Nathaniel Hawthorne's images of fire, an archetypal analysis of selected sketches and tales

Includes bibliographical references (pages 89-92)Archetypes are those recurring images or symbols which are basic to our literary experience. Rooted in classical mythology and the Bible, they illuminate the literature itself and relate it (the literature) to our common experience. Even our most casual observations of the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne reveal his consistent use of archetypal images as a creative tool to illustrate both the good and the bad in the human situation. The primary purpose of this study, then, is to call the attention to Hawthorne???s unique utilization of archetypes, especially with regard to images of five, which occur frequently in the works. In addition, the theories of two critics Northrop Prye and Maud Bodkin, provide methods to complement this discussion, because of their own originality in dealing with archetypal images. Initially, it seemed appropriate to recall, through Hawthorne???s autobiographical musings, his personal fascination with the phenomenon of fire itself and to reveal its awareness of it as a source for creativity. To do this increases the subsequent pleasure of seeing, in his sketches and tales, the transformation of fire images into universal archetypes within the tradition of literature. In some of his sketches and tales Hawthorne has used the hearth-fire as an archetypal image of man's potential goodness. Despite his personal reference for this kind of fire, his creativity has not seemed as brilliant when he has utilized the wholesome image of the hearth-fire as when he has ascribed negative connotations to images of fire. These negative images, to be called hell-fire, occur in many of the works. They occur as creative similes of mythic fire, of bonfires, of the Christian Hell-fire, the latter accompanied by one or more Satan figures. As dramatically complex archetypes, these images do, indeed, present a dark picture of the human situation, effective and unsettling