A Moral Blossom In The Dim Valley

Nathaniel Hawthorne is regarded as the most outstanding writers of American Romanticism in the 19^th century and one of the American literature founders. When talking about Hawthorne, Puritanism is an inevitable topic, for he is one of a few writers who directly take puritan history as the materials, the Puritanism as background and puritan doctrains as representing core. Hawthorne systematically criticizes and reflects on Puritanism by the literature weapon, making his works constructive and artistic. On other hand, before The Scarlet Letter permanently establishes Hawthorne's reputation, his short stories have won him adequate critical attention and have paved the way for his later creative thoughts and craftsmanship. By analyzing several excellent short stories: Ethan Brand, Roger Malvin 's Burial, The Egotism or Bosom Serpent, The Birthmark, Rappaccini's Daughter, this thesis mainly focuses on the criticism and salvation of puritan extremism by Hawthorne's dialecticism.The thesis falls into four chapters. The first chapter briefly introduces the status of Hawthorne and his works and sums up the critics' reviews from the perspective of Puritanism and the significance of my study. Then the second focuses on the relation between Hawthorne and Puritanism, it is about the origin and development of Puritanism and its influence on Hawthorne. The third chapter is the central part of the thesis, and it analyzes the conflict between Puritan extremism and Hawthorne's dialecticism from two pairs of basic conflict: the conflict between good and evil, the conflict between theology and technology. By denying the absolute antagonism between good and evil, Hawthorne realizes the educative power of the evil, harbors dialectical attitude that good and evil can coexist, good comes after evil and evil can transform to good by means of confession and atonement, sympathy and benevolence and return to nature; then by criticizing the appalling dominance of expanding technology, Hawthorne points out the disaster of rational knowledge deprived of its theological foundation and of science replacing religion, and holds that technology will finally return to theology and have the basis on mercy, tolerance and fraternization.The last chapter is the conclusion. Based on puritan traditions, Hawthorne observes and reflects on puritan extremism with human moral perspective and makes a valuable attempt in helping man out of their spiritual alienation and moral crisis, restoring the lost Christian spirit of tolerance and redemption, and providing his times with three necessary elements: more serious life, more profound moral instruction andmore simple truth. On a larger level, Hawthorne makes enormous contributions torecalling human nature and a more moralized and humanized religion, he isundoubtedly a humanist.