The Significance of Physical Markings in Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter and "The Birthmark"

Whitman often writes about the wondrous qualities of the human body in his poetry. This is especially evident in his poem "I Sing the Body Electric." He writes, "And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?" (section 1). Always a central element in Whitman's work, the body is both an ostensible and central subject of many of his poems. Whitman strongly believes the body reflects the soul. Therefore, we can deduce that …

…and desired that key characters are identified by markings that reflect their inner soul. Whitman, Melville, and Hawthorne all use physical markings to create a window for outsiders and readers to see into the souls of their characters. References Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter and Other Tales of The Puritans. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company,1961. Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick or, The Whale. New York: Penguin Books, 1988. Whitman, Walt. Complete Poetry and Selected Prose. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1959.