Excerpt: ...place of the physical object is taken by the incident of the woods, and the moral idea is less clearly stated; the story is one of those whose significance is felt to contain mystery which Hawthorne meant to remain in its dark state. In "The Birthmark" the physical object is again found as the initial point of the tale and the guiding clue of the imagination in working it out. The situation presents the opposition of the love of science to human love, but no conflict is described, because the first is the master ...
Read More
Excerpt: ...place of the physical object is taken by the incident of the woods, and the moral idea is less clearly stated; the story is one of those whose significance is felt to contain mystery which Hawthorne meant to remain in its dark state. In "The Birthmark" the physical object is again found as the initial point of the tale and the guiding clue of the imagination in working it out. The situation presents the opposition of the love of science to human love, but no conflict is described, because the first is the master passion from the beginning, and, being indulged, leads to the loss of the second in the death of the wife, who perishes in having the birthmark removed. The moral idea, as not unfrequently happens, seems to flake off from the tale, like the moral of the old fable, and is to the effect that imperfection belongs to mortal life, and if it is removed wholly mortality must go with it; and the lesson is of the acceptance of imperfection in what men love, as a permanent condition, and indeed almost as the humanizing feature, of earthly life. It is noticeable that the clergyman, the physician, and the artist are the only specific types that attracted Hawthorne; he held them all romantically, and science he conceived as alchemy. This same predisposition appears in "Rappaccini's Daughter;" she was the experiment of her father in creating a live poison-woman, a vitalized flower, the Dryad as it were of the poison-tree humanized in mortal shape; the physical object is here the flowering tree, with its heavy fragrance; and the plot lies only in the gradual transformation of the young man by continuous and unconscious inoculation until he is drawn into the circle of death to share the woman's isolation as a lover, both being shut off from their kind by the poison atmosphere that exhales from them; the catastrophe lies in the moral idea that for such poison there is no antidote but death, and the lady dies in drinking the draught that should free her. The...
Read Less
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $5.62, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2018 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $5.62, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2016 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $11.26, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2013 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $13.00, good condition, Sold by Great Expectations Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Staten Island, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1902 by Houghton, Mifflin and Company.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Near Very Good in Not Issued jacket. Book. 12mo-over 6æ-7æ" tall. Hardcover, maroon cloth lettered in gold. 302 pages. Top edge gilt. Index. Publisher's catalog appended. Frontispiece with tissue guard intact. Published in the American Men of Letters series, edited by Charles Dudley Warner. First edition. Previous owner's name partially erased on front free end-paper. Very minor age wear to covers, else a tight, sound, internally clean and unmarked copy. Near very good.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne [Paperback] [Jan 29, 2010] to cart. $16.02, good condition, Sold by AmazingBooksPGH rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Pittsburgh, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2010 by Hardpress Publishing.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $18.00, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $20.00, very good condition, Sold by Aladdin Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fullerton, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1967 by Gale Research Company.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good+ A tight, clean copy with no prior owner markings or bookplates. Not ex-lib. No dj, as issued. Attractive decorative cloth. Printed on good paper. 392 pages, indexed. Reprint of the 1902 Houghton Mifflin edition.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $20.12, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2011 by Tredition Classics.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $23.01, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Independently published.
Add this copy of Nathaniel Hawthorne to cart. $23.01, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by CreateSpace Independent Publis.
![Nathaniel Hawthorne [Paperback] [Jan 29, 2010] Woodberry, George E.](https://www0.alibris-static.com/isbn/9781407642741_t.gif)
