Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 1997. / Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as 1 preliminary leaf. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2832. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-77).

This thesis traces the development of Calvinist hermeneutic practices and their implications for social order as they relate to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The tension in Calvinist reform between its liberating, individualistic piety and its strict, pure social order carried over into hermeneutic practice, resulting in three distinct hermeneutic traditions: the dogmatism upheld by the ecclesiastical and political elite; the subjective dogmatism of "inspired" radicals; and an open hermeneutics which emphasized receptivity to new meaning but recognized the importance of community and community of meaning and aspired to a progressive harmony of ideas. Through Puritan covenant theology, Calvinist dogmatism was transformed into American nationalism, a mode of thought with protean powers of co-opting dissent. Calvinist subjective dogmatism influenced American radicalism through Puritan antinomians. While Calvin's open hermeneutics had some influence on the Puritans, it was especially important in the writing of Emerson and Hawthorne, who were especially influenced by its development in the work of seventeenth-century English divines and of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This development, paralleled in American thinkers such as Edwards, divorced dogmatic, traditional "Calvinism" from the Calvin who inspired personal experience and symbolic knowledge. In response to the authoritarian dogmatism of American nationalism, both Emerson and Hawthorne turned to the Calvinist tradition of openness to new meaning. For Emerson, this meant a continual quest for authenticity and the consequent rejection of comforting structures and habitual modes of thought. Such hermeneutics led Emerson toward relativism and pragmatism. Hawthorne too recognized in the dominant ideology a threat to the integrity of the individual, as evidenced in his early "rites of passage" stories. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne suggested the need for community as a support of meaning and a foundation for the individual in a process of long-term change.

Various characteristics of Gothic fiction are evident in Hawthorne's tales and romances - the interest in man's primitive self, the concern with historical and psychological facts and with imaginative and intuitive experience,' the delineation of the human conflict between spiritual aspirations and sensual needs, the emphasis on the ambiguity of good and evil as moral concepts, and the enactment of horror and terror. For Hawthorne these elements relate to the human struggle between mind and heart, between faith and passion - a struggle which is consonant with his own conflict with his Puritan conscience and his poetic imagination. They focus on the complexity of human feeling, yet help towards a final realization of man's significance and promise. They enable Hawthorne to resolve the eternal conflict between soul and body. The thesis deals with Hawthorne's four romances - The Scarlet letter, The House of the Seven Gables, The Blithedale Romance and The Marble Faun. In the first three, Hawthorne is hampered by his Puritan conscience so that passion is often subjugated by faith. In The Scarlet letter the persecution of .Hester and the ardent life she represents is at least justified in that it mirrors a historical truth. Moreover, Hawthorne achieves a certain ambivalence which, instead of signalling his own uncertainty and feebleness, enhances the complexity and mysteriousness of man's nature and situation. In The House of the Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance, however, Puritan religiosity predominates and expresses itself in a wholly sentimental and repressive attitude. It is only in The Marble Faun that Hawthorne sees beyond the dilemma of man's dual aspects to realize the mythic and religious significance inherent in his seemingly divided self. While, in doing so, he manifests the typical Gothic idea that primitive man has a certain magnificence, Hawthorne is more interested in the fact that feeling is uplifting and ennobling. Human passion has a spiritual aspect.

In its first part, this thesis attempts to explore Nathaniel Hawthorne's influences and sources of writing with an emphasis on his interest in the Puritan past and the historical basis of many of his stories. This part also provides basic information about the origin and characteristic features of Puritanism, focusing on those historical events which influenced Hawthorne's short stories. In its second part this thesis will attempt to analyse selected short stories with the focus on Hawthorne's presentation of Puritanism. Partly, it also focuses on Hawthorne's perception of sin in his stories. As a conclusion, the thesis tries to show the connection between Puritanism and sin and uses this connection to demonstrate why Hawthorne's judgement of the Puritans was not impartial, and it attempts to define what he saw as the biggest mistake of his (and generally Puritan) ancestors.

This essay seeks to explore the various representations of fatherhood in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Although The Scarlet Letter is Hawthorne’s most-studied text, very little critical attention has been paid to Hawthorne’s rendering of paternity in the story. This essay attempts to fill that void by examining the roles of the many father figures in the novel. I argue that Hawthorne’s anxiety about fatherhood, made manifest by his constant doubling and expunging of father figures, dominates the narratives of both The Scarlet Letter and “The Custom-House,” binding the texts together and providing the framework of the novel. The structure of The Scarlet Letter relies on Hawthorne’s continual introduction of potential fathers for Pearl, auditioning and discarding various paternal models – a process that carries implications both for Pearl, and for American fatherhood. I further contend that the figure of the absent father is a key thematic component of the American Renaissance as a whole, reflecting not only the authors’ personal fears, but also their anxieties about England’s paternal relationship to America – a concern that pervades the text of The Scarlet Letter. / text

Thesis (B.A.)--Haverford College, Dept. of English, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.) -- Central Connecticut State University, 2005. / Thesis advisor: John A. Heitner. "... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 153-155). Also available via the World Wide Web.

This thesis is focused on the quest for perfection in Nathaniel Hawthorne's collection of short stories Mosses from an Old Manse. The goal of this work is to answer the question to what extent is the concept of perfection influenced by his Puritan heritage or Transcendentalism of the present day. Therefore, the first part of the thesis deals with the concept of perfection in writings of prominent Puritan and Transcendental authors. Then follow chapters that analyse specific short stories and the concept of perfection used in them. In all cases, there are always two short stories connected with one theme, namely science, interpersonal relationships, and arts.

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