Alienation and Moral Dilemma
Nathaniel Hawthorn was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1804 during Puritan times. He created many stories that reflect his life experiences growing up as a Puritan. He writes stories that end with a moral that was learned through the struggles of the characters. These characters are almost always faced with a dilemma where they must choose what is right versus what is wrong. Another common theme in his writing is alienation. These concepts can be found in the stories ?Young Goodman Brown,? ?The Minister?s Black Veil,? and ?The Birth Mark.? They are all about a life altering decision one must face and the consequences of that decision. In ?Young Goodman Brown,? the dilemma faced by the main character is about the strength of his faith in God and the trust he losses for his wife and community. In ?The Minister?s Black Veil,? a minister is struggling with his own sins and his fear of them being revealed to his congregation. Finally, in ?The Birth Mark,? the main character becomes obsessed with a slight physical flaw on wife?s face; an obsession that ultimately leads to the destruction the thing he cherished most dearly.The story, ?Young Goodman Brown,? is about a man named Goodman Brown who must leave his wife Faith to go
Shoemaker ,Jacqueline, ?Hawthorne's Realm of Morality: Biographical Contexts for ?Young Goodman Brown,?? www.itech.fgcu.edu, http://itech.fgcu.edu/faculty/wohlpart/alra/Hawthorne.htm Sharpe, Lynda, ?The Birth-mark by Nathaniel Hawthorne,? www.vcu.edu, http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/eng491/bm-base.htm Mota, Joshua, ?The Minister's Black Veil,? www.ri.net, http://www.ri.net/schools/Pawtucket/Tolman/ODonnell/MOTAWEB/veil.html ?The Minister?s Black Veil? is story about moral choice and faith. There is a religious leader named Parson Hooper who is ashamed of his sins and wears a black veil to disguise the sins and the guilt he harbors because of them. The man is full of pride and afraid to reveal his sins. The veil is placed over his face to make the people of the congregation realize that no one is perfect and that everyone sins. His constant refusal to remove the veil is often a distraction and draws much attention to the minister?s sins rather than to conceal them. It makes him appear sinister and evil. This can be seen when Hawthorne writes ?it caused children to flee when he approached because he would not remove the veil even for one moment?? (Nathaniel Hawthorne, ?The Minister?s Black Veil?) His refusal to reveal why he wears the veil causes the townspeople to doubt him, his beliefs, and his preaching. The people felt the veil was "the symbol of a fearful secret between him and them." (Nathaniel Hawthorne, ?The Minister?s Black Veil?)
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1943
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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