hawthorne, dark romanticism, and the nature of evil
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Hawthorne, Dark
Romanticism, and the
Nature of Evil
Lauren Simcic25 October 2012
Why Hawthorne?
Exploring evil is his hobby–Varied approaches
Studying him is my hobby
Little guesswork–Kept journals
Biographical Snippets
Born in Salem, 1804Changed “Hathorne” to
“Hawthorne”Momma’s boyLittle interest in schoolMarried Sophia Peabody
Biographical SnippetsExperienced success in his
lifetime–With friends’ help!
The Scarlet Letter published 1850–Mother’s death– Earlier works: Fanshawe and Twice
Told TalesDied 1864
The Social-Antisocial
Powerful connections–Emerson, Holmes,
Longfellow–Brook Farm
Political involvement–Taylor and Pierce
Interest in family history– “Custom House”
confession
Hawthorne’s Dark
Romanticism“Each work is meant to instruct readers on the nature of sin, its role in human nature, and its function in personal salvation.”
Jason Courtmanche
Earth’s Holocaust
Plot: Narrator describes massive bonfire, meant to extinguish evil on earth
Source of evil: the human heart
Important element: regeneration of social ills
Rappacini’s DaughterPlot: A man enters a poisonous
garden because of love for the woman inside. His attempts to cure her lead to her death.
Source of evil: Excessive intellectualism
Important element: Woman as (unintentional) temptress
Companion work: “The Birthmark”
The Minister’s Black Veil
Plot: A minister alarms his entire community by wearing a veil for decades
Source of evil: Concealed sinImportant element: Effect of
sin on societyCompanion work: “Young
Goodman Brown”
Calvinist undertones, sin
inescapable
Hawthorne’s Eve, Dimmesdale’s
self-mutilation,Chillingworth’s
obsession
Puritan legalism, the Black Man, festering secret
The Scarlet Letter
Plot… Evil and sin NOT EQUIVALENT–“The fortunate fall”–Stigma remains
Important element: Religious allegory–Adam and Eve, Mary and Christ
The Fortunate Fall
Known as “Felix culpa” (happy fault)
Sin allows God to enter the world and redeem us, thus creating a greater good
Adopted by Augustine, Aquinas, and Ambrose
“Was that very sin, into which Adam precipitated himself and all his race, was it the destined means by which, over a long pathway of toil and sorrow, we are to attain a higher, brighter, and profounder happiness, than our lost birthright gave? Will not this idea account for the permitted existence of sin, as no other theory can?”
From The Marble Faun
Hester Prynne
Pearl
Arthur Dimmesdale
Roger Chillingworth
Mistakes about SalvationIf I suffer enough in isolation for my
sin, I’ll be saved. (Hester and Arthur)“Is there no reality in the penitence
thus sealed and witnessed by good works?” “Of penance, I have had enough. Of penintance, there has been none! Hester, that wear the scarlet letter openly… Mine burns in secret!”
“Surely, surely we have ransomed one another, with all this woe!”
“Wilt thou stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?”
“Not then Pearl, but another time… At the great judgement day… But the daylight of this world shall not see our meeting.”
He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them they will receive mercy. -Proverbs 28:13
Whatever, you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. -Luke 12:2-3
Mistakes about Salvation
I am beyond God’s reach“I fear! I fear! That when we
forgot our God… it was thenceforth vain to hope that we could meet hereafter, in an everlasting and pure reunion.”
Romans 10:9
Undeserved Spoils
Chillingworth is spurned Satan figure
“Hast thou enticed me into a bond that will prove the ruin of my soul?” “Not thy soul. No not thine!”
“That old man’s revenge has been blacker than my sin!”
“The Unpardonable Sin might consist in a want of love and
reverence for the Human Soul; in consequence of which, the
investigator pried into its dark depths, not with a hope or
purpose of making it better, but from a cold philosophical
curiosity… Would not this, in other words, be a separation of the intellect from the heart?"
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things… So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
Romans 2:1,3
Unforeseen Benefits
Sin and repentance can lead to character development
Hester’s sixth sense, Dimmesdale’s incredible sermon
“all things together”David and BathshebaSolomon
A Flood of Sunshine
Interesting contradiction there…–Pearl’s unusual behavior
What saves you?–Acknowledging sin and
confessing it (scaffold scene)*Social effects (Pearl again)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgives our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
-1 John 1:9But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. -1 Corinthians 6:11
DiscussionThe problem of
underestimating God’s graceSeparation of head and heart is
an impediment to the Christian walk
Can the good of Christ’s sacrifice be viewed as outweighing human corruption?
The End
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