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