Nathaniel

Hawthorne
( 1804-1864 )

Marija Ilić
Childhood
Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, northeastern coastal city in
Massachusetts, famously known in popular culture for Salem Witch Trials1, on
July 4th, 1804. After his father dying of yellow fever very early on in
Nathaniel`s childhood, Nathaniel, together with his mother and two sisters
started living with the Manning family, an arrangement that lasted for ten years.
While living with farmers, Nathaniel learnt a lot about the country ways, until
moving to his own family home, built in Maine by his relatives, which turned
out to be the most positive period of his life. First instances of him writing were
born out of homesickness for his mother and sisters, while being away and
attending school in Salem once again. He actively distributed seven issues of
The Spectator for the point of sheer fun, introducing his adolescent humor.
Hating being away from his family, he actively protested his uncle`s intention to
send him to a boy college, which he eventually managed to do. In 1821, with his
uncle`s financial help, he was sent to the Bowdoin College, also managing to
meet the future president Franklin Pierce, on a stage stop near Portland,
interestingly enough. Apart from president Pierce, he also met poet Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow, congressman Jonathan Cilley and naval reformer
Horatio Bridge. Even during his education , Nathaniel was a rather lazy student,
ignoring school rules and giving into his fantasies. Not long after graduating
from Bowdoin College in 1825, Nathaniel returned to his family home for a
long, twelve year stay during which he focused on writing with purpose and
publishing many short stories, amongst which are titles such as “The Hollow of
the Three Hills” and “An Old Woman`s Tale”, both written in the same year of
1830. The latter found great success and it is still regarded as one of his most
popular books, perhaps for the feel of unfinished dark, romantic work,
depending on a major plot point, but ending just before the mentioned plot point
is understood, as opposed to the first short story which is very much a grim, but
emotional story of witchcraft.

Adulthood
In 1836, Nathaniel was appointed as the editor of the American Magazine of
Useful and Entertaining Knowledge. He started writing interesting short
stories for different magazines and annuals like “Young Goodman
Brown“(1835) and “The Minister`s Black Veil”(1832), none of which garnered
him any specific reputation. In the summer of 1837, Horatio Bridge, seeing his
1
Salem Witch Trials refers to a series of prosecutions that happened in 1692. More than two hundred
people were accused and 19 executed.
friend struggle, offered to cover the risk of publishing a volume of short stories
called “Twice-Told Tales”(1837) which gained him local recognition.
Soon enough, he was appointed as the "Surveyor for the District of Salem
and Beverly and Inspector of the Revenue for the Port of Salem" . Due to
this, he had barely any time to write. In fact, he would often complain about
how short stories would come to him in his dreams, however all of that would
be quickly undone by his occupation. Quickly enough, he was fired due to being
a Democrat, with administration changing after presidential election in 1848 ,
typical victim of spoils system. He wrote a letter of protest to the Boston Daily
Advertiser , angering Whigs and gaining support from fellow Democrats. This
happening became a hugely talked about event in New England. Inspired by a
combination of disloyal politicians, the death of his mother and an unfortunate
death of a young girl whose corpse was retrieved via his boat, he began to write
again. At this time he was living in Massachusetts with his wife Sophia Peabody
and their three children: Una, Julian and Rose. From all of this The Scarlet
Letter(1850) was created, selling huge amount of units, was even pirated in
London and immediately became a best seller. Some friends of his supported
this venture, although others called it unnecessarily intense and painfully
anatomical. His period of writing during these years was incredibly productive,
and he was even able to conceive friends such as Herman Melville, who later
dedicated Moby Dick to Nathaniel. Hawthorne wrote the gothic novel The
House of Seven Gables(1851), attracting more positive reactions from critics
than The Scarlet Letter. The only romance novel Nathaniel wrote in first person,
inspired by the events in his life, was called The Blithedale Romance, written in
1852. Described as the liveliest of his works, it perfectly symbolised time
Hawthorne spent in his small family home. In 1853, Nathaniel Hawthorne
wrote The Life of Franklin Pierce(1852), depicting his good friend as a rather
peaceful man, in the process leaving out important facts such as alcoholism and
Pierce`s statement on slavery, which would damage his friend`s presented
image. Because of this, Hawthorne was presented with a position of consul in
Liverpool that same year, losing it by 1857. , with the change of administration.
Due to this lucrative position, his family was able to tour Italy and France
freely. Two years later they would return to their home estate The Wayside,
and Hawthorne would write his first book in seven years, called The Marble
Faun and soon enough, by meeting Abraham Lincoln and other notable political
figures in Washington, he wrote an essay noting his experiences called “Chiefly
About War Matters”. Whilst not being able to finish several romance novels he
started, Nathaniel Hawthorne died on May 19 1864, in New Hampshire during
sleep and was buried on “Author`s Ridge”, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in
Massachusetts. Many tribute poems were written by his fellow writers, such as
“The Bells of Lynn” by Longfellow, written in 1866.

Most important works

Apart from The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne has many extraordinary
novels, some of which even reflect his own feelings in certain ways, especially
about his ancestors and his surname in particular.

The House of the Seven Gables (1851)

Written in 1851, gothic novel The House of the Seven Gables explores themes
such as guilt, atonement and draws close inspiration from his own family, even
opting for the house of his cousin and ancestors in question, as the setting.
Hawthorne's Puritan ancestor William Hathorne arrived in Massachusetts in
1630 to become a local justice of the peace. Known by many as a severe
punisher, his son continued on to be even worse, as the only judge of the Salem
witch trials who didn`t feel even the slightest bit of remorse for persecuting
innocent people, believing them to be witches. This kind of past urged
Nathaniel to add the letter w as to keep away from his ancestors wrongdoings
and not associate with them in any way because of these gruesome acts.
Hawthorne's Puritan heritage provided material for this novel in particular. The
story opens with its history, beginning in the 1690’s, when witch-hunting was
rampant. Afterwards, it revolves around the course of one summer in the
1850’s, meaning that it jumps from the past to the future. In the past, at his
housewarming party, Colonel Pyncheon, the socially noted owner of the house
was mysteriously found dead in one of the rooms. Although he was highly
esteemed for his wealth and high position, he usurped the land on which his
house stood from a poor fellow named Matthew Maule. Maule was a nobody.
Furthermore, he was rumored to be practicing witchcraft. For this, he was
hanged and it was rumored that Pyncheon was responsible for it because he
wanted the land for himself. This is exactly were Hawthorne uses his own
experience and the past of his family to draw comparisons. However, his social
prominence allowed him to get away with the crime smoothly. Before Maule
died though, he cursed Pyncheon saying, “God will give him blood to drink.”
For years, the Pyncheon-Maule dispute carried on. The long line of Pyncheons
struggled to keep the land from their rivals. Though they succeeded in this, their
greed became their own undoing. Alice Pyncheon dies because her father,
Gervayse, allowed her to be hypnotized by a Maule also named Matthew,
because he believed him when he said that he needed Alice’s mind to find a the
hidden Pyncheon treasure. Clifford Pyncheon was another victim of the greed of
his cousin Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. He framed him and sent him to prison for
killing their uncle so that he could have the Pyncheon fortune to himself.
However, after many years, the very talked-about mansion was eventually
forgotten, and the story focuses on the time in the present when Hepzibah
Pyncheon, a lonely spinster inhabits it. She was often feared for the scowl on
her face that was actually only the result of a chronic squint due to her poor
eyesight. Proud and without talent for practical matters, she is a symbol of
decaying aristocracy. She grieves for her beloved brother, Clifford, who was
framed and imprisoned. She had a boarder Holgrave, an attractive and
imtellectual young man with modern views and notions. He preaches about
social reform to Hepzibah and Phoebe, her young niece.
When her money was running out, Hepzibah was forced to open little bakeshop
in the front gable of the house and abandon her illusion of aristocracy. This only
adds to her misery Phoebe comes from the country to live with her. Like a ray
of sunshine, she lights up the house with her beauty and simplicity. After 30
years in prison, Hepzibah’s brother, Clifford, is released and comes home to the
house of seven gables. He has a love for beauty but the years of seclusion had
drawn out the life from him and he became bitter and spiritless, even thinking
about jumping to his death due to the fact that he lost his best years in prison.
Then he develops a special bond with Phoebe, since she is the only one who
truly understands him. A frequent visitor was Judge Jaffrey Pyncheon. He
resembled his ancestor,another inspiration taken by Nathaniel the colonel
physically and in his greed and pretentiousness as well. Yet, he pretends to be
good-natured and amiable. He insists that Clifford possessed the knowledge
about a hidden Pyncheon fortune. However, the truth of the matter is that
Clifford has long since forgotten the secret.
One day, Judge Jaffrey comes again, looking for Clifford. He manages to force
Hepzibah to let him see her brother and she goes up to fetch him. He is not in
his room and when she comes back to tell the judge, she finds him dead. And
Clifford is standing beside him. Afraid that he would be accused of murder
again, Clifford flees, bringing Hepzibah along. In their absence, Holgrave and
Phoebe fall in love.
Eventually, it was discovered that Jaffrey’s death was a result of a stroke, and
everything is cleared and resolved. Clifford and Hepzibah return and Holgrave
asks Phoebe to marry him. She agrees and he discloses that he is a descendant
of Matthew Maule. The secret treasure turned out to be the deed of the territory,
which was now useless.
Hepzibah, Clifford, Phoebe, and Holgrave all decide to leave the house and live
in the country, where they inherited an estate from Judge Jaffrey. And that was
the end of the Pyncheon – Maule dispute.
The story presents us with several themes. Firstly, that the sins of the forefathers
are passed on to the next generations, and they become branded for life.
Although one cannot undo what have already been done, he can still strive to
break the curse, and free himself from the spiral of sin, which is obviously what
Nathaniel himself is trying to do as well. Secondly, man cannot live alone.
Isolation can draw out life from a being. Third, man should not be divided by
social classes. Hawthorne was obviously against aristocracy for he preaches
through Holgrave that wanting to be above the rest leads to isolation and
division. Lastly, Hawthorne tells us not to be deceived by appearances. “Do not
judge a book by its cover”, as it is commonly said.
The themes of the story present valuable lessons relevant even today.
Hawthorne’s style of writing is very relaxed and personal. By using the present
tense, one feels as if he were within the story as it unfolds before him.
The organ grinder and the little figures in his box represent the concept of
individualism — each figure, dancing to the same tune accomplish nothing. The
image of the cracked porcelain vase hurled at the granite column represents
Clifford, in all his frailty versus Jaffrey, to whom he does not stand a chance
against. The house itself symbolizes the human heart. This novel was so
influential in fact, that it even inspired H. P. Lovecraft, famous writer best
known for his fictional horror stories.
The Marble Faun (1860)

Final Hawthorne`s novel written in 1860, was met with mixed reviews from the
critics, with some calling it utterly unoriginal and others praising its ambition to
stay away from typical sentimentality. In early 1858, Hawthorne was inspired to
write his romance when he saw the Faun of Praxiteles in the Palazzo Nuovo of
the Capitoline Museum in Rome. The story revolves around a murder and four
main characters. Two American artists Kenyon and Hilda become friends with
the painter Miriam and a young Italian man, Donatello. She has taken up a new
identity in Rome after some unspecified involvement in some obscure crime.
Hawthorne refuses to ever clear up the mystery.Hawthorne traces the course of
guilt as it moves through the characters. The Marble Faun uses many of the
techniques found in experimental fiction: unexpected time shifts, deliberately
misleading narration, elaborate literary references. It’s essential that the history
of Miriam’s earlier guilt remain unclear, for instance, because this is how she
experiences the past – she’s no longer able to say where her innocence ends and
her responsibility begins. Similarly, Hilda develops a bizarre sense of
complicity in the monk’s murder, even though all she did was witness it from a
distance.Hawthorne involves us in these changes with lavish conviction. The
paradox of The Marble Faun is that it’s the most nihilistic of Hawthorne’s
books at the same time as it’s the warmest and most sympathetic, due to his
enriched background and delving in different genres. The characters work their
way towards each other through their worst encounters with desolation and self-
doubt. Everyone in The Marble Faun becomes lost, wandering in destructive
and hopeless alienation. Each character suffers from an insatiable instinct that
demands friendship, love, and intimate communication. The novel offers no
easy hope, no simple consolation. Miriam never escapes her guilt. Donatello
goes to prison. Hilda’s doubts about her innocence and the darkness of the
world stay with her forever. Yet the final paradox is that all the characters come
together in their loneliness, and are united in their separation. They still have
problems, but they know this about each other, and they do their best to see
beyond their individual tragedies and to share whatever comfort they can.
Hawthorne loves them for this, and loves them for salvaging their humanity
even after they’ve been broken by their nightmarish personal failures, and by
the wild, irrational malevolence that haunts all the story’s events.

Style and motifs

In sketches, tales, and romances published in the second third of the 19th
century, Hawthorne chose mainly American materials, drawing especially on
the history of colonial New England and his native Salem in the time of his
early American ancestors. Heir to the Puritan tradition and alert to the
transcendental thought prominent in his region and time, he subjected both to
his skeptical, questioning scrutiny in the moral and psychological probing that is
characteristic of his fictional works. Considering guilt—actual or imagined,
revealed or concealed—to be a universal human experience, he traced out in his
characters the types and the effects of guilt. The seriousness of his literary
purpose, his independence of mind, and his intellectual and artistic integrity
were recognized widely. Hawthorne`s style most typically belongs to dark
romanticism, with tales bearing messages regarding sin, guilt and other
inherently evil traits of the human race. His works were inspired by the Puritan
New England, combining symbolism, romance and psychological themes,
almost heading towards surrealism. His later stories critiqued
Transcendentalism, a movement started in 1820s and 30s, closely following the
philosophy of Immanuel Kant and the inherent goodness of people and nature,
as well as subjective intuition over objective facts. Although Hawthorne was
predominantly short stories writer, he didn`t think much of them nor of the
popularity they eventually garnered. Hawthorne`s first romance novel and at the
same time his first work ever, called Fanshawe(1828), was anonymously
published in 1828. The book, despite the positive reviews, did not sell well and
was quickly forgotten by the general public. It is also generally known that
Nathaniel Hawthorne fleshed out his female characters better and more often,
than his male characters, who merely complemented them. A number of his
unfinished works were published posthumously. His works remain notable for
their treatment of New England Puritanism, personal guilt, and the complexities
of moral choices. Though Hawthorne was perpetually dissatisfied with his body
of work throughout his life, he remains lauded as one of the greatest American
writers. Despite his forward character development, there were still critics
finding flaws within his work. Such as Edgar Allan Poe, in regards to Twice
Told Tale and Mosses from an Old Manse(1846). Other critics agreed in unison
that, although Hawthorne`s work was not perfect, it was pure, subtle and
somewhat weird. Although many did not, at that time, agree with overarching
ideologies in his work, they had respect for his originality. One of the main
reasons for Hawthorne’s eminence is his mastery of allegory and symbolism.
His fictional characters’ actions and dilemmas fairly obviously express larger
generalizations about the problems of human existence. But with Hawthorne
this leads not to unconvincing pasteboard figures with explanatory labels
attached but to a sombre, concentrated emotional involvement with his
characters that has the power, the gravity, and the inevitability of true tragedy.
Nathaniel Hawthorne`s sense of allegory, universality of guilt and exploration
of the consequences of man`s choices make him and his work an undeniable
staple of American literature.

Marija Ilić