An Analysis Of Hawthorne's Short Stories

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of the Devil.
Even with the emotional plea from her husband, “Look up to heaven, and
resist the wicked one,” (1590) Faith cannot resist the Devil's temptation
and has “uncertain sorrow,” (1587) after submitting to him. The character
of Faith which Hawthorne portrays is one of uncertainty and one which has a
lack of self control. Faith is a good example of how Hawthorne uses a
woman to symbolize a deeper significance, in this case, it is to evoke the
hypocrisy of the Puritan people, that is, Puritans are really not as pure
as we all think, they also contain evil characteristics, in this case,
exploited at night. We cannot justify Hawthorne's usage of Faith as
misogyny, in that woman were not considered equal in status to men in the
early 16th and later centuries. Also, with the history of witchcraft
during the puritan era, it can be seen appropriate that Hawthorne uses a
woman in this case.
In “Rapaccinni's Daughter”, Hawthorne develops the character of
Beatrice as the ...

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