Date of Award
7-1936
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
First Advisor
J. Gordon Eaker
Keywords
Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) -- Criticism and interpretation
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to consider Hawthorn's use of moral thems, to dicuss the tales according to definite morals set forth by the author, and to reach a conslusion about his ideas on morality as reflected in the stories. The study is based on thirty tales of Hawthorne selected and edited by Carl Van Doren for The World Classics published by the Oxford University Press.
After reading primary and secondary material, I came to the conslusion that in nearly every tale Hawthorne has had in mind a definite moral, which could be stated in one sentence. Thus the stories have been grouped and discussed according to the moral that the author proposes. The moral and the tale have been profoundly influenced by Hawthorne's inheritance, his environment both at home and at Salem, and finally by his imagination. Like the Puritan, he was interested in the the human soul and the conscience of man. Consequently, the stories aboud with thoughts, feelings, images, and objects of New England. However, unlike the Transcendentalist, Hawthorne dwelt primarely on sin and its effects rather than on service and its reward. Each of the tales is built upon the central theme found in all the tales that man is not "to lose hold of the magnetic in all the tlaes that man is not "to lose hold of the magnetic chain of humanity." Through character, symbol, and allegory, Hawthorne has left definite messages of compensation for good and evil, self-reliance, and individualism.
Recommended Citation
Leeper, Helen Irene, "The Moral purpose of Hawthorne's fiction" (1936). Electronic Theses & Dissertations. 811.
https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/etd/811
