The Psychological Dimension of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Birthmark Essa

The Psychological Dimension of The Birthmark This essay will crush Nathaniel Hawthornes The Birthmark in order to demonstrate that it is a mental short story both in its themes and in its emphasis on the moral-psychological conniption of the main characters. There is probably unanimity among literary critics that Hawthorne is a psychological writer. Consider some of their statements chosen at random from various critiques of Hawthornes literary works Stanley T. Williams in Hawthornes Puritan Mind says What he wrote of New England was . . . .the subconscious mind of New England. It was. . . . unforgettable case histories of men and women afflicted by guilt, or, as he called it, by a stain upon the soul.. . . . His were grave and acute reflections upon the way in which the Puritan mind worked. . . . (43) Edmund Fuller and B. Jo Kinnick in Stories Derived from New England animate state that Hawthorne liked to explore uncertainties of belief that trouble a mans heart and mind (3 1). Clarice Swisher in Nathaniel Hawthorne a Biography states that Hawthornes disport tended toward the heart and the psychological effects of these moral and ethical issues (13). A. N. Kaul considers Hawthorne preeminently a psychological writer burrowing, to his utmost ability, into the depths of our common nature, for the purposes of psychological romance. . . . He was deeply thoughtless with the modern themes of alienation, isolation, and guilt consciousness and with modern spiritual problems generally (2). There appears to be more agreement among literary critics regarding the interpretation of Hawthorne as a psychological writer than upon any other aspect of his writing. ... ...athaniel Hawthorne, modify by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996. Melville, Herman. Hawthorne and His Mosses, The Literary World August 17, 24, 1850. http//eldred.ne.mediaone.net/nh/hahm.html Peckham, Morse. The Development of Hawthornes Romanticism. In Readings on Nathaniel Haw thorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996. Swisher, Clarice. Nathaniel Hawthorne a Biography. In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996. Waggoner, Hyatt. Nathaniel Hawthorne. In Six American Novelists of the Nineteenth Century, edited by Richard Foster. Minneapolis University of manganese Press, 1968. Williams, Stanley T. Hawthornes Puritan Mind. In Readings on Nathaniel Hawthorne, edited by Clarice Swisher. San Diego, CA Greenhaven Press, 1996.