What Are The Similarities Between Hawthorne And Nathanial Hawthorne

It is no secret that Herman Melville looked up to his companion writer, Nathanial Hawthorne, so undoubtedly they have similarities between them as they greatly influenced each other. They have similar themes and styles like the exploring the darker side of humans and nature. Religion is also a common thread, but Melville focuses on Christianity while Hawthorne plays more with Puritanism. Stylistically, they bother use the short story and novel platform to launch their writing with subtle and stunning metaphors. For the darker sides of humanity, Nathanial Hawthorne wrote The Scarlett Letter to force readers to reevaluate what is right and wrong. In the eyes of the Puritans, Hester was in the wrong for committing adultery. However, Hawthorne
Jesus fed ten thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish, many authors and Christian scholars connect fish and the ocean to Christ. He has this sweet innocence about him and all of the sailors are calmed by his presence. However, Billy accidently kills a fallow sailor, who is actually evil. “Now something such an one was Claggart, in whom was the mania of an evil nature, not engendered by vicious training or corrupting books or licentious living, but born with him and innate, in short 'a depravity according to nature” (Melville, pg.326). Melville sets up for the readers to see the evil in Claggart. He targeted Billy for no reason and wanted to bring him down for the sole reason of being able
Melville writes, “I say, I cannot identify that thing which is called happiness, that thing whose token is a laugh, or a smile, or a silent serenity on the lip. I may have been happy, but it is not in my conscious memory now. Nor do I feel a longing for it, as though I had never had it; my spirit seeks different food from happiness, for I think I have a suspicion of what it is. I have suffered wretchedness, but not because of the absence of happiness, and without praying for happiness” (Melville, pg. 537). In this quote near the end of the novel, Pierre reflects on his whirlwind experience of passion, sin, suicide and greed. The readers have followed him all this way, and because of the longevity of the narrative it evokes emotion in us. We learn the themes that Hawthorne portrays through symbols in a different way with Melville, by looking into his characters and their dramatic