darkromanticism复习讲义.docx

1、darkromanticism复习讲义Dark Romanticisma literary subgenre that emerged fromthe Transcendental philosophical movement popular in nineteenth-century America.Works in the dark romantic spirit wereinfluenced by, but didn t entirelyembrace the ideas of Transcendentalism. Authors considered mostrepresentativ

2、e of dark romanticism areEdgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne,Herman Melville and Emily Dickinson.Features:1.Dark Romantics are much less confident about the notion that perfection is aninnate quality of mankind, as believed byTranscendentalists.Subsequently, DarkRomantics presentindividualsas prone

3、 Hisnovelsaresignificantpartofto sinandself-destruction,not asAmericanromanticism,ormoreinherentlypossessingdivinityandspecifically, Dark Romanticism.wisdom.“Hecanneitherbelieve,norbe2.Althoughnatureisadeeplycomfortableinhisunbelief;and he istoospiritualforceanditdoes revealhonestand courageous not

4、totryto do onetruthtoman, itsrevelationsareevilor the other. If he were a religious man,and hellish.he would be one of the most truly religious3.WhereasTranscendentalistsand reverential; he has a very high andadvocatesocialreformwhennoblenature,andbetterworthappropriate,works of Dark Romanticismimmo

5、rtality than most of us.”frequentlyshowindividuals1. Lifefailingintheirattemptstomake Born July 4, 1804 in Salem, MAchanges for the better. Father died when Hawthorne was fourI. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864)years old. An important American novelist and senttoprivateschooloncehiswriter of short sto

6、ries;relativesdiscoveredhisstorytellingabilities.Salem.“The Birth mark ” 1821, went toBowdoin College inMaine,Hisgreat-grandfather,John“Rappaccini s Daughter ”where hemetHarrietBeecherStowe,Hathorne,was the magistratepresiding3. Themes in Hawthornes worksFranklin Pierce and Henry Longfellow.over the

7、 trial of the accused witchesSense of Evil Married Sophie Peabody in 1825of Salem (1692).(1) Evil is at the core of human life. Spent many years in seclusion2. Representative WorksOriginal Sin & Total Depravity starving artist.Two collections of short stories: Evil exists in the human heart, human H

8、eldmanyjobsincludingwriter,Twice-told Tales(1837)heart is the sourceof evil. Everyonepublisher, working at a , and consul in England.Throughout Hawthorne s life, he wasincessantly troubled with a sense of guilt,for his ancestors evil behaviors in theSalem Witches Trials.His great-great-grandfather,

9、William Hathorne, ordered the whipping of AnneMosses from an Old Manse (1846)possesses someevilsecret.Evilis mansFour Romances:birthmark.The Scarlet Letter(1850) “Young Goodman Brown”The House of the Seven Gables (1851) Hawthorne is influenced by PuritanismThe Blithedale Romance (1852)deeply, though

10、 was nota Puritanhimself;The Marble Faun(1860)deprived of Emersons optimism .Short Stories:(2) Whenever thereissin,there is“Young Goodman Brown”punishment. Sin or evilcan be passed fromColeman and four others in the streets of “The Minister s Black Veil ” generation to generation.Due to his sense of

11、 guilt, after hiscollege, Hawthorne added a “w” to hisoriginal family name “Hathorne ”, thus“Hawthorne” The House of the Seven Gables In the Preface to the novel, Hawthornestates that its moral is that thewrongdoing of one generation lives intothe successive ones and. becomes a pure and uncontrollab

12、le mischief.“God,” said the dying man, pointing his finger, with a ghastly look, at the undismayed countenance of his enemy,impact of and by engagement withevil the tragic rise born of thefortunate fall ”.“The Minister s Black Veil ”(4)disgust in science. One source of evil is overweening intellect.

13、“Dr. Rappaccini s Daughter ” 4. Hawthornes Aestheticsa. Take great interest in history andantiquity.antiquity Imagination“dream strange things, andmake them look like truth ”b. Romance is the best form for Americaliterature.Romance: Originallycourtlystoriesdealingwiththethreetraditionalsubjects:thel

14、egendsaboutArthur,Charlemagneandhisknights,andclassicalheroesespeciallyAlexander; itinvolvesthesuspensionofthecircumstances normally attendanton humanactions(oftenthrough magic) in order toillustrateamoralpoint;from18thcentury,itstartedtoembracesomesentimental novels.the poverty of materials His Pur

15、itan“God will give him blood to drink! ” “ the poverty of materials ”(3) Evil educates. History and antiquity furnish theAchievement is possible only “under the soil on which his grows to fruition.prudenceRomance: “to tell the truth andsatire and yet not to offend. ”5.Hawthornes Writing Stylescombin

16、ation ofhistory andstorysetsof love:a. The use of symbol.itself in the background of a puritanLoveTen Commandmentsb. Revelationofcharacters psychology:villagein the17th century s Boston. a duplicate of Adam and Evehe is good at exploring the complexity ofThere are three scenes of Scaffold inhumanpsy

17、chology.Thereisn t muchthe whole novelwhich separate itintoAdulteryScarletphysical movement going on in his works.three parts.letterc. The use of supernatural mixed with theDimmesdaleHester Prynne(Forbiddenfruit)actual.(thespiritualA) (thephysicalA)(banishment)d.HisstoriesareparableEvil educates.Rog

18、er(allegory) to teach a lesson.(Knowledge)Chillingworthe. Use of ambiguity to keep the reader inAmerican romanticism adapted itself toPearl(therealtheworldofuncertainty multipleAmerican Puritanism moralism.villain)points of view.1. I am the Lord your God.(a concrete A)Hawthorn flowers2. You shall ha

19、ve no other gods beforeb. Achievements6.The Scarlet Letterme;youshall not make foryourself an1. Romanticism vs. Puritanisma. The Storyidol. a romance without much descriptionAlsoanexampleofHawthornes3. You shall not make wrongful use of thename of your God.4.Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.5.H

20、onor your father and mother.6.You shall not murder.7.You shall not commit adultery.8.You shall not steal.9.You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.10. You shall not covet your neighbor swife or anything that belongs to yourneighbors.2. Illustration of the theme on SinHester: a hymn on

21、 the moral growth ofthe womanwhen sinned against. Sin results in expulsion and suffering, but it alsoresults in knowledgespecifically, inknowledge of what it meansto be human. ForHester, the scarlet letter functionsas her passport into regions where other women dared not tread, leadingher to specula

22、te about her society and herself more boldly than anyone else in New England.Dimmesdale: the “ cheatingminister ”, started in purity and ended in corruption. He suffered from the disintegration between spiritual and physical.“the best policy for manis to be true,honest, and ever ready to show one sw

23、orst to the outside world. ”3. SymbolismThe Scarlet Letter achieves anextraordinary achievements as regardsto the usage of symbolism. Examples:i . “A”: adultery able angel(apostle)ii. scaffold:open acknowledgement ofpersonal sin; It also represents the need for public atonement.iii. forest: where ev

24、il would live side by side with goodness.vi. Pearl: the concrete symbol of “A”C. ExcerptsThose who had before known her, and hadexpected to behold her dimmedand obscuredby her beauty shone out, and made a haloof the misfortune and ignominy in which she was enveloped.she felt, at moments, as if she m

25、ustneeds shriek out with the full power of herlungs, and cast herself from the scaffolddown upon the ground, or else go mad at once.Without any effort of his will, or powerto restrain himself, he shrieked aloud; anoutcry that went pealing through the night,and was beaten back from one house toanothe

26、r, and reverberated from the hillsin the background Pearl kissed his lips. A spell wasbroken Towards her mother, too, Pearl serrand as a messenger of anguish was allfulfilled.“Hester, ” said the clergyman,“farewell! ”“Shall we not meet again ” whispered she“ it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in aneverlasting and pure reunion. God