The Invisible Hand Made Visible: "The Birth-Mark"

This article discusses the different styles of allegory that Hawthorne used.  The one thing critics agree upon is that Hawthorne combined different styles of writing but there are many perspectives that can be used to analyze his work.  One critic says Hawthorne "modifi[ed] a sacrosanct Puritan form by mixing it with contemporary themes and styles".  I don't know what that means but it obviously shows that Hawthorne mixed different styles of writing because another critic has an entirely different perspective and says Hawthorne "apparently adopts the allegorical mode in order to turn it against allegorical intentions".  The rest of the article analyzes the symbolism Hawthorne used and is a really good article.