CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AND
!(
THE SUPERNATURAL
A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in
English
by
Aurora M. Schiro
The Thesis of Aurora M. Schiro is approved:
Dr. Mah10n Gaumer
Dr. Robert Reid
Dr. Jbhn StafJ ~
Committee Cha1rperson
California State University, Northridge
ii
I would like to express my sincerest
appreciation to Dr. John Stafford for
agreeing to be my sponsor, and to
Dr. Mahlon Gaumer and Dr. Robert Reid
for being my readers. It was most
gracious of them to take the time
from their busy schedules to aid me
in the preparation of this thesis.
iii
This thesis is dedicated to my
wonderful children:
Camille, Gary and Richard
iv
Table of Contents
Page
Acknowledgment .
iii
Dedication
iv
Abstract .
vi
Chapter
1.
Mesmerism and Spiritualism
2.
Religious Persecution and
Witchcraft . . • . . • •
.
3.
The Devil and Sin
4.
Portraits and Mirrors
5.
Mortality and the Elixir
of Life
12
23
. . . . .
. . . . . . .
.
1
33
46
Conclusion
59
Notes
64
Bibliography .
68
v
ABSTRACT
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE AND
THE SUPERNATURAL
by
Aurora M. Schiro
Master of Arts in English
January, 1980
When Hawthorne's ancestors came to America, they, and
the other English settlers, brought with them all their
superstitions and traditions.
It was from this Puritan
background, rich in the ideas of the supernatural, that
Hawthorr-e drew much of the material for his works.
It is
my desire in this thesis to seek out and draw attention to
the many elements of the supernatural employed in his
stories.
Wherever possible I will bring in factual data
that may have been available to Hawthorne.
I
further wish to exhibit how Hawtho.rne was directly
exposed to the supernatural in his personal life.
For
instance, his association with the Peabody family and his
subsequent marriage to Sophia were responsible for his
vi
involvement with mesmerism and spiritualism.
His link to
the past through his ancestors caused him to have an avid
interest in the documentation of witch trials.
These
trials centered on the threat of the devil to the community and, in many cases, I saw Hawthorne preoccupied
with the devil and sin.
He also was fascinated by magic
mirrors and portraits, which he probably picked up from
the many Gothic tales that were abundant and popular in
his day.
The final chapter will be devoted to Hawthorne's
last writings, written at a time when he was very ill and
fully conscious of the mortality of mart.
Their themes
seemed to reflect his mood, for they dealt with immortality and a search for the elixir of life.
Ultimately, i t is my profound hope to gear this
thesis to other than the English major.
It would please
me greatly to think that this paper could be read, understood and enjoyed even by an entering freshman.
vii
Chapter 1
Mesmerism and Spiritualism
Before examining the use of mesmerism in Hawthorne's
works, I would like to convey a feeling of the temper of
the times and how Hawthorne was personally involved.
During the mid-1830s mesmerism became prevalent in
America and its influence was to play an important part
in Hawthorne's life.
There was at the time a prominent
mesmerist named Dr. Robert H. Collyer, and it is probable
that Hawthorne was witness to some of his performances.
Collyer lectured throughout the New England States approximately 1839 to 1843.
It is reported that he was in
Salem in the month of August of 1841, at which time
Hawthorne was at Brook Farm.
In the same manner that
Coverdale in The Blithedale Romance went to the city to
see Westervelt, it is very possible that Hawthorne may
have travelled to the city to see Collyer.
At any rate,
in "The Hall of Fantasy 11 published February, 1843, in
The Pioneer, Hawthorne makes reference to the fact that
the guide and the narrator as they leave "The Hall of
Fantasy" "encounter
~.vhom
the spirits of several persons,
Dr. Collyer had sent thither in the magnetic sleep."
While Hawthorne may have been interested in the
phenomenon of mesmerism, it was to have a profound
irnpac·t upon his fiancee, Sophia Peabody.
1
(""!
1
•
..
..,
;:,opnla nan
1
2
long suffered from chronic headaches and when her sister
Elizabeth had occasion to·meet and talk with another
mesmerist, Dr. Poyen, she concluded that mesmerism might
help Sophia.
She wrote to her sister Mary that:
Mr. Poyen said there was some experiments of the
Animal Magnetism that went to form the theory-that persons differed from each other as bodies
do--in being positive & negative--& had attractions and repulsions thereby.
--He said that I
was a highly magnetised body--he thought I might
magnetise if I could concentrate my power in a
strong act of will--& I do not know but I shall
try to cure Sophia. --I asked him to tell me
how I should go to work & he did--so--tell
Sophia to be prepared--but you need not tell
anybody else. 2
Whether or not Elizabeth attempted to mesmerize Sophia, or
if she failed in her attempts, is not known for there is
nothing on record to indicate that she did.
There was, however, a Dr. Joseph Emerson Fiske,
employed as a dental assistant to Dr. Nathaniel Peabody,
who seemed to have a gift of magnetic power.
Dr. Fiske
wrote to Dr. Poyen about his success with Animal
Magnetism:
I began to occupy myself with it, only since you
have come among us,
. I have experimented upon
but few individuals . . . . I have succeeded in
producing well-marked effects on three persons,
one of whom has become a somnambulist, (so called.)
My experiments have been so far made with the view
of ascertaining whether the will of the magnetizer
could be communicated to the SOTih~ambulist without
the aid of language or signs. I can say the results
obtained were in the affirmative, and were of a
positive character, and as truly as-tonishing to
rr.ys:1£ as those •11ho Hi tnessed them.
There could
have been no deception on the part of the somnambulist .
. besides, she could have no interest
3
whatever in feigning such a state; and if she had,
she could not have done it. 3
It is very possible that Sophia Peabody was one of
Fiske's subjects and that he was using his powers to
cure her headaches.
A letter to her sister Elizabeth
written on May 2, 1838 declares:
I came home quite used up--and was more excruciatingly tortured than for twelve months.
I could
in no way touch the bed . . . But Dr. F. came
after tea--& now will you not kneel to him in_
gratitude when I tell you that he entirely
relieved me!
. . Nothing else in the whole
world could have done me any good--may God bless
him! 4
In 1840 Elizabeth Peabody became the proprietor of
the West Street Bookshop in Boston.
The family moved to
Boston where Elizabeth had provided a dental office for
her father and a space for her brother Nathaniel's sale
of homeopathic medicine.
Sophia no longer had Dr. Fiske
at hand to cure her in her times of need.
She was for-
tunate in finding someone equally as expert in
Mrs. Thomas Park, an old friend.
Where Sophia had been
hesitant in writing Hawthorne about her male mesmerist
since accusations of sexual implications were rumored
against mesmerists with their power over susceptible
young women, she now shared her interest in mesmerism
by reporting the performance of Mrs. Park to him.
Hawthorne's reaction was apparent to me when he evidenced
his displeasure in a letter from Brook Farm:
4
But, belovedest my spirit is moved to talk with thee
today about these magnetic miracles and to beseech
thee to take no part in them. I am unwilling that
a power should be exercised on thee, of which we
know neither the origin nor consequence, and the
phenomena of which seems rather calculated to
bewilder us, than to teach us any truths about the
present or future state of being. If I possessed
such a power over thee, I should not dare to exercise it; nor can I consent to its being exercised
by another. Supposing that this power arises from
the transfusion of one spirit into another, it
seems to me that the sacredness of an individual
is violated by it; there would be an intrustion
into thy holy of holies-- 5
I suspect that eventually Sophia confided all to
Hawthorne for in the two books in which he makes the most
use of mesmerism, The House of the Seven Gables and The
Blithedale Romance, I noticed that Holgrave was at one
time in the field of dentistry and the description of
Westervelt was emphasized by references to his false
teeth with their border of gold.
In The Blithedale
Romance Westervelt was a professional mesmerist.
He
exercised a strong influence on Priscilla and under his
power she showed the ability to prophesy and was gifted
with second sight.
Like Sophia, Hawthorne portrayed
Priscilla as an innocent, naive, young girl.
to Westervelt, he depicted him as a scoundrel.
Not so kind
Through
Coverdale Hawthorne was probably reflecting his own
feelings towards Dr. Fiske.
Seeing Westervelt at
Zenobia's, Coverdale says,
My dislike for this man was infinite. At that
moment i t amounted to nothing less than a creeping of the flesh, as when, feeling about in a
5
dark place, one touches something cold and slimy,
and questions what the secret hatefulness may be.
6
However much Hawthorne demeaned Westervelt, he defended
Priscilla.
I felt that he spoke for Sophia as well when
he told the reader, " . . . she had kept, as I
religiously
believe, her virgin reserve and sanctity of soul throughout it all."
(V, BR, 550)
The complete domination of Westervelt over Priscilla
was shown in the chapter, "A Village Hall,
11
where
Coverdale was witness to the performance of Westervelt
and the Veiled Lady.
Westervelt encouraged the spectators
to ascend the platform and shout into her earsi he allowed
them to beat upon the floor, but she was oblivious to all
save Westervelt.
Westervelt bragged, "The roar of a
battery canon [sic] would be inaudible to the Veiled Lady.
And yet, were I
to will it, . . . she could hear the
desert wind sweeping over the sands as far off as Arabia,
II
(V, BR,
549)
He also invited the audience to ask
questions about the past and the future and claimed that
Priscilla was capable of visualizing far distant places
which she could describe to them.
This latter claim was
not unusual since the majority of the mesmerists at that
time purported that, under their influence, their subjects were capable of transcending barriers of space and
time.
Through the story told to Phoebe by Holgrave
lrr
6
The House of the Seven Gables, Hawthorne introduced the
reader to another mesmerist in the person of "Young
Matthew Maule, the carpenter."
(III, HSG, 224)
Called
upon by Gervayse Pyncheon who hoped Maule might supply
information on some lost documents, Maule found himself
promised the House of the Seven Gables as a reward.
In
this episode Hawthorne again brought in a young, innocent
girl.
Maule made i t known that he needed the assistance
of Alice Pyncheon for "the only chance of acquiring the
requisite knowledge was through the clear, crystal medium
of a pure virgin intelligence."
(III, HSG, 239)
When
Alice was summoned Hawthorne described her as one
"
. combined of beauty, high unsullied purity, and
the preservative force of womanhood • . • 11
242)
(III, HSG,
Alice could be compared to Priscilla and Maule to
Westervelt, the innocent girl in the clutches of the
mesmerist.
Just as Westervelt had invited the audience
to shout in Priscilla's ear, Maule beckoned to Gervayse
to speak to his daughter and bid him speak louder when
she did not respond.
He further encouraged the distraught
father to shake her in an attempt to arouse her.
The
reader shared the father's agony as he shook his daughter
vigorously to arouse her--but failed.
Hawthorne then
shows how completely Alice was in Maule's power.
Mau1e beckoned her, she came.
she retreated to the chair.
When
When he waved her back,
Maule mocked Gervayse with
7
the implication that he had surrendered his daughter
because of his greed for land.
He said, "She is mine!
Mine by the right of the strongest spirit."
(III, HSG,
24 6} •
While in her trance, Alice was able to describe
three men.
From the description I
concluded that they were
the deceased Colonel Pyncheon, Wizard Maule and Thomas
Maule who had built the House of the Seven Gables.
Colonel
Pyncheon attempted to communicate the necessary information
to Alice but the other two "pressed their hands over his
mouth_; and forwi th-- .
blood upon his band."
--there was a fresh flow of
(III, HSG, 247)
The attempt to
uncover the secrets of the document unsuccessful, Maule
returned Alice to her father but Hawthorne shows that she
still remained in Maule's power.
He writes, "she was
Maule's slave, in a bondage more humiliating, a thousandfold, than that which binds its chains around the body."
(III, HSG, 249)
From his own fireside Maule had only to
command her and she obeyed.
She could be at a funeral or
at prayers and should Matthew Maule desire it she would
uncontrollably laugh.
Likewise he could instruct her to
cry or to dance and she would.
Needless to say Alice
found herself in many humiliating positions.
The final humiliation was on the occasion of Maule's
wedding.
Maule had instructed the proud Alice to tend
his bride and she arrived "in her gossamer white dress
8
and satin slippers," at "the mean dwelling of a laboring
man."
(III, HSG, 250)
She tended the bride, but irrunedi-
ately upon their marriage the enchantment was broken.
Hawthorne showed the danger of tampering with another
human's mind when the final result was Alice's death.
She had returned home from the wedding in her thin attire
and soft shoes on a night that was snowy and rainy.
The
exposure caused her to become ill and she never recovered.
In Hawthorne's description of the funeral we witness
Maule " . • • the darkest and wofullest man that ever
walked behind a corpse!
He meant to humble Alice, not
to kill her; but he had taken a woman's delicate soul
into his rude gripe, to play with--and she was dead!"
(III, HSG, 251)
Thus Hawthorne showed that the power of
mesmerism was very serious.
He demonstrates how Holgrave, actually a descendant
of Maule, noted that as he told the s·tory to Phoebe
11
a certain remarkable drowsiness .
over the senses of his auditress."
. had been flung
(III, HSG, 252)
Holgrave was conscious of his power and knew he had only
to exert his will and Phoebe would succumb.
He could if
he wished "complete his mastery over Phoebe's yet free
and virgin spirit."
(III, HSG, 253)
Just as Ha,.vthorne
had written to Sophia that if he possessed such powers he
would not use them on her, Holgrave exhibited "the rare
and high quality of reverence for another's individuality."
9
(III, HSG, 253) Holgrave did not take advantage of Phoebe
and Hawthorne allowed them a happier ending than Alice
and Maule, the carpenter.
Hawthorne found a great deal of material for his
works in such types of preternatural fields and Stoehr
writes that "By 1852, his audience might be counted on
to have become quite familiar with modern theories of
the spirit world, and its accessibility, and a great
many people were full believers."
7
Hawthorne was person-
ally exposed to spiritualism when Ada Shephard, governess
to his children, began to write messages from Sophia's
dead mother while in a trance.
He wrote of these epi-
sodes in his journal, "In the communications between my
wife and her mother, I cannot help thinking that
(~tiss
[Shephard] being unconsciously in a mesmeric state) all
the responses are conveyed to her fingers from my wife's
mind." 8
He also wrote a letter of reply to Mr. William
B. Pike on July 24, 1851 in which he said, "I am very
glad of your testimony in favor of spiritual intercourse.
I have heard and read much on the subject, and i t appears
to me to be the strangest and most bewildering affair I
ever heard of.
I should be very glad to believe these
rappers are, in any one instance, the spirits of the
persons whom they profess themselves to be; but, though
I have talked with those who have had the freest communication1 there has always been something that made me
10
doubt." 9
Although Hawthorne doubted, he seemed to be disturbed
and even a little frightened by it all.
This was espec-
ially apparent after his sister-in-law Elizabeth suggested
that his daughter Una be considered as a spiritualistic
medium.
Had he no fear he would not have reacted so
violently.
Sophia's letter to Elizabeth showed his
vehemence.
"Mr. Hawthorne says he never [underlined six
times] will consent to Una's being made a medium of communication & that he will defy all Hell rather, so that
he will have to disprove the testimony of spirits, if it
comes to that.
He says he cannot let you come here with
Rappers in train--for he thinks it would injure Una
physically & spiritually to be subjected to such influence.
Thus he bids me say." 10
He sensed that it was dangerous to intrude too far
into areas one could not understand.
Coverdale, the
narrator in The Blithedale Romance, seemed to communicate
Hawthorne's attitude when he thought
It is unutterable, the horror and disgust with
which I listened, and saw that, if these things
were to be believed, the individual soul was
virtually annihilated, and all that is sweet and
pure in our present life debased,
. But I
would have perished on the spot sooner than
believe it.
. Alas, my countrymen, methinks
we have fallen on an evil age! If these phenomena
have not humbug at the bottom, so much the worse
for us.
. We are pursuing a downward course
in the eternal march, and thus bring ourselves
into the same range ~vi th beings whom death, in
11
requital of their gross and evil lives, has
degraded below humanity! To hold intercourse
with spirits of this order, we must stoop and
grovel in some element more vile than earthly
dust.
(V, BR, 545)
When Hawthorne's ancestors were confronted with
strange phenomena, they embarked on a course that has
become a part of American history.
Their actions led to
the witchcraft trials that Hawthorne was to read about.
Hawthorne took many ideas from these trials and incorporated them into his stories.
Chapter 2
Religious Persecution and Witchcraft
Among beliefs in the supernatural, religion is
perhaps the most popular and the strongest.
It was the
motivating force behind the Puritan fathers who came from
England to settle in America.
William Hathorne (Nathaniel
added the w) came to Massachusetts in 1630.
He served as
a tax collector, a magistrate, a commissioner of marriage;
was a captain in the first military organization formed
in Salem, and was associated with a company dealing in
furs.
In his contacts with the Indians he carried his
Bible, perhaps with the intention of converting what he
considered a heathen race.
Most important, he was
extremely pious and preached not only in Salem but also
in nearby towns.
1
His religious zeal led him to persecute the Quakers,
and Hawthorne describes him in "The Custom House" as
"grave, bearded, sable-cloaked and steeple-crowned
progenitor--who came so early with his Bible and his
s~.vord
.
. . he was a ruler in the Church; he had all the
Puritan traits, both good and evil.
He was likewise a
bitter persecutor, as witness the Quakers, who have remembered him in their histories, and relate an incident of
his hard sever'i ·ty toward a woman of their sect,· . .
(V, SL, 24)
A.ccording to Lloyd Morris, William was
12
.
11
13
responsible for the punishment, on one occasion, of five
Quaker women who were "stripped to the waist, bound to
the tails of carts, and lashed by the constable as they
were dragged through Salem, Boston and Dedham." 2
In "The Gentle Boy" Hawthorne conveyed his knowledge
of the era of Quaker persecution.
He writes about the
Quakers, "Their reputation, as holders of mystic and
pernicious principles 1 having spread before them, the
Puritans early endeavored to banish, and to prevent the
further intrusion
of the rising sect."
3
In order to
demonstrate the methods taken to accomplish this end he
further writes, "The fines, imprisonments, and stripes,
liberally distributed by our pious forefathers;
endured nearly a hundred years •
. An indelible stain
of blood is upon the hands of all who consented to this
act,
11
(CE, IX, 68-69)
The boy's mother in the story
was a prime example of the type of punishment inflicted,
"She had been taken from the prison .
., carried into
the uninhabited wilderness, and left to perish there by
hunger or wild beasts."
(CE, IX, 75)
Just as Hawthorne
had communicated that the power of mesmerism unwisely used
led to death, he also showed that the power used against
the Quakers resulted in the death of the boy.
He further
censured the Puritans when, at the end of the story, he
writes, "The king's mandate to stay the New England persecutors was effectual in preventing further martyrdomsi
14
but the colonial authorities, trusting in the remoteness
of their situation,
. shortly renewed their severi-
ties in all other respects."
(CE, IX, 104)
In "Main Street" Hawthorne also exhibited the fear
and animosity felt towards Quakers when he writes, "The
Quakers have come.
We are in peril!
See! they trample
upon our wise and well-established laws . . . for
Governor Endicott is passing .
--and not one of the
irreverant vagabonds has moved his hat.
old Mr. Norris, our venerable minister.
their hats, and pay reverence to him?
Here comes
Will they doff
No: their hats
stick fast to their ungracious heads,
. and--impious
varlets that they are, and worse than the heathen
Indians! --they eye our reverend pastor with .
scorn,
distrust, unbelief, and utter denial of his sanctified
pretensions.
11
(III, M.S.
461-62)
I
The narrator goes on
to condemn this type of behavior and declares, "This matter must be looked to: else we have brought our faith
across the seas with us in vain . .
"
(III, M.S., 462)
Hawthorne, fully aware of his ancestor's part in the proceedings against the Quakers, makes direct mention of his
ancestor when he writes of the man carrying out the mandates that he was "zealous to fulfil the injunction of
~~jor
Hawthorne 1 s
wa~rant
.
. Ten such stripes are to
be given in Salem, ten in Boston, and ten in Dedham; and
with those thirty stripes of blood upon her, she is to be
15
driven into the forest.
The crimson trail goes wavering
along the Main Street; but Heaven grant that, as the rain
of so many years has wept upon it,
. . and washed it
all away, so there may have been a dew of mercy to cleanse
this cruel blood-stain out of the record of the persecutor • s life."
{III, M.S., 463)
Hawthorne regretted that
his ancestor would only be recalled as a persecutor of
the Quakers because he also had "a record of his better
deeds."
{III, SL, 24)
when he says, ".
He apologizes for his ancestors
. I
. hereby take shame upon myself
for their sakes, and pray that any curse incurred by them
. may be now and henceforth removed."
(III, SL, 25)
While William Hathorne figured prominently in
Quaker persecutions, his son John Hathorne earned his
reputation due to his connection with witchcraft.
Con-
trary to popular belief, witchcraft flourished long
before it came to New England; Upham writes that, "Witchcraft, in all ages and countries was recognized as a
reality .
By the laws of all nations, Catholic and
Protestant alike, in the old country and the new, it was
treated as a capital offense, and classed with murder and
other highest crimes .
"4
One has only to pick up the
Bible, one of the most ancient books read, to see imperatives regarding witchcraft.
prime examples;
(Exodus XXII, 8)
The following excerpts are
"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live."
"A man also or a 'tloman that hath a
16
familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put
to death: they shall stone them with stones."
(Leviticus
XXI, 9); and "There shall not be found among you anyone
. • . that useth divination or an enchanter or a witch or
a charmer or a consulter with familiar spirits or a
necromancer."
(Deuteronomy XVIII, 10, 11)
It was, therefore, not unusual for the Puritans who
based their lives upon the scriptures to condone the
atrocities perpetrated on those accused of witchcraft.
Hawthorne equates religion with the law when he writes,
"religion and law were almost identical,"
(V, SL, 70)
and it was "a period when the forms of authority were
felt to possess the sacredness of Divine institutions."
(V, SL, 86)
This was proven by the fact that the Governor
of Massachusetts Bay, Sir William Phips, appointed a commission of seven to try witchcraft cases.
"The Province
law of 1692 decreed death for 'enchantment, sorcery,
charm or conjuration, or invocation, or to feed any
wicked spirit. '
115
John Hathorne was one of the judges at
these trials and Hawthorne says that he
11
inherited the
persecuting spirit, and made himself so conspicuous in
the martyrdom of the witches, that their blood may
fairly be said to have left a stain upon him.
So deep a
stain, indeed, that his old dry bones, in the Charter
Street burial-ground, must still retain it .
(V,
SL, 24)
II
17
It is said that "Hawthorne's reading in the history
of witchcraft was so wide (he once planned to write a
history of New England witchcraft) that it is almost
always impossible to tell which details came from which
source." 6
Some of his stories on witchcraft were not
based on specific historical examples while others used
historical sources for background.
This is not diffi-
cult to understand; consider Hawthorne as described by
Stewart:
a sensitive young man who had chosen at one
point in his life to retreat to his room.
During his
period of iso.lation he may have made a "study of the aberration of the Puritan soul.
With the careful persistence
and patience of a scholar he read Puritan history and the
books known to have been thumbed by his ancestors."
7
No doubt he read how the whole witchcraft experience
began.
The Reverend Samuel Parris owned a slave named
Tituba, a negress from Barbados.
She began to tell tales
of witches entering keyholes in order to extract blood
from their victims.
After listening to her stories, two
girls had convulsions and took fits.
one was the minister's daughter.
Of those affected,
He investigated the
odd behavior and came to the decision that witchcraft
was afoot.
8
In "Main Street" Hawthorne writes, "Mercy
Parris, the minister's daughter has been smitten by a
flash of Martha Carrier's eye, and falls down in the
street, writhing with horrible spasms and foaming at the
18
mouth like the possessed one spoken of in scripture."
(III, M.S., 470-71)
Because of such strange happenings,
trials ensued and the girls accused such persons as a
crippled beggar, Sarah Osburn.
Osgood.
Another named was Sarah
It is easy to understand why Hawthorne had "a
haunting feeling of disgrace at the deeds of his forebears, notably John Hathorne, a ruthless witch-hanging
judge .
"9
said to have
At the trial of Sarah Good, Hathorne is
acted not like a magistrate but more like
a prosecuting attorney, assuming the guilt of the person
under examination and trying to force a confession with
bullying questions:
"Sarah Good, what evil spirit have you familiarity
with? 11
"None."
"Have you made no contract with the Devil?"
"No."
"i.Vhy do you hurt these children?"
"I do not hurt them.
I scorn it.,.
"Who do you employ, then to do it?"
"I employ nobody."
"What creature do you employ, then?"
"No creature, but I am falsely accused."
10
At Hathorne's prompting the children openly accused her,
whereupon they were subjected to fits.
At another trial at which he presided he ordered
19
the accused Rebecca Nurse
11
to stand with arms outstretched
in such a fashion that her aged body was unsupported by a
chair or table.
1111
Refusing to allow her to lean on her
husband when she complained of faintness, Hathorne remarked that she had evidenced strength enough to torture
her accusers and he felt, therefore, she should have the
strength to stand as directed.
When the sentence of
hanging was pronounced she "turned toward Justice Hathorne
and, looking fixedly upon him with old eyes that were now
tearless, she solemnly cursed him and his posterity to
the last generation.
1112
Just as Maule's curse in The
House of the Seven Gables seemed to have its effect on
the Pyncheon family, Rebecca Nurse's curse seemed to take
its toll on John Hathorne when "Two of his children died,
and his money dwindled away in a series of unsuccessful
ventures.
11 1 3
Hawthorne shmvs how the Pyncheon family
searched for lost documents which could prove their ownership of some very profitable land.
likewise purchased land.
11
John Hathorne had
But after his death, his heirs
discovered that the title to this vast tract of wilderness
had disappeared, unaccountably.
And his descendants, dis-
appointed of their inheritance, attributed their loss to
the curse laid upon them by Rebecca Nurse."
14
Curses preoccupy Hawthorne for he writes, "Old
Hatthew Haule, in a word was executed for the crime of
witchcraft .
. --the wisest, calmest, holiest persons
20
of their day--stood in the inner circle round about the
gallows,
. • . At the moment of execution--and while
Colonel Pyncheon sat on horseback, grimly gazing at the
scene--Maule . . • uttered a prophecy .
.
'God,' said
the dying man, pointing his finger, with a ghastly look,
at the undismayed countenance of his enemy,--'God will
give him blood to drink!" (III, HSG, 21)
There was on
record a case involving Sarah Good who was called upon by
Reverend Nicholas Noyse to confes·s that she was indeed a
witch.
Her response was almost identical in context to
the words used by Hawthorne.
She said, "You are a liar.
I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you
take away my life God will give you blood to drink."
15
When the house in Hawthorne's story had been built,
Colonel Pyncheon had "A ceremony of consecration."
(III, HSG, 23)
The lieutenant-governor went in search of
the host when he failed to join his guests.
After being
found, Hawthorne shows how "The company . . . drew nearer,
and perceived that there was an unnatural distortion in
the fixedness of Colonel Pyncheon's stare; that there was
blood on his ruff, and that his hoary beard was saturated
with it.
There is a tradition . . . that a voice spoke
loudly among the guests, the tones of which were like
L~ose
of old Matthew Maule--'God hath given him blood
to drink!'
n
(III, HSG, 29)
As for Nicholas Noyes
"tradition has i t that twenty-five years later, when
21
Nicholas Noyes lay dying, he choked upon the blood that
poured copiously from his mouth.
And when that happened
Salem remembered Sarah Good's words with feelings that
were more than a little ambiguous."
16
In "Young Goodman Brown" Hawthorne again utilized
witchcraft.
He set the story in Salem approximately the
year 1691, which would have been about a year before the
actual witchcraft trials.
According to Doubleday the
witch-meeting depicted by Hawthorne was in the records
of the time.
cription.
Hawthorne was most impressive in his des-
He treated us to the sights and sounds of
Goodman Brown:
He saw a red light before him, • . . and heard the
swell of what seemed a hymn . . . The verse died
heavily away, and was lengthened by a chorus, not
of human voices, but of all the sounds of the
benighted wilderness pealing in awful harmony
together . . . . At one extremity of an open space
. arose a rock, bearing some rude, natural
resemblance either to an altar or a pulpit, and
surrounded by four blazing pines, their tops
aflame, their stems untouched, like candles at an
evening meeting . . . . As the red light arose and
fell, a numerous congregation alternately shone
forth, then disappeared in shadow 1
•
Either
the sudden gleams of light . . . bedazzled Goodman
Brown, or he recognized a score of the church members of Salem village famous for their especial
sanctity • . . . It was strange to see that the good
shrank not from the wicked, nor were the sinners
abashed by the saints .
. Another verse of the
hymn arose, a slow and mournful strain, such as
the pious love, but joined to words which expressed
all that our nature can conceive of sin, and darkly
hinted at far more.
. Verse after verse was
sung . . . with the final peal . . . there came a
sound . . . and every other voice of the unconcer"ted 1.vilderness were mingling .
. in homage to
the prince of all . . . At the same moment the fire
22
on the rock shot redly forth and formed a glowing
arch above its base, where now appeared a figure
• • . the figure bore no slight similitude . . .
to some grave divine of the New England churches.
"Bring forth the converts!" cried a voice .
Thither came . . . a veiled female, led between
Goody Cloyse . . . and Martha Carrier . . . 17
Doubleday contends records show that upon being
questioned by John Corwin and John Hathorne, Abigail
Williams admitted that she, accompanied by forty other
persons, had been present at a meeting such as described
by Hawthorne.
It is further recorded that Goody Cloyse
was one of the deacons.
Martha Carrier was hanged and
Sarah Cloyse was confined to prison until the witchcraft
persecution was over.
18
Although I always knew that the
Puritans strongly believed in God, one thing became overwhelmingly apparent, as it did to Hawthorne too; they
also strongly believed in the devil.
.,_1,- -----
--
Chapter 3
The Devil and Sin
The Puritans listened to the preachings of their
ministers who impressed upon them that Satan was constantly at work among them.
The leaders of the church
in "the seventeenth century saw witchcraft as literal
Devil worship .
By the time the preachers were
" l
finished, every Puritan was convinced that the devil was
this enemy.
Reverend Deodat Lawson, "warned his listen-
ers that the Devil might appear in the shape of an innocent person . . . the 'Only Shield Against Satan's
malignity' was faith in Christ, and the application of
that faith in prayer."
2
It seemed fitting, then, that
Hawthorne gave the name Faith to Goodman Brown's wife.
When Goodman Brown left Faith, he went into the forest
and met a man who chided him for being late.
Brown answered, "Faith kept me back a while."
Goodman
Hawthorne
describes the man's staff "which bore the likeness of a
great black snake, so curiously wrought that it might
almost be seen to twist and wriggle itself like a living
serpent."
At this point it was hinted that he might be
the devil, and Goodman Brown's Christian faith had kept
them from meeting sooner.
Hawthorne exhibited Goodman
Brown 1 s fear and his protesta-tions that no member of his
family had ever ventured so far into the forest for they
23
24
"had been a race of honest men and good Christians since
the days of the martyrs .
"
3
Furthermore, it could be Hawthorne defending his own
ancestors.
While Hawthorne acknowledged that they had not
always performed admirable actions, there was still a
part of him that admired them as "earnest and energetic
men . • . "who established a family which "never, so far
as I have known" was "disgraced by a single unworthy
member."
(V, SL, 25-26)
Be that as it may, like
Hawthorne, Goodman Brown had to face his ancestors'
transgressions as he heard, "I have been well acquainted
with your family as with ever a one among the Puritans;
. I helped your grandfather, the constable, when he
lashed the Quaker woman so smartly through the streets
of Salem .
"
The identity of the man became clear
when they encountered Goody Cloyse, carefully pointed out
by Hawthorne as a teacher of catechism.
When the man "put
forth his staff and touched her withered neck with what
seemed the serpent's tail," she exlaimed, "The devil!"
To this he responded, "Then Goody Cloyse knows her old
friend?"
Hawthorne further establishes that Goody Cloyse
was a witch when she complained that "my broomstick hath
strangely disappeared, stolen .
witch, Goody Cory .
II
. by that unhanged
I+
Goodman Brown was disillusioned by his old teacher
but his "mind is made up.
Not another step will I budge
25
on this errand.
What if a wretched old woman do choose to
go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven:
is that any reason why I should quit my dear Faith and go
after her?"
Hawthorne makes it known that Goodman Brown
was still trying to hold on to his faith and avoid the
devil.
They separated for a while and as Goodman Brown
heard voices he concealed himself.
He did not wish to be
discovered because he knew he had come to the forest with
a "guilty purpose."
That Hawthorne did not place credence
in the clergy was evident when the voices reminded Goodman
Brown of the minister and his deacon who was heard to
say, "I had rather miss an ordination dinner than tonight's meeting.
They tell me that some of our community
are to be here from Falmouth and beyond .
several of the Indian powwows, who .
much deviltry as the best of .us."
.
. besides
. know almost as
Hawthorne demonstrates
that despite this second blow, Goodman Brown endured for
"With heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm
against the devil!"
5
But Goodman Brown's ordeal was not over; he heard
voices of his neighbors and "There was one voice, of a
young woman, uttering lamentations .
. entreating for
some favor . . . and all the unseen multitude, both
saints and sinners, seemed to encourage her onward." 6
The question presented itself, what could this
woman be seeking?
yoQ~g
Since the implication was that she is
26
Goodman Brown's wife, the reader knew that she supposedly
had all that she could require; perhaps she sought sexual
knowledge.
Doubleday brings out the point that "The
emphasis on the sexual side of witchcraft rites in some
recent writers on the tale is not beside the point, for
witchcraft had its sexual side (although there is surprisingly little evidence of it in the Salem records).
And it is true that the devil's sermon particularly
promises insight into sexual sin." 7
Hawthorne conveys
this possibility, for when the devil spoke to those in
the forest he said,
My children look behind you! . . . There are all
whom ye have reverenced from youth. Ye deemed
them holier than yourselves and shrank from your
own sin • • • Yet here are they all in my worshipping assembly.
This night it shall be granted you
to know their secret deeds; how hoary-bearded
elders of the church have whispered wanton words
to the young maids of their households . . . and
how fair damsels--blush not, sweet ones--have dug
little graves in the garden, and bidden me, the
sole guest, to an infant's funeral. By the
sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall
scent out all the places--whether in church 1 bedchamber, street, field or forest--where crime has
been committed, and shall exult to behold the
whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood
spot. Far more than this. It shall be yours to
penetrate, in every bosom, the deep mystery of
sin, the fountain of all wicked arts . . . Ye had
still hoped that virtue were not all a dream. Now
are ye undeceived. Evil is the nature of mankind.
Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome . . .
to the communion of your race. 8
In the actual witchcraft trial, Tituba testified
that the devil had promised her much if she would serve
him.
"He had shown her a book and she had made a mark in
27
it, a mark that was 'red like blood.'" 9
Hawthorne has
Faith and Goodman Brown stand before the devil.
was hollowed, naturally, in the rock."
"A basin
Then he alludes
to blood, which he might have taken from the testimony of
Tituba.
"Did it contain water, reddened by the lurid
light?
or was it blood? . . . Herein did the shape of
evil dip his hand and prepare to lay the mark of baptism
upon their foreheads, that they might be partakers of the
mystery of sin." 1 o
Although Goodman Brown did not complete his baptism,
he never knew if Faith had, and his trust in her was
never the same.
At one point in the story, Hawthorne
shows that he considers the devil a dangerous opponent
when Goodman Brown says, "My Faith is gone.
There is no
good on earth . . . Come devil; for to thee is this world
given."
11
Goodman Brown might have "fallen asleep in
the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of witch-meeting
. but it was a dream of evil omen . . . 12
From that
night on Goodman Brown lost his faith, not only in his
wife, but in all those around him.
To ascertain if one was a witch "one could search
the body of the accused for the so-called Devil's Mark"
(this could be the mark of baptism referred to in
"Goodman Brown" . )
"It was believed that when a pact was
made the Devil placed upon the witch's body a piece of
flesh from which He,
. . . might suck the blood of the
28
witch.
(The blood has traditionally been thought to be the
carrier of the spirit; in sucking blood the Devil was
feeding on the witch's soul.)"
13
Hawthorne saw men as
devils when they fed upon another's weakness.
Such a man
was Roger Chillingworth who offered his services in the
cure of Dimmesdale.
At first the rumor was that a
heavenly miracle had occurred "by transporting an eminent
Doctor of Physic, from a German University, bodily through
the air, and setting him down at the door of
Mr. Dimmesdale's study!"
(V, SL, 149)
As time went by
there were those who believed that Dimmesdale "was
haunted either by Satan himself, or Satan's emissary, in
the guise of old Roger Chillingworth.
This diabolical
agent had the Divine permission . . . to burrow into the
clergyman's intimacy, and plot against his soul."
156)
(V, SL,
Hawthorne also writes that "the fire in his labora-
tory had been brought from the lower regions, and was fed
with infernal fuel . . . "
(V, SL, 156)
Hester had com-
pared him to "the Black Man that haunts the forest . . . "
(V, SL, 100) and Pearl demonstrates her fear of him when
she says, "Come away, mother!
Black Man will catch youl
ter already."
(V, SL, 164)
Come away or yonder old
He hath got hold of the minisAnd indeed he had.
11
The
victim was forever on the rack; it needed only to know
the spring that controlled the engine; and the physician
kne~tl
it well . .
II
(V, SL, 171)
Chillingworth
29
confesses to Hester that Dimmesdale "has been conscious
of me.
He has felt an influence dwelling always upon
him like a curse .
he fancied himself given over to a
fiend . • . But i t was the constant shadow of my presence!
--Yea, indeed!--he did not errl--there was a fiend
at his elbow!
A mortal man, with once a human heart, has
become a fiend for his especial torment!
(V, SL, 207)
Hawthorne is in agreement with Chillingv;orth's statement
for he writes, "In a word, old Roger Chillingworth was
a striking evidence of man's faculty of transforming
himself into a devil, if he will only, for a reasonable
space of time undertake a devil's office.
This unhappy
person had effected such a transformation, by devoting
himself, for seven years, to the constant analysis of a
heart full of torture, and deriving his enjoyment thence,
and adding fuel to those fiery tortures which he analyzed
and gloated over."
(V, SL, 205)
Hawthorne considers
Chillingworth's actions to be an unpardonable sin and he
has Dimmesdale voice this when he says to Hester, "That
old man's revenge has been blacker than my sin.
He has
violated, in cold blood, the sanctity of a human heart."
(V, SL,
234)
Hawthorne's use of the forest and his emphasis on
sin brought the Garden of Eden to my mind and the sin of
Adam and Eve.
With the Christian view that i t was a
fortunate fall, Hawthorne indirectly tries to answer the
30
question of why God allowed evil to flourish.
In The
Marble Faun, Miriam and Donatello committed a crime
when Donatello threw Miriam's tormentor from the precipice.
The act effected a change in Donatello; as Adam
before the fall had been a "simple and joyous creature,"
so had Donatello, but now Hawthorne states, "It had
kindled him into a man; it had developed within him an
intelligence which was no native characteristic of the
Donatello whom we have heretofore known." 14
When Miriam
speaks to Kenyon she asks, "Was the crime in which he and
I were wedded--was it a blessing, in that strange
guise?
dis~
Was it a means of education, bringing a simple
and imperfect nature to a point of feeling and intelligence which it could have reached under no other discipline?"15
It is evident that although Donatello has retained
his "simple peculiarities" they now alternate "with profound sympathy and thought." 16
story of the fall of man!
romance of Monte Beni?
Miriam compares "The
Is it not repeated in our
Was that very sin--into which
Adam precipitated himself and all his race--was it the
destined means by which .
. we are to attain a higher,
brighter and profounder happiness .
.?
Will not this
idea account for the permitted existence of sin .
•? "
l i
To all of this Kenyon exhibits fear, feelin9" that Miria.m
is delving into dangerous areas.
However, at the end of
31
the story Kenyon admits his bewilderment to Hilda.
has educated Donatello, and elevated him.
11
Sin
Is sin .
like sorrow, merely an element of human education,
through which we struggle to a higher and purer state
than we could otherwise have attained?
Did Adam fall,
that we might ultimately rise to a far loftier paradise
than his?"
18
Sin may have been necessary but Hawthorne did not
underestimate the struggle involved.
When discussing
Guido's picture of the Archangel Michael's triumph over
the devil in The Marble Faun, Miriam criticizes it as
not being realistic in that it had:
a dainty air of the first celestial society! With
what half-scornful delicacy he sets his prettily
sandalled foot on the head of his prostrate foe!
But, is it thus that virtue looks, the moment
after its death-struggle with evil? No, No; I
could have told Guido better. A full third of
the Archangel's feathers should have been torn
from his wings; the rest all ruffled, till they
looked like Satan's own! His sword should be
streaming with blood, and perhaps broken half
way to the hilt; his armor crushed, his robes
rent, his breast gory; a bleeding gash on his
brow, cutting right across the stern scowl of
battlel He should press his foot hard down upon
the old serpent, as if his very soul depended
upon it, feeling him squirm mightily, and doubting whether the fight were half over yet, and how
the victory might turn! . . . But the battle never
was such child's play as Guido's dapper Archangel
seems to have found it. 19
Hawthorne's interest in portraits was not confined
to this one work of art in The Marble Faun, but figured
prominently in many of his other stories.
They played
32
a part in The House of the Seven Gables, "The Prophetic
Pictures" and
11
Edward Randolph's Portrait."
He also
introduced magic mirrors in such stories as "Old Esther
Dudley," "Feathertop" and "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment."
Chapter 4
Portraits and Mirrors
Frazer wrote, "As with shadows and reflections, so
with portraits; they are often believed to contain the
soul of the person portrayed.
There were those who
would not allow their pictures to be taken lest one of
his 'apparitions' should remain after death in the picture
instead of going to the spirit-land."
1
Colonel Pyncheon
evidently had not any such superstitions, for it was
stipulated in his will that his portrait always hang in
the parlor.
While the Colonel may not have put any stock
in such foolishness, Hawthorne reports
The wild, chimney-corner legend (which without
copying all its extravagances, my narrative
essentially follows) here gives an account of
some very strange behavior on the part of
Colonel Pyncheon's portrait. This picture, it
must be understood, was supposed to be so intimately connected with the fate of the house,
and so magically built into its walls, that, if
once it should be removed, that very instant the
whole edifice would come thundering down in a
heap of dusty ruin. All through the foregoing
conversation between ~tr. Pyncheon and the carpenter, the portrait had been frowning, clenching its fist, and giving many such proofs of
excessive discomposure .
. And finally, at
Matthew Maule's audacious suggestion of a transfer of the seven-gabled structure, the ghostly
portrait is averred to have lost all patience,
and to have shown itself on the point of descending bodily from its frame.
(III, HSG, 236-237)
Another incident in which Hawthorne again makes use
of the magical qualities of the portrait occurred when
Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon sat in a chair in the parlor of
33
34
The House of the Seven Gables.
Hawthorne points out that
it is midnight [which has been referred to as the witching
hour by many people].
He then relates the "legend, that
at midnight, all the dead Pyncheons are bound to assemble
in this parlor" (III, HSG, 329) for the purpose of
ascertaining if the Colonel's portrait was still on the
wall.
The procession began with the Colonel who seemed
annoyed, followed by "other Pyncheons, the whole tribe
• • • jostling and elbowing one another, to reach the
picture . . • All try the picture-frame . . . There is
evidently a mystery about the picture, that perplexes
these poor Pyncheons when they ought to be at rest.
In
a corner, meanwhile, stands the figure of an elderly man,
• . • with a carpenter's rule sticking out of his pocket;
he points his finger at the bearded Colonel and his
descendants, nodding, jeering, mocking .
331)
"
(III, HSG,
Hawthorne goes on to include Judge Pyncheon's son
who had been abroad the past two· years, and lastly carne
the figure recognizable as the Judge himself who "might
be pronounced scrupulously neat in his attire, but for a
broad crimson stain across his snowy neckcloth and down
his shirt-bosom."
(III, HSG, 331-332)
Since only dead
Pyncheons marched in this procession, I knew that the
Judge and his son were dead also.
From the description
of the Judge it would seem that he also was a victim of
Maule's curse.
35
A portrait also figures in "Edward Randolph's
Portrait," for the narrator confesses "Nothing impressed
me more than a story of a black, mysterious picture,
which used to hang in one of the chambers of the ProvinceHouse .
"
(CE, IX, 258)
The picture had hung in the
chamber while consecutive governors held office.
At the
time of the story, Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson had
taken command.
His niece, Alice Vane, was interested in
the picture and her inquiries were answered by Captain
Lincoln.
"One of the wildest, and at the same time the
best accredited accounts, stated it to be an original and
authentic portrait of the Evil one, taken at a witch
meeting near Salem; and that its . . • resemblance had
been confirmed by several of the confessing wizards and
witches . . . It was likewise affirmed that a .
abode behind the .
demon,
. picture and had shown himself, at
seasons of public calamity, to more than one of the royal
governors."
(CE, IX, 260)
The Lieutenant-Governor
sloughed off the story, for he had researched the picture
and knew it to be the portrait of the founder of the
house, Edward Randolph.
The Captain disclosed that
Edward Randolph had been cursed by the people and the
effect of the curse
11
was visible on the wretched man's
countenance, making it too horrible to be looked upon
. . if this picture truly represented his aspect, it
was in raercy that the cloud of blackness has gathered
36
over it.
11
( CE , IX, 2 6 2)
When a crisis arose concerning the landing of
British troops, the Lieutenant-Governor was warned not
to sign the document giving them his permission to disembark.
He was about to sign when his niece revealed the
portrait from beneath a curtain that had covered it.
The
horror he felt was present in his words, "if the spirit
of Edward Randolph were to appear among us from the place
of torment, he could not wear more of the terrors of hell
upon his face.
11
(CE, IX, 267)
The niece begged him to
consider the people's rights and to learn a lesson from
Edward Randolph's fate.
Hutchinson became stubborn as
those around him applied pressure and exclaimed, "Away!
Though yonder senseless pictured cried 'Forbearl'--it
should not move me."
the disputed document.
(CE, IX, 268)
So saying he signed
The narrator explains that Alice
Vane's restoration of the picture was not permanent and
it once again became obscure.
He further informs the
reader that on Hutchinson's deathbed, Hutchinson "complained that he was choking with the blood of the Boston
Massacre" and the Captain "at his bedside, perceived a
likeness in his frenzied look to that of Edward Randolph."
(CE, IX, 269)
In this story, Hawthorne's plot was
straightforward and the message received was clear, those
in power had a terrible responsibility and when they used
poor judgment everyone suffered.
37
Still another story of magic portraits is "The
Prophetic Pictures" in which Hawthorne presents the
characters of Walter and Elinor who, soon to be wed,
desired to have their portraits painted for their home.
As the story began they were discussing the painter they
wished to engage.
Hawthorne has Walter rave about the
painter's many accomplishments.
In addition to his
painting, he was versed in languages and knowledgeable
in science.
The first hint that the painter would be
unusual was foreshadowed when Elinor questions "Are you
telling me of a painter, or a wizard?"
(CE, IX, 167)
Unlike "Edward Randolph's Portrait" in which Hawthorne
merely recounts a legend, "The Prophetic Pictures" was not
connected with the past but geared to future happenings.
The artist wanted to paint Walter and Elinor together on
one canvas, but the space for which they intended the art
work was not ample to accommodate so large a picture.
Nevertheless, he had them both sit at the same time going
from one canvas to the other as he studied them both.
When he was alone he would make sketches of the two of
them.
Why he did this aroused curiosity since it had
already been pointed out that "The old women of Boston
affirm
b~at
after he has once got possession of a person's
face and figure, he may paint him in any act or situation
whatever--and the picture will be prophetic."
172)
(CE, IX,
When the portraits are finished Walter says that
38
Elinor's "eyes are fixed on mine with a strangely sad and
anxious expression.
IX, 174)
Nay, it is grief and terror."
As for Walter's portrait, Hawthorne writes,
"That look!" whispered she, and shuddered.
there?"
(CE,
(CE, IX, 175)
How came it
In the artist's answer were words
that Hawthorne might have used concerning his writings
for he said,
saw.
11
in both pictures, I have painted what I
The artist--the true artist--must look beneath the
exterior.
It is his gift--his proudest, but often a
melancholy one--to see the inmost soul .
175)
"
(CE, IX,
He told Elinor he could still change the portraits,
just as he could change the sketch which he shows her
"But would it influence the event?"
(CE, IX, 176)
The portraits were accepted as they were and "hung
side by side •
stantly."
appearing to eye each other con-
(CE, IX, 176)
As time passed the artist was
busy in his travels but thoughts of Walter and Elinor
haunted him.
"He had pryed into their souls . . . He
had caught from the duskiness of the future . . • a fearful secret, and
(CE, IX, 179)
. revealed it on the portraits."
The artist returned and went to seek out
Walter and Elinor.
their portraits.
He found them standing in front of
As he observed them, Walter's "eyes
kindled; while as Eli-nor watched the increasing wildness
of his face, her own assumed a look of terror; and when
at last, he turned upon her, the resemblance of both to
39
their portraits was complete.
11
(CE, IX, 181)
The scene following showed Walter taking a knife and
pointing it at Elinor.
11
In the action .
beheld the figures of his sketch. 11
the painter
(CE, IX, 181)
He
managed to stop Walter "with the same sense of power to
regulate their destiny, as to alter a scene upon the
canvass.
11
(CE, IX, 182)
Hawthorne again shows how
unfathomable love is, for when the artist reminded
Elinor that he had tried to warn her, she answered
simply,
11
You did.
But--I loved him!
11
(CE, IX, 182)
This
story in particular seemed to support the Puritan attitude
toward pictures.
At one point Hawthorne writes, "Some
deemed it an offence against the Mosaic law, and even a
presumptuous mockery of the Creator, to bring into existence such lively images of his creatures.
Others,
frightened at the art which could raise phantoms at will,
and keep the form of the dead among the living, were
inclined to consider the painter as a magician, or perhaps the famous Black Man of old witch-times, plotting
mischief in a new guise.
11
(CE 1 I X, 16 9 )
In addition to the use of supernatural portraits,
Hawthorne used magic mirrors in his works.
cowley
-.;,.;rites that
11
Malcolm
NO other writer in this country or
abroad ever filled his stories with such a shimmering
~!leal th
o£ mirrors." 2
"Old Esther Dudley."
The mirror figured prominently in
Similar to "Edward Randolph's
40
Portrait," the story was based on a legend of the ProvinceHouse.
The beginning showed Sir William Howe about to
depart from the Province-House after the defeat of the
British.
Old Esther Dudley refused to leave saying "Here
will I abide; and King George shall still have one true
subject in his disloyal province."
{CE, IX, 294)
Unable
to reason with Esther, Howe finally surrendered the key
to her.
She lived there for many years as the house was
unoccupied and the administrators did not need to hire
anyone so long as she remained there.
"Many and strange
were the fables which the gossips whispered about her.
Among the time-worn articles of furniture that had been
left in the mansion, there was a tall, antique mirror
. it was the general belief that Esther could cause
the Governors .
all the pageantry of gone days . . .
she could cause the whole to reappear, and people the
inner world of the mirror with shadows of old life.
(CE, IX, 295)
11
Whenever Esther Dudley felt lonely she
would send for a black slave from the mirror and he would
go to "the burial-grounds, knocking at the iron doors of
tombs, or upon the marble slabs that covered them, and
whispering to those within:
'My mistress, old Esther
Dudley, bids you to the Province-House at midnight.•n
(CE, IX, 296)
And so the years passed as Esther Dudley
lived in solitude in the old Province-House.
She had no
41
friends among the townspeople but the children did come
to visit her.
When they returned home they would tell
their parents "of all the departed worthies of the
Province .
It would seem as though they had been
sitting on the knees of these famous personages, whom the
grave had hidden for half a century, and had toyed with
the embroidery of their rich waistcoats, or roguishly
pulled the long curls of their flowing wigs."
297)
(CE, IX,
Perhaps Esther Dudley had used her mirror to enter-
tain her young guests.
The story concluded with Esther
Dudley's death and the narrator visibly shaken by the
legend, for he "resolved not to show my face in the
Province-House for a good while hence--if ever. 11
IX, 303)
(CE,
It could be that he feared that Old Esther
Dudley would step out of the mirror to greet him should
he return.
Frazer wrote, "As some people believe a man's soul
to be in his shadow, so other (or the same) peoples
believe it to be in his reflection in water or a mirror."
Hawthorne must have believed this too, if we are to rely
on his story "Feathertop."
In "Feathertop" Hawthorne
introduced the character of Mother Rigby who
11
Was one of
the most cunning and potent witches in New England." 4
Mother Rigby had decided to make a scarecrow to keep the
birds from eating her co.rn, but her scarecrow was to be
different.
He was
11
to represent a fine gentleman of the
3
42
period." 5
Hawthorne shows how she went about achieving
this end.
She began her construction by using her
witch's broomstick for his spine.
The rest of him was
made up of such things as a pudding stick, a broken rung
of a chair and a hoe handle.
His body was "a meal bag
stuffed with straw" and his head was "a somewhat withered
and shriveled pumpkin, in which Mother Rigby cut two
holes for the eyes, and a slit for the mouth, leaving a
bluish-colored knob in the middle to pass for a nose."
6
To this conglomeration she added some very elegant
clothes.
One of the vestments was rumored to have
belonged to "the Black Man" and Hawthorne goes into
detail describing the velvet and laces used in the attire.
Mother Rigby was so pleased with her creation that she
decided it would be a waste to use i t as a scarecrow.
She took her pipe and put it into the scarecrow's mouth
exhorting him to "Puff away, my fine fellow!
depends on it!"
7
Your life
Eventually the scarecrow was not only
alive but also able to speak.
Mother Rigby gave him
riches and sent him out into the world, warning him that
in order to survive he must use his pipe or "Else, instead
of a gallant gentleman in a gold-laced coat, thou wilt be
but a jumble of sticks and tattered clothes, and a bag of
straw, and a_withered pumpkin!" 8 She then gave him a name,
Feathertop.
Feathertop was a great success and people were
43
impressed by his noble bearing.
They debated as to his
origins but all concurred that he was a nobleman.
ladies of the town admired him;
The
"he is a beautiful man!
--so tall, so slender! such a fine, noble face, with so
well-shaped a nose, and all that delicacy of expression
about the mouth!" 9
Polly Godkin.
Feathertop acquired a sweetheart,
As they promenaded the room she
raised her eyes and suffered them to linger upon
her companion with a bashful and admiring gaze.
Then, as if desirous of judging what value of her
own simple comeliness might have side by side
with so much brilliancy, she cast a glance towards
the full-length looking-glass in front of which
they happened to be standing. It was one of the
truest plates in the world and incapable of flattery. No sooner did the images therein reflected
meet Polly's eye than she shrieked, shrank from
the stranger's side, gazed at him for a moment in
the wildest dismay, and sank insensible upon the
floor.
Feathertop likewise had looked towards
the mirror, and there beheld, not the glittering
mockery of his outside show, but a picture of the
sordid patchwork of his real composition, stripped
of all witchcraft. 10
The mirror had reflected the true soul of Feathertop, and
the revelation sent him scurrying back to Mother Rigby.
He told her, "I've seen myself, mother!
I've seen myself
for the wretched, ragged, empty thing I am!
no longer!"
11
I'll exist
Feathertop tossed away his pipe and
reverted to the scarecrow he really was.
In "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment 11 Hawthorne told of a
looking-glass in Dr. Heidigger's study.
11
He reported that
it was fabled that the spirits of all the doctor's
deceased patients dwelt within its verge and would stare
44
him in the face whenever he looked thitherward.
IX, 229)
(CE,
11
In this work Hawthorne referred to a book in
the doctor's study that "was well-known to be a book of
magic, and once, when a chamber-maid had lifted it,
merely to brush away the dust, the skeleton had rattled
in its closet, the picture of the young lady had stepped
one foot upon the floor and several ghastly faces had
peeped forth from the mirror.
.
"
(CE, IX, 229)
It
was evident that the doctor was not,an ordinary doctor.
Later the doctor invited some old friends to help in an
experiment.
He showed them what happened when he placed
an old rose in a vase containing some liquid.
The rose
became as fresh as it had been fifty years before.
The
doctor spoke to them of the "Fountain of Youth" and
in~
formed them he believed the water in the vase had been
taken from the Fountain of Youth which Ponce De Leon had
sought but never found.
His friends, being very old, were intrigued at the
possibility of regaining their youth.
When they drank
the water "Their eyes grew clear and bright; a dark shade
deepened among their silvery locks .
"
(CE, IX, 233)
They kept drinking and kept getting younger.
Hawthorne
describes them as "a group of merry youngsters."
235)
(CE, IX,
They felt so wonderful they wanted to dance and
fought to see
~vho
would dance with the Widow Wycherly.
45
They all gathered around her. One caught both
her hands in his passionate grasp--another threw
his arm about her waist--the third buried his
hand among the glossy curls that clustered beneath
the widow's cap. Blushing, panting, struggling,
chiding, laughing . . . she strove to disengage
herself • . . Never was there a livelier picture
of youthful rivalship, with bewitching beauty for
the prize. Yet . . . the tall mirror is said to
have reflected the figures of the three old, gray,
withered grand-sires, ridiculously contending for
the skinny ugliness of a shrivelled grand-dam .
. . . As they struggled to and fro, the table was
overturned . . . . The precious Water of Youth
flowed . . • across the floor.
(CE, IX, 236-237)
Without the water they became old again, but the question
remained, had they ever really regained their youth, for
Hawthorne had pointed out what the mirror had reflected.
In this story Hawthorne wrote about regaining youth, but
in subsequent stories he would be more ambitious as he
wrote about an elixir of life.
Chapter 5
Mortality and the Elixir of Life
In the years just before his death, Hawthorne tried
to complete two stories on the theme of the Elixir of
Life, "The Dolliver Romance" and "Septimus Felton.
11
Because of his failing health, he was unable to finish
them.
Hawthorne had planned to submit "The Dolliver
Romance" as a serial for the Atlantic Monthly, but he
wrote to his publisher, Mr. Fields,
"There is something
preternatural in my reluctance to begin.
I linger at
the threshold, and have a perception of very disagreeable
phantasms to be encountered if I enter."
(XI, 10)
Never-
theless he still attempted to write and, as he continued,
he once more expressed his fear that "I shall never
finish it . . . I cannot finish it unless a great change
comes over me; and if I make too great an effort to do
so, it will be my death."
(XI, 11)
It could have been
said that Hawthorne was able to predict the future, because
he died in 1864 leaving behind the unfinished manuscripts.
Mrs. Hawthorne tried putting them together but her death
prevented her from accomplishing the task.
Her daughters
continued, however, and they were submitted for publication.
That Hawthorne was so ill at the time he wrote
"Septimus Felton 11 may account for his concern with man and
46
47
his mortality.
Septimus Felton had killed a young
English officer who had insisted on a gun duel.
Septimus
was devastated, for he had harbored no ill feeling against
the soldier.
It was from the soldier that Septimus
received the paper to figure so prominently in the story.
As the man was dying he said, "I leave it with you
it was given me by an uncle, a learned man of science
II
(XI, SF, 258)
Hawthorne presents two different
attitudes towards man's mortality.
Sibyl Dacy said,
"God gave the whole world to man, and if he is left alone
with it, it will make a clod of him at last; but, to
remedy that, God gave man a grave, and it redeems all,
while it seems to destroy all, and makes an immortal
spirit of him in the end.
11
(XI, SF, 323)
Septimus had declared, "Why should I die?
if worthy to live.
Earlier
I cannot die,
What if I should say this moment that
I will not die, not till ages hence, not till the world is
exhausted?
Let other men die, if they choose, or yield,
let him that is strong enough live l" (X, SF, 240)
As for
Sibyl's remark about the grave, Septimus responded
The grave seems to me a vile pitfall, put right
in our pathway, and catching most of us,--all
of us,--causing us to tumble in at the most
inconvenient opportunities, so that all human
life is a jest and a farce, just for the sake
of this inopportune death; for I observe it never
waits for us to accomplish anything: we may have
the salvation of a country in hand, but 'tie are
none the less likely to die for that. So that,
being a believer, on the ;,y-hole in the wisdom
and graciousness of Providence, I am convinced
$
48
that dying is a mistake, and that by and by we
shall overcome it. I say there is no use in
the grave.
(XI, SF, 324)
It would seem that at times Hawthorne felt that death
would be a welcome release, and at other times that a
man was snatched from the world in a manner that gave
futility to his life.
Hawthorne allows us to witness how Septimus feverishly tried to decipher the paper, which, according to
Dr. Portsoaken, contained the recipe for immortality.
Dr. Portsoaken informed Septimus that the document "was
supposed to be preserved in the family, and it has always
been said that the head and eldest son of that family had
it at his option to live forever
II
(XI
I
SF I
309)
Septimus further learned from his Aunt Keziah that one
of his Indian ancestors had possessed a drink which had
the ingredients of eternal life.
He listened as his aunt
recounted the story of how his ancestor had
lived longer than anybody knew, for the Indians
kept no record . . . they said he was as old,
or older, than the oldest trees . . . He was a
wise and good man . . . and he continued to live
on, till his people were afraid he would live
forever, and so disturb the whole order of
nature; and they thought it time that so good
a man • . . should be gone to the happy huntinggrounds, and that so wise a counsellor should
go and tell his experience of life to the Great
Father, and give him an account of matters here,
and perhaps lead him to make some changes in the
conduct of the lower world.
(XI, SF, 318)
Hav-1thorne then demonstrates that all men were not
eager to live forever.
When it had been decided that the
49
ageless Indian should be assassinated since he was "safe
against disease and undecayable by age," (XI, SF, 318) he
readily agreed.
Perhaps he voiced some of Hawthorne's
thoughts when he said "it was better for his own comfort
that he should die • . . he had long been weary of the
world, having learned all that it could teach him, and
having, chiefly, learned to despair of ever making the
red race much better than they now were."
(XI, SF, 318)
The latter part of his remark reflected the Puritan attitude that all men were inherently evil, and knowing how
sick Hawthorne was at the time he wrote this, it would be
easy to understand that he, too, was growing weary with
the world.
Hawthorne had written that living forever could
"disturb the whole order of nature" (XI, SF, 318) but
later he had Septimus say to Sibyl, "This means that we
have discovered of removing death to an indefinite distance is not supernatural; on the contrary, it is the
most natural thing in the world,--the very perfection of
the natural, since it consists in applying the powers and
processes of Nature to the prolongation of the existence
of man, her most perfect handiwork; and this could only
be done by entire accordance and co-effort with Nature."
{XI, SF, 411,12)
Hawthorne was engaged in presenting
the pros and cons of eternal life.
Sibyl said, "Canst
thou not conceive that mortal brain and heart might at
f'
50
length be content to sleep?"
(XI, SF, 412)
Septimus replied, "Never Sibyl!
Then
My spirit delights in
the thought of an infinite eternity."
(XI, SF, 412)
When Septimus spoke to Robert Hagburn who had
escaped ..death in the war, Hawthorne introduced existential ideas that the living of life is more important
than death.
Robert told Septimus that "for a good cause,
who cares for death?
while i t lasts.
And yet I love life; none better,
Only catch real earnest hold of life,
not play with it, and not defer one part of it for the
sake of another . . • There is no use of life, but just
to find out what is fit for us to do; and doing it, it
seems to be little matter whether we live or die in it."
(XI, SF, 390)
Robert's experiences in the war had
matured him and he, who had always been a clumsy lout,
was no'iv "so tall and stately, that Septimus hardly knew
him for the youth with whom he had grown up familiarly."
( XI , SF ,
389 )
Hawthorne shows that Septimus had also changed.
His
isolation while he worked with his experiments had made
him into a man who "had a strange, owl-like appearance,
uncombed, unbrushed, his hair long and tangled; his face
they said, darkened with smoke, his cheeks pale, the
indentation of his brow deeper than ever before; an earnest, haggard, sulking look
II
( XI
I
sF I
38 2 )
The
description was similar to that of Chilling'"tlorth whose
51
"visage was getting sooty with the smoke."
(V, SL, 156)
Both had obsessions; Chillingworth was obsessed with his
revenge on Dimmesdale and Septimus was obsessed with the
idea of immortal life.
Robert, on the other hand, "was
very cheerful and contented" {XI, SF, 391) and he could
not help but note that Septimus was "such a discontented,
unhappy-looking fellow."
(XI, SF, 391).
He invited
Septimus to join the war and leave "the yellow forlorness
in which you go on, neither living nor dying."
391)
(XI, SF,
But Septimus was so busy looking for immortality
that he refused to live.
Septimus knew the secret of his ancestor's drink
had been given to a trusted member of the tribe.
"This
drink was compounded of many ingredients, all of which
were remembered and handed down in tradition, save
one . . . "
(XI, SF, 319)
When Septimus compared the
recipe v1ith the one given him by the soldier, he found
them identical.
Hawthorne indicates that Septimus now
had two means given to him to work toward achieving
immortality.
The reader saw that Septimus had a sudden
enlightenment for "His mind had a flash of light . .
and from
~~at
.
moment he was enabled to read not only the
recipe but the rules, and all the rest of that mysterious
document."
{XI, SF, 397)
It could have been the Holy
Spirit that enlightened him, but "those who listened to
his shrieks said that he was calling to the Devil."
(XI,
52
SF, 399)
Hawthorne seemed to think that men of science
were in league with the devil, as witnessed in
"Rappacini's Daughter" and "The Birthmark."
Septimus was overcome by his discovery.
found i t at last," "Thou art immortal."
"Thou hast
(XI, SF I
398)
He realized, however, that he "must be of necessity, a
wanderer on the face of the earth .
. . else the foolish,
short-lived multitude and mob of mortals will be enraged
with one who seems their brother, yet whose countenance
will never be furrowed with his age .
II
(XI, SF, 396)
As wonderful as immortality might be, it had its disadvantages because "now that he looked forward from the
verge of mortal destiny, the path before him seemed so
very lonely."
(XI, SF, 403)
Thus Hawthorne tells us
that immortality is not sufficient to make a man happy;
Septimus needed a companion just as Adam had needed one
in the Garden of Eden.
Knowing how deeply in love
Hawthorne was ·with Sophia, the yearnings of Septimus
could be identified with Hawthorne, for love is truly
magical and the persons in love are enchanted.
Septimus
yearned
to have one unchangeable companion; for unless
he strung the pearls and diamonds of life upon
one unbroken affection, he sometimes thought
that his life would have nothing to give it
unity and identity . . . Unless he could look
into the same eyes, through the mornings of
future time, opening and blessing him with the
fresh gleam of l:;ve and joy; unless the same
sweet voice could melt his tho1..1-ghts together;
53
unless some sympathy of life side by side with
his could knit them into one; looking back upon
the same things, looking forward to the same;
. • • (XI, SF, 383,384)
Septimus needed this to give security and continuity to
his life.
Truly, one of the greatest mysteries of life was
love.
This was proven after Septimus shared his secret
with Sibyl.
Hawthorne did not disclose their conversa-
tion but i t was inferred that they had agreed to spend
eternal life together.
Later, Hawthorne allowed the
reader to hear them as they discussed their plans for
the eternity that would be theirs.
They acted like
ordinary lovers planning their future.
Some of the
areas they would involve themselves in were medicine and
philosophy.
earth."
They would at one time be "rulers of the
(XI, SF, 407)
Septimus would "promulgate a
faith, and prove it by prophecies and miracles," (XI, SF,
409), but he would tire of this for "it is a weary toil
for a man to be always good, holy, and upright
methinks I would fain be what men call wicked.
experience all."
(XI ~ SF , 4 0 9 )
I
would
In brackets was written
[The rampant unrestraint, which is the characteristic of
wickedness.]
Una Hawthorne referred to this in the
Preface and claimed sentences in brackets were left in
to show Hawthorne's intention of using them to further
develop his characters.
Perhaps eventually Hawthorne
54
would have pointed out that Septimus was becoming evil.
The Christian belief in reward and punishment in the
Afterlife would exercise some control over a person, but
one such as Septimus need not fear this, for he would
live forever.
When the time came to drink the elixir, Septimus
mentioned how cold i t was.
In describing Tituba's witch
trial, Hansen refers to the coldness of the devil 1 s mark.
Here Hawthorne could have been connecting the cold elixir
with the devil or merely relating it to the coldness of
death.
Regardless of which, the impression grows that it
contained evil and death.
impression is verified.
As the story continued the
The two lovers discussed the
elixir, and during the course of their conversation
Sibyl revealed that the soldier in the grave had been
her sweetheart.
Sibyl confesses that her original inten-
tions had been to seek revenge on Septimus.
When ques-
tioned about her present feelings, she took the elixir
and drank it.
AfterNards she allowed it to fall and the
goblet containing it shattered.
It was natural for
Septimus to be angry; now he would
does.
11
(XI, SF, 425)
11
perish as a dog
Sibyl then disclosed how the
flower Septimus had used in his elixir was one she had
cultivated on the soldier's grave.
semblance of a flmver .
She explained "the
This I sowed there, and it
converted the drink into a poison.
: This is the drink
55
I helped you to distill."
(XI ' SF I
4 2 6)
The evil in the
drink had been Sibyl's evil intentions and the death had
been in the poison.
Hawthorne redeemed Sibyl, however,
because the power of her love for Septimus gave her the
courage to drink the fatal elixir.
Septimus also proved
his love by the remark, "Why has thou spilt the drink?
We might have died together."
(XI, SF, 427)
But Sibyl
would not even allow him to kiss her because "There may
be a little poison linger on my lips."
(XI I SF' 4 2 7)
The story ended in Sibyl's death.
In some of his other stories Hawthorne also showed
the death of young maidens.
In "Rappacini's Daughter"
Beatrice died when she drank the medicine given to
Giovanni.
The scene describing this was very similar to
the one in "Septimus Felton.
11
Beatrice also proved her
love for Giovanni when she drank the medicine.
In "The
Birthmark 11 Georgiana died when her husband, Aylmer,
tried to remove her one blemish.
Hawthorne wants to
demonstrate what happens when man tampers with areas
belonging to God.
"The Dolliver Romance 11 did not have as much of a
plot as "Septimus Felton."
A flower was a part of the
story, a particular shrub in the garden which had held
a special interest for Dolliver's grandson.
Dolliver's
<.vife had worn the flowers from this shrub "in her bosom!
where they glowed like a gem, and deepened her somewhat
56
pallid beauty with a richness never before seen in it.
(XI, DR, 44)
11
Shortly thereafter she died, and the flower
henceforth brought back many painful memories for Dolliver.
A document was also mentioned when Edward Dolliver, the
grandson, was found dead by his wife in his laboratory.
11
There she found him dead--sunk down out of his chair
upon the hearth, where were some ashes, apparently of
burnt manuscripts • .
"
(XI, DR, 40)
In "Another
Fragment of the Dolliver Romance," Dolliver was approached
by Colonel Dabney who spoke of a man who had come "to you
. on a secret business.
He had an old musty bit of
parchment . . . --an old deed, i t might have been . .
and he interpreted it to you, and left it with you, only
there was one gap . .
facture this .
. and he bade you,
. cordial .
. the man came again, and
stood over your cursed beverage .
dient.
• to manu-
put in some ingre-
This done the man bade you do certain other things
. • and went away--and never came back again."
(XI,
DR, 61)
While Septimus was "unrestrained," Dolliver showed
great restraint 1 for he would only drink one single drop
from the bottle which contained "such a pure, bright
liquor."
(XI, DR, 50)
The single drop seemed sufficient
to keep old Dolliver ageless.
The Colonel commented,
"You are younger at this moment than when we spoke
together two or three years ago.
I noted then that your
57
eyebrows were a handsome snow-white . . . • Why, they are
getting dark again . . . "
(XI, DR, 60)
At some point in
his life Hawthorne must have had an unpleasant encounter
with a colonel because just as he had depicted Colonel
Pyncheon unfaborably, he now showed Colonel Dabney
adversely.
Pansie was shown as "having a natural antipa-
thy to this monster of a Colonel."
(XI, DR, 59)
The
Colonel was an avaricious old man, envious of Dolliver's
apparent youthfulness, and he demanded "That medicine,
that receipt is my hereditary property, and I challenge
you, on your peril, to give i t up."
(XI, DR, 62)
Hawthorne paints a picture of an enraged man who threatened Dolliver to "give up the thing, or I will have you
in prison before you are an hour older • • . . I'll put you
to death, you villain . . . "
small pistol . .
poor apothecary."
Then "the madman took a
. which he cocked, and presented at the
(XI, DR, 63)
When Dolliver gave him
the bottle he greedily gulped its contents and Hawthorne
describes his "starting to his feet with a prompt vigor
that contrasted widely with the infirm and rheumatic
movements that had heretofore characterized him . . . he
laughed, a wild, exulting hal ha! . . . Finally, he
uttered a loud unearthly screech . .
with a dead thump . . . "
XI, DR, 65)
. --and fell forward
As Dolliver gazed
upon the dead man he thought "it was a young man's face
that he saw .
But the next moment the face grew
58
ashen, withered, shrunken, more aged than in life . .
(XI, DR, 66)
"
Whether or not what Dolliver saw was a
figment of his imagination, Hawthorne never bothered to
explain.
decision.
Hawthorne left it to the reader to make his own
Conclusion
In Hawthorne's treatment of the supernatural, I
him to be a master of ambiguity.
After reading his works
my mind reeled with unanswered questions.
Pyncheon die because of Maule's curse?
really attend a witch-meeting?
found
Did Colonel
Did Goodman Brown
Were the mirrors and
portraits endowed with magical powers?
Did Dolliver in
fact see a young face at the moment of the Colonel's
death?
Did Donatello have ears like a faun?
letter A appear in the sky?
Did the
I decided, however, that my
reading was not without merit as I recalled the words
written by Doubleday in reference to Hawthorne.
"He will
not presume to solve the mystery, nor can he forget it.
If one reads a Hawthorne tale recognizing the ambiguity,
but accepting it as really ambiguous, he is reading the·
tale, it is safe to say, as Hawthorne intended it to be
read, and to that extent reading it well."
1
Perhaps that
was part of his intention, never to clarify any mysterious
aspects, always to leave things unresolved.
Another thing that struck me was Hawthorne's ambivalence.
While he felt that he had to apologize for his
ancestors and some of their barbaric activities, there
was still a great pride cherished towards them.
He
writes, "The figure of that first ancestor, invested by
family tradition with a dim and dusky grandeur, was
59
60
present to my boyish imagination, as far back as I can
remember."
(V, SL, 24)
I felt that Hawthorne considered
himself inferior to them because "after the first two
generations" no other member had performed "any memorable
deed, or so much as 'put' forward a claim to public
notice.
(V, SL, 26)
11
When the subject of payment for
their sins came up, Hawthorne deemed that they "would
have thought it quite a sufficient retribution for • . •
sins, that,
. • the old trunk of the family tree, . . .
should have borne, • • • an idler like myself."
(V, SL,
25)
Hawthorne was more of a Puritan than he knew.
As a
writer he lived in his imagination, and the Puritan mind
associated the imagination with being a sort of witchcraft.
In "The Devil in Manuscript" he writes "there is
a devil in this pile of blotted papers
575)
II
(III, DIM,
Oberon feeling this way, decides to burn his manu-
scripts, "I will burn theml
author?
Would you have me a damned
To undergo sneers, taunts, abuse, and cold neg-
lect . . . unhonored in life, and remembered scornfully
in death!"
(III, DIM, 580)
It was no wonder then that
he felt it punishment enough for his ancestors that he
engaged in such an occupation.
11
Cameron writes that
0ne might fancy Hawthorne inherited not a little of
eeriness of the spiritual inquisitor without cruelty-but passionless curiosity--the inquisitorial side of
61
Hawthorne's cold fancy connect him with his ancestors."
2
Another Puritan quality crept into his literature.
The Puritans followed Calvin in his belief in predestination and in "The Custom House" Hawthorne writes "I felt it
almost as a destiny to make Salem my home."
(V, SL, 27)
When Chillingworth spoke to Hester he said, "Ye that have
wronged me are not sinful . . . neither am I fiend-like
. . • It is our fate.
it may."
(V, SL, 210)
Let the black flower blossom as
In The Marble Faun the model
told Miriam that "it is not your fate to die •
We
have a destiny which we must needs fulfil together .
Further evidence of his belief in predestination was
seen in "Septimus Felton" who declared, "My destiny is
one "Vlhich kings might envy • . . 11
(IX, SF, 379)
Later,
Hawthorne writes that Septimus "felt strongly convinced
that inside the old box was something that appertained
to his destinyi the key that he had taken from the dead
man's breast, had that come down through time, and
across the sea, and had a man died to bring and deliver
it to him, merely for nothing?
SF, 388)
It could not be."
(XI,
In "Wakefield" Hawthorne wishes "that I had a
folio to w.rite, instead of an article of a dozen papersl
Then might I exemplify how an influence beyond our control lays its strong hand on every deed which we do
n4
There was no evidence that Hawthorne believed in
" 3
62
organized religion or was affiliated with any special
church.
I concluded that he must have looked forward to
life after death because at the time his mother was dying
he wrote in his notebook after his visit with her, "But
God would not have made the close so dark and wretched,
if there were nothing beyond; for then it would have
been a fiend that created us, and measured out our existence, and not God .
. So out of the very bitterness of
death, I gather the sweet assurance of a better state of
being.
115
It was also interesting to note that Hawthorne
spoke about parallel existences to Hiram Powers,
11
We
reasoned high about other states of being; and I suggested the possibility that there might be beings inhabiting this earth, contemporaneously with us, and close
beside us, but of whose existence and whereabout we could
have no perception, nor they of ours, because we are
endowed with different sets of senses."
(X, 376)
I strongly felt that much of Hawthorne's writing was
relevant to our present times.
There has been great
interest shown in the occult of late.
People have their
tarot cards read, go to readers, play with the Ouija
board, believe in astral travelling or talk of out of
body experiences and take classes in hypnotism.
Special
research has been set up to investigate the supernatural
powers of the mind under the title of Parapsychology, and
television has provided programs on the subject.
63
Hawthorne, in drawing strongly on the traditions of
his era, in looking to the past with its wealth of information on beliefs in the supernatural, has much to offer
the youth of today, or any day for that matter.
Ever
since the dawn of history there has been evidence that
man was aware of phenomena he could not understand.
This interest has persisted through the ages and from all
indications will continue for some time to come.
For
this reason, I feel that Hawthorne's works will have much
to say to each succeeding generation.
While Hawthorne's
characters were unable to succeed in acquiring an elixir
of life, Hawthorne has achieved his inunortality through
his writing.
Notes
Chapter 1:
1
Taylor Stoehr, Hawthorne's Mad Scientists
(Hamden: Conn, 1978) p. 35.
2
Ibid. , p. 38.
3
Ibid., p. 40.
4
Ibid., pp. 40, 41.
5
Ibid., p. 44.
6
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Complete Works of Nathaniel
Hawthorne, ed. George Parson Lathrop (Boston and New
York:
1882) V, 516. Subsequent references appear immediately following quotations. Roman numerals show the
volume and capital letters the work cited. Where there
is no title of a work, Roman numerals of volume and page
number will be used.
7
Stoehr, p . 17 3 .
8
Ibid.
I
p. 17 4.
9 Quoted
in Kenneth Cameron, Hawthorne Among His
Contemporaries (Trinity College: Hartford, 1968) 1 p. 86.
10
Quoted in Stoehr, pp. 175, 176.
Chapter 2:
1
Lloyd Horris, The Rebellious Puritan (New York:
1927), summarized from readings, pp. 16-18.
2
Ibid., p. 18.
3 Nathaniel
Hawthorne, The Centenary Edition of the
Works of Nathaniel Hav7thorne, ed. William Charvat et al.
(Columbus: Ohio, 1932) . S11bsequent references appear
immediately following quotation. To differentiate from
La-throp the le-tte.rs CE, vclu"'Tie
..
number and page number
will be set down.
4
1966)
Charles W.
1
P• 413.
Upham, SaleiP. Ni tchcr aft I
64
(New
York~
65
5
Cameron, p. 178.
[In Cameron's discussion I noted
with some irony that John Hathorne's burial place, while
being one of the oldest cemeteries in Salem, was also the
burial ground for many witches. Even in death he could
not escape them.]
6
Michael Davitt Bell, Hawthorne and the Historical
Romance of New England (Princeton: New Jersey, 1971)
footnote p. 76.
7 Quoted
in William Bysshe Stein, Hawthorne's Faust
(University of Florida: 1953) p. 13.
8
Summarized from Morris.
9s te1n,
.
p. 13.
1
°Chadwick Hansen, Witchcraft at Salem (New York:
1969) p. 33.
11 Morris,
p. 22.
12 Ibid.,
p. 24.
13
p. 24.
Ibid.
I
li+Ibid., p. 25.
(
15 Hansen,
p. 126. Seon Manley, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
Captain of the Imagination (New York: 1968), p. 146.
Seon Manley and Hansen Tfolrote contradictory reports.
Manley referred to the same curse and claimed it was
identical to a curse put on John Hathorne.
16
Ibid.
I
p. 127
17 Richard
Harter Fogle, ed., The Romantic Movement
in American Writing (New York: 1966) pp. 238-240.
18 Neal
Frank Doubleday, Hawthorne's Early Tales:
A Critical Study (Durham: North Carolina, 1972). Summarized from readings, pp. 199-201.
66
Chapter 3:
1
Hansen, p. 36.
2
Ibid., pp. 46, 47.
3
Fogle, RM, p. 233.
4
Ibid., pp. 233-235.
5
Ibid., pp. 236-237.
6
Ibid.
7 Doubleday,
p. 203.
8
Fogle, RM, p. 24 0.
9
Hansen, p. 37.
1
°Fogle, RM, p. 241.
11
Fogle, RM, p. 237.
12
Fogle, RM, p. 241.
13
Hansen, p. 4 8.
14
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Marble Faun, ed., Richard
Richard H. Rupp (New York: 1971) p. 169.
15-b'd
J. l
•
I
418.
I
!? • 419 •
16
Ibid.
1 7
Ibid.
18
Ibid., p. 444.
19
Ibid., pp. 180, 181.
67
Chapter 4:
1 Sir
James George Frazer, The New Golden Bough:
A New Abridgement of the Classic Work, ed., Theodore H.
Gaster (New York: 1959) p. 160.
2
Malcolm Cowley, The Portable Hawthorne (New York:
1948) p. 8.
3
Frazer, p. 159.
4
Cowley, p. 125.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid., p. 126.
7
Ibid. , p. 129.
8
Ibid., p. 137.
9
Ibid.
p. 140.
I
1 0
Ibid.
11
Ibid., p. 147.
I
p. 145, 146.
Conclusion:
1
Doubleday, p. 175.
2
cameron, p. 193.
3
Hawthorne, ed., Richard H. Rupp, p. 92.
4
Cowley, p. 158.
5
Randall Stewart, Nathaniel Hawthorne:
(U.S.A.: 1948) p. 90.
A Biography
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