美国文学unit 4 nathaniel hawthorne (18041864

1、 Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) by Liu Qinli A Romanticism: some main concepts Sensibility Primitivism Sympathetic interests in the past Mysticism Individualism Sentimental melancholy Nature /ebooks/ 33 Contents: I. Biography II. Influences on Hawthorne III. Works IV. Themes

2、V. Scarlet Letter I. Biography He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts. Ancestors: men of prominence in the Puritan theocracy of 17th-century New England. a colonial magistrate, the persecution of the Quakers, a judge, at the Salem Witchcraft Trial in 1692. “that blackness in Hawthorne.” I. Biog

3、raphy worked at a Custom House in 1839. joined Brook Farm, a transcendentalist community in 1842. Married Sophie Peabody in 1842 and moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts. published The Scarlet Letter in 1850 and befriended with Herman Melville. In 1853, the position of United States Cons

4、ul in Liverpool. Buried on Authors Ridge in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Concord in 1864. The Old Manse The Wayside/Hillside House The Wayside/Hillside House In the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Hawthrones Tombstone II. Influences on Hawthorne 1. Salem - early childhood, later work at the Custom House. 2. Purit

5、an family background 3. Belief in the existence of the devil. 4. Belief in determinism. III. Works Collection of short stories Twice-Told Tales (1837) Mosses from an Old Manse (1846) Four remarkable novels: The Scarlet Letter (1850) The House of the Seven Gables (1851) The Blithedale Romance (1852)

6、The Marble Faun (1860). IV. Themes: Ancestral sin Problem of guilt Alienation Complexity of human heart Puritan New England as a background and setting love vs. hate hypocrisy vs. integrity V. The Scarlet Letter(1850) The Scarlet Letter(1850) The Scarlet Letter(1850) The Scarlet Letter(1850) V. The

7、Scarlet Letter (1850) 1. Plot 1. Beginning( Conflict) Adultery, exposure and the resolution of revenge. 2. Development 1 stable and peaceful life, friendship with evil purpose 3. Development 2: private torments of guilt and shame 3. Development 3: the plan of escape 4. Suspense: plan discovered by C

8、. 5. Climax : Ds confession and death 6. Denouement: the fate of other three characters 2. Characters Arthur Dimmesdale: an eminent minister in Boston and also the father of Pearl. His health is quite bad, and it is thanks to Roger Chillingworths potions that he is able to stay alive. Dimmesdale adm

9、its to being Pearls father at the very end of the novel, and reveals that he has a scarlet letter branded into his flesh . He dies upon the scaffold while holding Hesters hand. 2. Characters: Hester Prynne: the main character of The Scarlet Letter. the wife of Roger Chillingworth the mother of Pearl

10、 the secret lover of Arthur Dimmesdale , Pearls father. the woman who must wear the scarlet letter 2. Characters Pearl: Hesters daughter. a living version of the scarlet letter. extremely beautiful, but lacking certain Christian qualities. After Arthur Dimmesdale dies, Pearl becomes a normal child a

11、nd eventually marries. 2. Characters Roger Chillingworth: Hesters husband from the Netherlands. He vows revenge on the father of Pearl, and soon thereafter moves in with Arthur Dimmesdale. His revenge is stifled at the end when Dimmesdale reveals that he is Pearls father before dying. Chillingworth,

12、 having lost the object of his hatred, dies soon thereafter. 4.Others Elements Setting: Mid-17th century new England, specifically Boston (Massachusetts Bay Colony) Narrator: third person omniscient narrator 6. Questions: 1. Describe the appearance of Hester Prynne and the attitude of the people tow

13、ards her? 2. Why does she make the embroidery of the letter A so elaborate? How about this tell us about her character? Herman Melville (1819 -1891) I. Biography on August 1, 1819 Herman Melville was born in New York City. At the age of 40, Allan Melville, the father died insane, bankrupted. Herman

14、Melville drifted into various occupations: a store clerk, a country school teacher, sailor. I. Biography His experience and adventures on the sea furnished him with abundant material for fiction. On August 4, 1847 Melville married Elizabeth Shaw, daughter of Lemuel Shaw. In September 1850, the Melvi

15、lles purchased a farm house in Pittsfield, Massachusetts where he befriended with Nathaniel Hawthorne. I. Biography It was the beginning of a prolific period of writing for Melville. He published Moby Dick in 1851. In 1863 the Melvilles moved to New York City and then worked as a Custom Inspector fr

16、om 1866 to 1885. Almost ten years since his last published novel, Melville was writing poetry. He died at his home on 28 September 1891 . II. Works Typee(1846); Omoo (1847); Mardi (1849); Redburn (1849); White Jacket (1850); Moby Dick (1851); Pierre (1852) The Confidence Man (1857) Billy Budd (writt

17、en around 1889, left in manuscript and published in 1924) III. Influences on Melville Going out to sea as a whaler His marriage His friendship with Hawthorne. IV. Obscurity as a Writer in His Lifetime Unwilling to sacrifice his insights and artistic standards to cater to popular feeling and demand.

18、H i s c r i t i c i s m o f N e w E n g l a n d Transcendentalism. “He will never rest until he gets hold of a definite belief. It is strange how he persists. He can neither believe, nor be comfortable in his disbelief; and he is too honest and courageous not to try to do one or the other he has a v

19、ery high and noble nature.” (English Notebooks) V. Moby Dick Moby Dick Moby Dick Moby Dick Moby Dick V.1 Moby Dick An American epic in the 19th century an encyclopedia of everything, history, philosophy, religion, whaling industry, etc. a Shakespearean tragedy of man fighting against overwhelming od

20、ds in an indifferent and even hostile universe. V.2 Historical Background whaling narratives in the nineteenth century(industrialization)industrialization): MeatMeat: food, OilOil : for lighting and lubricating purposes, machinery The bones The bones : corsets, jewelry, tools, etc. The Golden Age of American whaling extended into the 1850s.( the oil well, petroleum) V.3 Plot “Call me Ishmael.” The story tells the strange story of the possessed and implacable Captain Ahab risking his life, those of his crew and his ship on the rough sea in search of a monstrou