Literary Elements

Major Themes in Hawthorne’s Fiction

1. The effects of sin, both positive and negative, and the possibility of redemption.
   

2. Alienation – a character is in a state of isolation because of self-cause, or societal cause, or a combination of both.

3. Initiation – involves the attempts of an alienated character to get rid of his/her isolated condition.

4. Problem of Guilt – a character’s sense of guilt forced by the puritanical heritage or by society; also guilt vs. innocence.

5. Pride – Hawthorne treats pride as evil. He illustrates the following aspects of pride in various characters: physical pride, spiritual pride, and intellectual pride.

6. Puritan New England – used as a background and setting for many of his tales.

7. Allegory – Hawthorne’s writing is allegorical, didactic and moralistic.

8. Some conflicts that are explored include individual vs. society, hypocrisy vs. integrity, love vs. hate, and fate vs. free will.

Literary Devices

• Symbolism

• Setting

• Parallelism

• Situational Irony

Source: Reuben, Paul P. "Chapter 3: Nineteenth Century to 1865 - Nathaniel Hawthorne." PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide. http://web.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap3/hawthorne.html 7 June 2011