... symbols through characters, objects and settings. Some of them aim to convey American romantic themes and features. Among them, there is rejection of science, clash between Nature and culture, notions of good and evil (duality), human nature, and the contradiction with and opposition to convention and religion. One of the romantic ideas expressed in 'Rappaccini's Daughter' is the rejection of science. ... . However, for the romantics, science is not the only element related to corruption. Like science, culture is seen as a threat to human souls and nature. 19th C America is characte...

• Word Count: 9442
• Approx Pages: 38
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... the "dark gift"23 of vampirism, struggling to come to terms with their nature or accepting it and moving on. A dominant theme in this series is "the belief in the supernatural [as being] part of the human soul..."24 These books are romantic, realistic, and supposedly written by various vampires ... [and] marvelous interpretations"32 as to reveal their own morbid fascination with the unnatural. Arthur Miller's The Crucible best illustrates this hypocritical attraction-abhorrence nature of the Puritans. They believe that the forest was "the Devil's last preserve."33 Hence, when the Salem...

• Word Count: 3126
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... bloom so deep and vivid that one shade more would have been too much redundant with life, health, and energy Beatrice is described as a part of nature and vivacious. She has been isolated from the world and the world she lives in only consists of the garden. She has a child like innocence and ... to the jealous scientist. Pietro Baglioni symbolizes Satan the Devil. Baglioni continually conveys an evil image of Rappaccini to Giovanni. Baglioni states, 'He would sacrifice human life, his own among the rest, or whatever else was dearest to him, for the sake of adding so much as a grain of m...

• Word Count: 2625
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

... that Priscilla "had come hither with the one purpose of being her slave- (31). Early in Priscilla's stay at Blithedale, Zenobia speaks of the clinging nature of Priscilla when she tells Coverdale that to "favor one with a little more love than one can conveniently dispose of- is "the most troublesome offence ... as she immediately submits to Hollingsworth's rebuttal of this very speech. There is no doubt that Priscilla clings to her older sister, but the nature of the clinging is not quite as clear. She does not support Zenobia in any way, but neither does she cause any harm at first ......

• Word Count: 4739
• Approx Pages: 19
• Has Bibliography

... security for the main characters. As a believing Puritan, Reverend Dimmesdale saw himself as "predestined" for damnation. Hawthorne explained how the poor man "kept silent by the very constitution of [his] nature." Reverend Dimmesdale, punishing himself for his ugly secret, which his need for public affirmation will not let him reveal, gradually kills himself through guilt and masochistic ritual. His inward trouble ... couldn't in public in an earlier scene. She does, and "a spell was broken ..her tears fell upon her father's cheek, they were the pledge that she would grow up amid human...

• Word Count: 2932
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... as a result of the adulterous relationship, is treaded with the same disrespect. This connection between personal integrity and a responsive social relationship is vital given the novel's basic conception of the human subject. Being "true" is dependant on being known, and this must involve mutual, benevolent acknowledgment - sympathy not just in the sense of the faculty that makes for knowledge, but sympathy ... . Hester, who is the town's criminal and enemy, is, in reality, perhaps the most innocent and righteous person in the town. "Hawthorne uses this dichotomy to point out the hypocr...

• Word Count: 3188
• Approx Pages: 13
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School