gold chains and amulets, mesmerism, and much more. Some of the characters Hawthorne created have a strange power or control over others. There are numerous references to mediums and trances. In addition one finds a recurring theme in Hawthorne's major works--man's search for universal order and harmony. A close examination of these related elements shows them to have a common denominator in mesmerism.A review of American culture and thought prevelant during the first half of the nineteenth century reveals a people nearly obsessed with the idea of mesmerism. That obsession is'-reflected in four little-know tales written by one of Hawthorne's contemporaries, Edgar Allan Poe. In these tales--"A Tale of the Ragged Mountains, "Mesmeric Revelation," "Some Words with a Mummy," and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"-- Poe's focus is directly on the various aspects and variations of mesmerism. These four tales by Poe provide ample evidence that mesmerism and the various ideas and concepts associated with it were well known to Americans of the mid 1800's. It is reasonable to assume, then, that Nathaniel Hawthorne also had some knowledge of mesmerism. An examination of his works, in fact, clearly supports that assumption. Hawthorne, however, unlike Poe, did not deal directly with the subject of mesmerism. In his writings Hawthorne made practical use of the trappings and tenets of mesmerism. In the artistry of at least four of his works--The Scarlet Letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Rommance, and The Marble Faun--Hawthorne appears to have utilized mesmeric ideas and concepts in a supportive role.In this paper the previously mentioned literary works by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne will be closely examined. The critical analysis of these works presented here is different from other analyses of the same works by Poe and Hawthorne in that it concentrates on the element of mesmerism. Poe, a popular writer of his day, dealt directly with the subject of mesmerism, and his works provide evidence of the knowledge the American people had of mesmerism by the 1840's. The central focus of the paper will be to prove that Hawthorne, unlike Poe, made use of the various tenets and trappings of mesmerism to delineate character and to develop plot.Though an extremely complex philosophy, in brief, mesmerism deals with the relationship between man and his universe as well as between man and his fellow man. A detailed discussion of the origin and development of mesmerism is presented in chapters two, three and four. As a philosophy, mesmerism is based on the idea presented by Franz Anton Mesmer in his doctoral dissertation: the entire universe is connected by a force consisting of tiny particles or an electrically charged fluid which emanates from the planets. Mesmer named this force gravitas universalis. The ebb and flow of this universal force is what relates all elements in the universe, including man, to one another. When one is in harmony with this universal fluid, peace and health prevail. If one is not in harmony with the forces of the universe, however, physical or mental illness follows.This basic philosophy of mesmerism is in many ways identical to Nathaniel Hawthorne's conception of sin as it relates to the good and virtuous life. Hawthorne believed that to be at peace, man must establish a true and meaningful relationship with some other person. Such a relationship was prevented by sin, and the worst sin was to seek the lack of love in others or to disallow love to enter one's own heart. Sin for Hawthorne, then, indicated that man was out of tune with the forces of the universe. Hawthorne combined his concept of sin with the philosophy of mesmerism to form the basis for a writing device. The analysis of Hawthorne's works reveals elements of mesmerism intricately woven into the fabric of his writing, leaving little doubt that Hawthorne made deliberate use of mesmerism to delineate character and to develop plot.

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The purpose of this thesis is to present a systematic examination of the major groups of nature symbols used by Hawthorne in his novels and tales treating moral isolation. Since Poe's and Melville's early remarks on Hawthorne's love of allegory and his power of blackness, many critics have studied the extensive use of symbolism and the detailed analysis of human nature in his works. While critics have not ignored the numerous examples of nature symbolism contained in the works, none has made a comprehensive analysis of Hawthorne's systematic patterns. Such an analysis reveals a significant aspect of the already acknowledged depth and genius of his symbolic method and shows that his use of nature symbolism, differing from that of both his puritan ancestors and transcendentalist contemporaries, serves as further evidence of his great artistic originality. In Chapter Two, an examination of The Scarlet Letter, in which nearly all the nature symbols are used, reveals the great richness and complexity with which Hawthorne develops them. The journey into the wilderness is the chief symbol, giving not only a structural unity to several vital chapters in the centre of the novel, but also revealing the extent of the moral isolation of the characters. Within this major pattern, several other patterns emerge: the interplay of sunlight and darkness, the physical nature of the wilderness itself, and the attitudes of the various characters to nature symbolise the moral natures of Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale. The following chapters examine the systematic application of each set of symbols to a specific aspect of moral isolation. Moral innocence and attempts to regain or retain it are symbolized by sunshine, flowers and the harmonious relationship of individuals with nature; moral evil and guilt by the journey into the wilderness, the wild nature of the forest itself, and darkness. A third group of symbols relating to the garden reflect another aspect of isolation, that of the isolated individual attempting to enter into contact with others. Within each of these three symbolic patterns, the individual symbols are modified to reflect the unique moral conditions of the particular characters. Hawthorne's use of nature imagery takes on added significance when considered in relation to his allegorical method. It becomes an integral part of the method by which he was able to retell old material and common themes in such a way as to give each a new life and meaning. It is a part of the method which has helped to establish his position as a major American author. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

In Hawthorne criticism there is a tendency to categorize The Scarlet Letter as allegory and then fail to distinguish it carefully from traditional forms of this literary mode. Hawthorne is not, in this work, an allegorist of the same ilk as Bunyan or Spenser because his allegory is not a didactic strategy imposed from without but an emblematic structure that evolves from and is governed by internal necessities of the tale. A failure to understand the nature of these necessities leads us to an overly theologized view of Hawthorne’s purposes and achievement in The Scarlet Letter. Hawthorne's own moralizing editorials tend to complement the brazenly emblematic function of characters such as Pearl and Chillingworth and create the appearance of traditional religious allegory. Pearl and Chillingworth are punitive, avenging figures and resemble the stock allegorical images of guilt and penitence that afflict Hester and Dimmesdale in the aftermath of their crime. Their distinction lies in that they are not everyman's guilt, as a Bunyan of Spenser might depict them, but they specifically incarnate the self-torment Hester and Dimmesdale are prey to. Their roles fulfill primarily a psycho-allegorical scheme rather than any patently Christian parable of sin and expiation. The clues to this psychological priority Hawthorne gives his allegory are contained in the author's frequent allusions to the "mutability" of the substantial world and the extent to which the perturbed perceiver may "extend his egotism over the whole expanse of nature", creating events and omens which reflect his internal disorder. There is evidence that Dimmesdale himself inflicts Chillingworth on his person just as he, miraculously or otherwise, carves an "A" upon his bosom. It is Dimmesdale who consents to being attended by the leech by reason of his "fascination" for this man of science with his probing intellectuality. Dimmesdale's culpability in creating the presence of Chillingworth is further underlined by Hawthorne's observation that the minister's only "real existence on this earth, was the anguish in his inmost soul." Chillingworth's appearance and the increasingly demonic nature of his character is thus an inevitable byproduct of Dimmesdale's increasing introversion into the turmoil of his mind. Similarly Pearl's emblematic being usurps the humanity of her character as a result of her direct relation to Hester's psyche. Hester dresses Pearl in lavish finery with "morbid purpose" just as she embellishes the appearance of the letter on her dress. These are the superficial clues to the extent to which Hester creates the punishing role Pearl's personality fulfills. Hester's sense of guilt, like Dimmesdale's is sufficiently severe to re-create the realities of the external world and create the embodied phantoms of her inward strife. Hawthorne's psychological allegory creates a state of surreality in the world of The Scarlet Letter; a dream state where "the Actual and the Imaginary" do meet and the meeting ground is the interior of the human heart. Our insight into the minds of Hester and Dimmesdale derives from our participation in their anguished distortion of experience and their projected allegory. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

A study of the shorter fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne reveals a rich experimentation with narrative techniques, all working towards what Edgar Allan Poe, Hawthorne's first critic, called a 'certain unique or single effect'. The aim of this dissertation is to show how Hawthorne's concern with the complex nature of man's temporal existence governs both the theme and structure of his fiction. Time implies both change and flux, and is inextricable from the historical, social and psychological evolution of Hawthorne's characters. As theme, time is used to disclose patterns of withdrawal and return, the problem of the individual alienated from his society, and the tension between the realm of art and the world of actuality. As structure, time is used in various ways to govern the pace of a particular story and, most certainly, to govern the unfolding sequence of events. Hawthorne consciously experiments with different generic modes, with a diversity of beginnings and endings, in order to explore the inexhaustible manifestations of human time.

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The purpose of this study is to evaluate various religious elements in Nathainel Hawthorne's life in relation to his career as a literary artist. The moral seriousness of this author at once strikes us as being something closely akin to religious sentiment, but he refused to endorse any specific dogma or to subscribe to any one organized faith. We know from his work that he had a religion, but his silence leaves ample room for conjecture if we wish to "label" him, or decide which of those religions that he contemplated was most congenial to his nature.

This thesis encompasses a twofold purpose. On the one hand, it seeks to explore and to formulate a definition of the concept of "place" and what is meant by the words "sense of place" in fiction. Within this purview, the thesis also distinguishes between the concept of place and the fictional technique of setting. On the other hand, the study provides an analysis of Hawthorne's work based upon the implications ensuing from a consideration of place. While most of Hawthorn's familiar short stories and novels are discussed briefly and referred to where appropriate, the bulk of the study provides in-depth analyses of several short stories and sketches which have received little critical attention. The short pieces discussed in greatest detail are as follows: "My Visit to Niagara," "Foot-prints on the Sea-shore," "The Old Manse," "The Lily's Quest," and "Main-Street." These pieces were selcted because they focus on "places" directly, because they require critical attention, and because they shed light on several of Hawthorn 's major works. The overall concern with the concept of place is deemed important by the author because the concept figures so prominently in Hawthorn 's work and thus serves as a way of enhancing the reader's understanding of Hawthorne's mind and art.

The recent publication of the bulk of Hawthorne's letters has precipitated this study, which deals with Hawthorne's creative and subversive narration and his synchronic appeal to a variety of readers possessing different tastes. The author initially investigates Hawthorne's religion and demonstrate how he disguised his personal religious convictions, ambiguously using the intellectual categories of Calvinism, Unitarianism, and spiritualism to promote his own humanistic "religion." Hawthorne's appropriation of the jeremiad further illustrates his emphasis on religion and narration. Although his religion remained humanistic, he readily used the old Puritan political sermon to describe and defend his own financial hardships. That jeremiad outlook has significant implications for his art.