An Analysis of Hawthorne's Short Stories
In many of Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories, he creates characters
with either a malicious or evil feature to relay to the reader a more
allegorical meaning. Many would say he targets woman without justification.
Therefore a reader may interpret him to be a misogynist. In the story "
Rapaccinni's Daughter" he uses Beatrice as a carrier of a deadly poison. In "
Young Goodman Brown" he targets Faith as the character who is lost to the Devil.
In the stories "Rappaccini's Daughter," and "The Birthmark," Hawthorne also uses
men as transmitters of evil illicitly. The men involved in the stories have
their own flaws which contribute to the flaws of the women in their lives.
Ultimately, Hawthorne in the cases above can be seen as a misogynist who directs
his maliciousness on only women, yet he also uses male characters as vile
transmitters of evil, therefore he is not a misogynist and targets both sexes
equally.
In Young Goodman......
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Approximate Word Count: 786
Approximate Pages: 4 (260 words per double-spaced page) |