-
The Scarlet Letter
Author:
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Symbolism
：
The Scarlet Letter, A symbol of shame,
but instead it becomes a powerful symbol of
identity to Hester.
The letter’s
meaning shifts as time passes. Originally intended
to mark Hester as an adulteress, the “A”
eventually comes to stand for “Able.”
The Meteor , to Dimmesdale,
the meteor implies that he should wear a mark of
shame just as Hester
does. The meteor
is interpreted differently by the rest of the
community, which thinks that it stands
for “Angel” and marks Governor
Winthrop’s entry into heaven
The Rosebush,Next to the Prison Door
.The narrator chooses to begin his story with the
image of the
rosebush beside the prison
door. The rosebush symbolizes the ability of
nature to endure and outlast
man’s
activities.
Pearl is a sort
of living version of her m
other’s
scarlet letter. She is the physical consequence of
sexual
sin and the indicator of a
transgression (evildoing). Upward American spirit
Character analysis:
Hester:
disloyalty,
betrayal,
deception,
sexual
desire,
adultery.
Face,
correct,
redeem,
purify.
Praise,
content,
conformability.
Dimmesdale: adultery,
cowardice, hypocrisy, dishonesty, selfishness, too
coward to confess, tortured
by his
conscience. Sympathetic, disfavor his hesitation,
indecisiveness and cowardice.
Chillingworth: revenge. Tortured by the
desire of revenge, twisted and reduced to nothing.
disgusted,
think he committed greater
crime.
Puritanism in The Scarlet Letter
Puritan background: setting, events,
characters, thoughts, behaviors.
Puritan doctrines: original sin, total
depravity, predestination, limited atonement.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
1.
Nature
The declaration of Transcendentalism
Analysis of “Nature”
A
long
essay
which
has eight
parts: the
opening,
commodity,
beauty,
language,
discipline,
Idealism,
spirit and
prospects. Our selectio
n is taken from
the opening. Taken as a whole, “Nature” expresses
Emerson’s philosophy in a more
systematic fashion than any other work of
his.
Meanings of nature
I Beauty
Nature
is
beautiful.
:
the
complete,
mysterious,
useful
and
moral
beauty
of
nature.
First,
nature’s
beauty
lies
in
its
completeness.
Second,
nature’s
beauty
lies
in
its
mystery.
cannot
be
manipulated.
Only when he holds a sincere respect
for nature, can man feel the mysterious beauty of
nature. Third,
nature’s beauty lies in
its usefulnes
s. Nature provides man
without any benefit
II Nature Is Divine
?
Nature is divine and has the eternal
order which should not be violated. Influenced in
a way by
Chinese
ancient
philosophy,
Emerson
believes
that
all
the
things
in
the
world
come
from
the
same
root---the Oversoul.
?
?
Emerson
believes that man can find God in his own heart by
direct contact with nature
Nature
has
permeated
(penetrate)
all
aspects
of
human
life.
Spirit
embodied
in
nature
has
influence
upon
us.
Nature
inspires
man
and
gives
himher
power.
Man
should
find
the
truth,
goodness and beauty in his own soul and
bring into play his potentiality as human being.
Then,
he will become himself “All that
Adam had, all that Caesar could, you have and can
do
?
For Emerson, the individual is
potentially the most divine and any organization
or existing idea
can not limit the
development of individual.
III Nature
Is Changing
Everything in
nature is in a process---growing, withdrawing and
falling into the ground. The flowing of
nature comes from a force which impels
it to develop.
For
instance, a river is always in constantly
flowing. It originates from mountains,
flows along great plains and ultimately converges
into the sea.
Transcendental philosophy
Nature
symbolizes
freedom,
independence
and
change.
These
are
Individualism
elements
which
attend to significance of common life.
Therefore Emerson's nature is the theoretical base
of American
Individualism---one of the
characteristics of American culture. As the symbol
of Spirit, nature helps to
prove that
man's soul is beautiful, divine and fluid. Man
should pursue spiritual fulfillment
Excerpt from Nature
: in
Nature Emerson puts forward every phenomenon of
the nature there was the
spirit of the
spirit of the nature.
Here from this
paragraph we could see that emerson found the
beauty in the wildness nature rather
than
the
village
or
something.
“in
the
wildness,
I
find
something
more
dear
and
connate
than
in
streets or villages.” In the wildness
of the nature, emerson can transcend physical body
to
the spirit of
the God and
he can become one part of the spirit.
He emerges into the nature, and then he
goes into the Oversoul. “I am part or particle of
God.” “I am
nothing; I see all”. This
sentence clearly shows that emerson merges into
the sporit. And
in the nature
we could get the eternal beauty.
2.
Self-
Reliance
①
“The
Confidence”.
a man must
show his opinion confidently and bravely in spite
of different ideas.
②
“The Independence”. A man
should keep himself firmly not be easily
influenced by environment.
③
Keep
personality,
which
is
closely
related
to
the
confidence
and
the
independence.
a
man
must
keep his personality and conform to his
own principles.
④
“Showing
no
Sympathy
to
the
Poor”
shows
that
why
the
poor
are
poor
is
mainly
due
to
their
backward thinking.
Showing help to this kind of people means doing
harm to them.
Comment
: In Self-reliance,
Emerson expressed the romantic idea of
individualism, with an emphasis
on
being self-sufficient. He promoted relying on
oneself rather than on established society.
Emerson
was
known
for
his
repeated
use
of
phrase
“trust
thyself”.
“Self
-
reliance”
is
his
explanation
---both
systematic
and
passionate
of
what
he
meant
by
this,
and
why
he
was
moved
to
make
it
his
catchphrase. Every individual possesses
a unique genius, Emerson argues, that can only be
revealed
when
that
individual
has
the
courage
to
trust
his
or
her
own
thoughts,
attitudes,
and
inclinations
against all
public disapproval.
Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
1. A Psalm of Life
①
Love of nature, love for
the past
②
Trochaic
tetrameter
③
constant
theme
for
poets:
The
relationship
of
life
and
death.
④
He
expresses
his
pertinent
interpretation to that by warning us
that though life is hard and everybody must die,
time flies and life
is
short,
yet,
human
beings
ought
to
be
hold
“to
act,”
to
face
the
reality
straightly
so
as
to
make
otherwise
meaningless life significant.
2. My
Lost Youth