Envy of the Procreative Power of Women in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is a novel about procreation. Though Hester Prynne is the mother of Pearl and the creator of the scarlet letter in the novel, Hawthorne is the symbolic mother of the novel, the letter, and the characters. Careful analysis of the text reveals a pattern of womb envy and an attempt to master it on the part of Hawthorne.
The concept of womb envy-- envy of the procreative power of women (Kittay 126)-- has been virtually ignored by both psychoanalysts and literary critics since Bruno Bettelheim first introduced the idea. Though intended as a supplement to the concepts of penis envy and the Oedipal complex developed by Freud, womb envy has not generated the attention that penis envy has. This may in part be due to Freud's interpretation of the desires of the males in his case study to bear children as be "anal, autoerotic, or homosexual" in nature. (Kittay 127). Since Freud ignored the possibility of men's envy of women's childbirthing abilities, most of his followers have as well.
The disparity in the acceptance of Freud's and Bettelheim's concepts can best be seen in psychoanalytic criticisms in the literary world. Examples of "penis envy" and "Oedipal complex" readings abound. Hamlet's desire for his mother causes him such guilt that he resurrects his father and goes insane. Gertrude's promiscuous and incestuous marriage to her late husband's brother Claudius is a symbolic attempt to gain a penis. Virginia Woolf's invented sister of Shakespeare is a symbolic penis. At the same time, few literary critics have attempted to explain character or author motivation in terms of womb envy, despite the fa...
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...st new mothers, Dimmesdale dies after delivering his sermon and confessing his sins. Chillingworth is unable to survive this loss since his dependency on Dimmesdale is unnatural. Of all the central characters, Hester, along with Pearl, is the one who strong enough to survive.
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Kittay, Eva Feder. "Mastering Envy: From Freud's Narcissistic Wounds to Bettelheim's Symbolic Wounds to a Vision of Healing." Psychoanalytic Review 82. (1995f): 125-157.
Regardless of their financial successes, both novels and their respective film adaptations are held in high esteem by many. They both utilize unique visual techniques to immerse their audience in the worlds of Philip K. Dick, but differ on their strictness of plot and characterization. In the end, however, the departures from the original source material of Blade Runner are executed so well that they come across on par with the literal A Scanner Darkly. Both movies play tribute to genius of Philip K. Dick’s writing by being complete, well-rounded works.
The facts bear out the conclusion that the way healthcare in this country is distributed is flawed. It causes us to lose money, productivity, and unjustly leaves too many people struggling for what Thomas Jefferson realized was fundamental. Among industrialized countries, America holds the unique position of not having any form of universal health care. This should lead Americans to ask why the health of its citizens is “less equal” than the health of a European.
The World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed. : p. 78. Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. The "Scarlet Letter" The Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors. Ed.
Even though many saw the difference in Hester there was still Chillingworth who still wanted his revenge. He becomes obsessed with the punishment of the "A" and does a devilish dance when he realizes the powerful effect it has had on Dimmesdale. (Blake, "Hester's Bewitched Triangle: Within the Spell of the "A") Chillingworth pretends to be a friend to Dimmesdale and becomes his physician. Dimmesdale becomes miserable because he hidden his true identity. Hester, hast thou found peace? Whatever of good capacity there originally was in me, all of God's gifts that were the choicest have become the ministers of spiritual torment. Hester, I am most miserable! ( Hawthorne 208–209) Dimmesdale begins to torment himself with all of his thoughts and tells Hester he wants to be apart of the family they’ve made together.
In 2005 Fawcett stated “the metaparadigm of professional nursing incorporates four concepts: human beings, environment, health, and nursing” (as sited in Kearney, 2012, p. 4). This paper discusses my philosophy of nursing by stating my own personal definitions, values, and assumptions regarding each of the above mentioned concepts. My paper concludes with an exemplar from my own nursing practice and how I integrated my nursing philosophy into that particular clinical situation.
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In the first reading on Klein’s “Excerpts from Envy and Gratitude”, she made contributions to understanding the effects on the psyche of early experiences of frustrations and separation in relation to the maternal body. Klein focuses on he focus on mother infant relation and extreme and violent affects such as the feelings of anxiety and separation. Klein talks about how infants suffer a of anxiety and that this is caused by the death instinct within, by the trauma experienced at birth and by experiences of frustration. She talks about the breast, which she refers to as the partial object, as being an important source of nurture and frustration, where one can get pleasure but also be denied it. The infant splits both his ego and his object
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When nursing theory was introduced it solidified nursing as a profession, created a need for research and education and revolutionized nursing practice (McEwen, 2011). Nursing theories provide additional education which creates a cause and effect relationship to support research and improve patient care (Hountras, 2015). Without nursing theories, patient care would be that of unsanitary conditions and unstructured patient care with repeated outcomes regardless
Penis envy usually occurs in the phallic phase of the psycho-sexual development of a child. A girl sees her father’s authoritarian figure in the family and she can connect this totalitarian image with the
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The Scarlet Letter is a blend of realism, symbolism, and allegory. Nathaniel Hawthorne uses historical settings for this fictional novel and even gives historical background information for the inspiration of the story of Hester Prynne in the introduction of The Scarlet Letter, ‘The Custom-House’. The psychological exploration of the characters and the author’s use of realistic dialogue only add to the realism of the novel. The most obvious symbol of the novel is the actual scarlet letter ‘A’ that Hester wears on her chest every day, but Hawthorne also uses Hester’s daughter Pearl and their surroundings as symbols as well. Allegory is present as well in The Scarlet Letter and is created through the character types of several characters in the novel.