... through all his veins, as if the mother and the child were communicating their vital warmth to his half-torpid system. The three formed an electric chain." As the family stands on the platform, a meteor flashed across the sky, carving the sky into a brilliant letter "A." "And there stood the minister, with his hand over his heart; and Hester Prynne, with the embroidered letter glimmering on her bosom; ... mean, mother? and why dost thou wear it? and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?" Hester is surprised by her daughter's ability to connect the scarlet letter to the mi...

• Word Count: 3653
• Approx Pages: 15
• Grade Level: High School

... Hawthorne's as he recalls "Dimmesdale's temptation to blight a young girl's innocence with a single word" (123) and compares it to Hawthorne considering "The Scarlet Letter "a triumphant success" because it had such an effect on [his wife] Sophia that it broke her heart and sent her to bed with a grevious headache" (122). Whether or not Person is calling Hawthorne a chauvinist is left to opinion ... confined her hair; and down it fell upon her shoulders [t]here played around her mouth, and beamed out of her eyes, a radiant and tender smile, that seemed gushing from the very heart of wom...

• Word Count: 3565
• Approx Pages: 14
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

... , even though Hawthorne comments that Pearl would appear just as beautiful in any garment. Hester's passion exists in the child's demeanor in the form of "flightiness of temper...and even some of the very cloud-shapes of gloom and despondency that had brooded in her heart." Pearl turns out to be unmanageable as a child, forcing Hester to let her do what she wants. Pearl ... medicine." Dimmesdale finally gets into the permanent habit of placing his hand over his heart in pain, and agrees to meet with Chillingworth. The meeting immediately leads to the two men moving in together. Hawthorne...

• Word Count: 5572
• Approx Pages: 22
• Grade Level: High School

... Zenobia than to her (117). Coverdale does recognize that he said these mean things out of jealousy, admitting, that, "Yes; it was out of a foolish bitterness of heart that I had spoken- (117). Curiously, Coverdale does the same thing to Zenobia later, when he tells her that "Hollingsworth could hardly give his affections to a person capable of taking an independent stand. . . . He has ... multitude of people, pale, tremulous, shrinking, as if only then had she discovered that a thousand eyes were gazing at her."" To close out the scene, Coverdale romantically says that, "the true heart-...

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

... as her own Reverend Dimmesdale cries out, "She will not speak!" and places his hand, for the first time, over his heart. This gesture will reappear and grow in significance during the course of the novel. However, this is also the same gesture that Hester Prynne makes when remembering the scarlet letter upon her own bosom. Hawthorne brilliantly connects Hester Prynne's openly displayed shame with Reverend ... silence shows how much of a coward Reverend Dimmesdale is and how scared he is of the truth. Instead, he is often seen with his hand covering his heart, looking pained and repentan...

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

... did not want her love to be punished, she wanted him to get the strength to do it himself, or she knew that the punishment of the sin sitting and eating away at his heart would be enough. Either way the fact that she could not express her affection for Arthur was present in her ... apparel. Not only did Reverend Dimmesdale affect her apparel but her actions were also affected. When Dimmesdale, Chillingworth, and Wilson were contemplating the removal of Pearl from Hester's care, Dimmesdale stood up for Hester. If Chillingworth and Wilson knew that Arthur was Hester's lover, she could hav...

• Word Count: 4111
• Approx Pages: 16
• Grade Level: High School

... knows how to behave-the knowledge within our soul drives everything in nature, does not exist in Romanticism. From "A Psalm of Life-, Longfellow conveys the message if you don't listen to your intuition, you will be dead inside. "For the soul is dead that slumbers,/And things are not what they seem."" Emerson also uses intuition: "Try thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron ... strong."" Trust yourself, your heart (intuition) will lead you in the right way. "What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within?- What do traditions matter if instincts are ...

• Word Count: 2626
• Approx Pages: 11
• Grade Level: High School

... lives in only consists of the garden. She has a child like innocence and is very nave. She even states, I dreamed only to love thee and be with thee a little time, and so let thee pass away, leaving but thine image in mine heart. This passage shows the purity of her love for Giovanni. Thus, Beatrice symbolizes the innocence of Eve and ... Giovanni symbolizes the pride and shallowness of Adam. In Rappiccini's Daughter, the major conflict is between the famous doctor of Italy, Giacomo Rappaccini, and his rival, the professor of the university, Pietro Baglioni. This conflict correlates to t...

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

... my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then ... deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! ... an important role in Hawthorne's works. Even if it is not a major role, it is mentioned in almost every one of his works. In The Scarlet Letter, the old strange woman that no one will talk to is a witch. It def...

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

... noticeable sign of his corruption concerns his soul. Rappaccini loses his humanity in the course of pursuing scientific goals. This effect is reflected so clearly in the scientist's body that Giovanni notices from the first sight that he is devoid of any "warmth of heart". He is so dehumanized that he sacrifices his daughter for his experiments. He deprives her of any ... consideration except for the scientific one; she is a mere object of study for him. ... beings and inflames greed. The writer also uses Giovanni's room, the garden as well as some objects (the marble fountain, the Sta...

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