Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance and Maria Susanna Cummins’ The Lamplighter are vastly different books. While originally published within two years of each other, both authors approached their writing through distinctive practices. Hawthorne failed to show development in a majority of his characters while Cummins’ novel is heavily loaded with positive character growth. After reading The Blithedale Romance and The Lamplighter, one of the main differences noted was that the development of characters, specifically female, showed the true writing of both authors.
The manner in which Hawthorne depicts women is rather unfavorable toward the female sex. While Coverdale shows feminist qualities in his argument that women be considered
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Coverdale is a character of little, if any, personal growth. His character, along with the other inhabitants of Blithedale is stagnant. Despite his experiences involving Blithedale, Coverdale chooses to remain the person he was when he first arrived and proves as such when he says, “The reader must not take my own word for it, nor believe me altogether changed” (Hawthorne 247).
Gerty develops significantly as a young woman throughout the course of the novel. Her personal growth in temperance and her strides in spirituality are remarkable, being almost completely opposite of when she arrived at True’s home as a neglected child. Gertrude’s growth is ultimately fostered by the love of her adoptive family and her innate thankfulness and duty to them for their having rescued her. Gerty, the emotional child, slowly transforms into Gertrude, the in control woman by learning from each experience and following her
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Her role of an adoptive mother to Gerty changes to friend as they grow closer and share trialing events and heartbreaks with each other. When Emily finally discloses her heartbreak and reveals the mystery behind her blindness to Gertrude, she explains her hesitation and protection of her from the trouble of her story. “You told me, many years ago, that I could not imagine how much you loved Willie, and I was then on the point of confiding to you a part of my early history, and convincing you that my own experience might well have taught me how to understand such a love; but I checked myself, for you were too young then to be burdened with the knowledge of so sad a story as mine, and I kept silent” (Cummins 314). This chapter plays a pivotal role in Emily and Gertrude’s changing relationship and is a good example of the sentimentalism used in the
Nathaniel Hawthorne is one of the greatest American authors of the nineteenth century. He published his first novel Fanshawe, in 1828. However, he is widely known for his novels The Scarlet Letter and The House of Seven Gables. His novel, The Scarlet Letter, can be analyzed from historical, psychological and feminist critical perspectives by examining his life from the past, as well as his reflections while writing The Scarlet Letter. In order to understand the book properly, it’s necessary to use these three perspectives.
The day after her father's death, the women of the town went to give their condolences to Miss. Emily. To their surprise, Miss. Emily was "dressed as usual" and had "no trace of grief on her face (Perrine's 285)." Emily told the women that her father was not dead. Finally after three days of trying to hold on to her father, "she broke down, and they buried her father quickly (Perrine's 285)." The town's people tired to justify Miss. Emily's actions, by saying that she had nothing left, and was clinging to the one thing that had robbed her for so long they convinced themselves that she was not crazy.
The narrator seems unable to establish direct contact with Emily, either in the recovery center or their home life. The narrator notes how Emily grew slowly more distant and emotionally unresponsive. Emily returned home frail, distant, and rigid, with little appetite. Each time Emily returned, she was forced to reintegrate into the changing fabric of the household. Clearly, Emily and the narrator have been absent from each other’s lives during significant portions of Emily’s development. After so much absence, the narrator intensifies her attempts to show Emily affection, but these attempts are rebuffed, coming too late to prevent Emily’s withdrawal from her family and the world. Although Emily is now at home with the narrator, the sense of absence continues even in the present moment of the story. Emily, the narrator’s central
Hawthorne is known for being a Romantic writer with a Romantic subject: a rebel who refuses to conform to society's code. Most
Emily was kept confined from all that surrounded her. Her father had given the town folks a large amount of money which caused Emily and her father to feel superior to others. “Grierson’s held themselves a little too high for what they really were” (Faulkner). Emily’s attitude had developed as a stuck-up and stubborn girl and her father was to blame for this attitude. Emily was a normal
Emily’s upbringing is plagued with difficulties. She is the first-born of a young mother and the eldest of five brothers and sisters. As a baby, she is
Hawthorne did not view women as unimportant or threatening to his works, but as men’s vital, emotional, intellectual, and sacred partners. As many famous biographers have established, women have often played crucial roles in Hawthorne’s novels and short stories. For example, female roles in his fiction were based on relationships who affected his professional life, including Elizabeth Peabody and Margaret Fuller. Throughout his short stories and romances, Hawthorne describes myriad characteristics of female roles. His impeccable design of having women depicted as principle roles instead of supporting or victim characters contributes to
Nathaniel Hawthorne has written may pieces of literature that has made us dig deep inside his words to extract different meanings. He is well known for being one of the fathers of the American short story. He is considered a Dark Romantic whose perception is muddled by limits on human consciousness; where truth is uncertain and it shadows our abilities (Moreland). He is of Puritan descendent and therefore his writing portrays anxiety, guilt, self depression and sins being passed down (Moreland). His writing demonstrates how he likes to go deep within an individual’s unconscious. One of his best short stories is Rappaccini’s Daughter. There is so much to take in from such a short story. He includes cultural contexts pertaining to the nineteenth century women’s equality as well as ethical choices which turn out to be unethical.
The Blithedale Romance, written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a story of a twisted utopia. This perfect world is twisted in that the roles of gender have a traditional utopian representation, only with a more contemporary take. Of course, this is interesting because this book was written and published in the 19th century when such ideas were beginning to establish a form for the genre of writing. Hawthorne combines fantasy, philosophy, mystery, gothic, and even [what would be called today] science fiction. This novel illustrates the early break from even fresh ideas. The writing style allows for the "genderizing degenderizing" affect as well as nature of the self.
The female characters in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance, Zenobia and Priscilla, differ in their representations of womanhood. Zenobia begins as an independent character, whom later surrenders to Hollingsworth's control, whereas Priscilla is ever submissive to his desires. This determines how the male characters, Coverdale and Hollingsworth, view both women. Coverdale and Hollingsworth are first enamored by Zenobia's charm, but both fall for Priscilla's docility. Zenobia represents female independence and Priscilla embodies feminine subservience; the triumph of Priscilla casts the male vote in this novel unanimously
In Faulkner's story, an onlooker tells of the peculiar events that occurred during Miss Emily's life. The author never lets the reader understand Emily's side to the story. Instead, the reader is forced to guess why Emily is as strange as she is. In the story, Emily had harbored her father's dead body in her house for three days (par. 27). The reader is told of how the town looked upon what Emily had done, but the reader is never able to fully understand Emily's actions until the end of the story.
Written in 1850, The Scarlet Letter stood as a very progressive book. With new ideas about women, main characters’ stories intertwined, and many different themes, The Scarlet Letter remains today as a extremely popular novel about 17th century Boston, Massachusetts. Not only was the 19th century a time for the abolition of slavery movement but it was also the beginning of the first wave of feminism. Women such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucretia Mott catalyzed the women’s rights movement. These prominent women believed that a woman’s role was no longer in the house and that women should be afforded the same opportunity as men. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s sympathy for women is evident in a feminist reading of his novel
The narrator was not a very maternally loving mother to Emily. "The old man living in the back once said in his gentle way: `You should smile at Emily more when you look at her'" (200). Unlike the mom's portrayed in the 1950's, the narrator could not
Emily behaves the way she does for numerous reasons. She is born into an aristocratic family. Emily is brought up as a Southern belle by her father and is placed on a pedestal by the townspeople. The Grierson’s are known in town for being extremely wealthy and having the nicest house in Jefferson, Yoknapatawpha County. Due to the fact that her father, Mr. Grierson, keeps her isolated and socially restricted as a child, she behaves abnormally. Emily feels as if she is pressured to live up to her father’s expectations. Because Emily is kept away from everything, she is not yet exposed to the real world.
Finally, the author highlights the sufferance that fetters the mother's consciousness. Emily’s mother becomes aware that she was too preoccupied with providing for her daughter and she forgot to provide her with what matter the most, her presence. She is mindful of the fact that that she continuously removed Emily from her life. Moreover, she put a mark on Emily’s behavior and personality. She regrets her conduct, but she is also aware that it is too late to change anything. The mother states, “There were years she did not want me to touch her. She kept too much in herself, her life was such she had to