Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA
Date of Award
5-1982
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Dr. Mimosa S. Shraer [Stephenson]
Second Advisor
Dr. Milo E. Kearney
Third Advisor
Dr. Roberto J. Garza
Abstract
This study of four of Nathaniel Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales presents a distinct view of a character's self awareness of sin and his refusal to seek repentance as being the cause of his death. The message here is that of the Fall. "The Great Carbuncle," "The Hollow of the Three Hills," "Lady Eleanore's Mantle," and "The Ambitious Guest" demonstrate that man is sinful and in need of redemption just as the Bible demonstrates man's fallen state and need for forgiveness through Christ, the second Adam. In these tales characters act out of selfish pride and become aware of their transgressions just as Adam and Eve ate of the fruit and became aware of their nakedness. They become alienated from others just as the pair in Eden were alienated from God. Adam and Eve became mortal. The characters in this study die because they not only sin and achieve awareness, but because they also refuse repentance through the second Adam, the repentance necessary to escape mortality.
Granting Institution
Pan American University at Brownsville
Comments
Copyright 1982 Kathryn Louise Estep. All Rights Reserved.
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/utrgv.edu?url=https://www.proquest.com/pqdtglobal1/dissertations-theses/self-awareness-sin-as-cause-death-four-nathaniel/docview/303268515/sem-2?accountid=7119