HAWTHORNE* S PORTRAYAL of SIN by Vivian Newport a Thesis
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Hawthorne's portrayal of sin Item Type text; Thesis-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Newport, Emma Vivian, 1901- Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 12:01:54 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/553441 e°mi 1131 45 . HAWTHORNE* S PORTRAYAL OF SIN By Vivian Newport A Thesis \ Submitted to the Faculty of the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate College University of Arizona 1939 Approved: Major Professor. \c\-iX O p - ^ / r.kT'U: u? < — P-irrt I. TIC TTmiTAP BnCKCrPOUITD or H/V CHOFFL'C lift:.............. 1 II. "jr: nT,//-rc PTrtr.:j or:’nr' or •tt /1* ’rurnr-TV't• • A . v. » - •» n c!L--Ti;r?*’rr" ,r TIF r f TIT or cir ....... 5 Characters ’ 'hose Traric Bevtiloprient In Due to Their Realization of the Inevitability of Di n ................. 5 Characters Those "ra^ic Developnent In Due i:o the Poinonous Effect of Hidden c'i n ...................................... 20 Characters *7hosei Tragic Develonnent In Due to tins Penultiny in ’Intram/r-.nent... 22 Characters 7,Those Tragic Developnent Is the Penult of ^inful Conditions Outside Thenselves............................... 45 I. 11T3,UD?TCD OF HD: ^TPITAT COTTCDDTIOH O’r °;':t in did’ TR//cc %:T:D0":riT or idititcftt’c cidjtact:::0 ................................ 55 COTTCLUCIOi: 67 Q_ ?I»'«F<32 rop.TK.yy.r or siit An examination of Hawthornefs novels,.short stories, and sketches reveals the fact that the thoughts of this ITeiv Rutland moralist are centered in his doctrine of sin. ' • , • • His interest in sin, however, is not the theologianTs. hut the psychologist’s and the sociologist’s. He is concerned not v/ith the technical interpretation of formalized reli gion but with the effects of sin upon the sinner and upon the people connected v.’ith him. The purpose of this study is to find out to what extent the tragic development of Hawthorne’s characters is the result of the Puritan conception of sin. The dis cussion is divided into three parts: first, the Puritan backgrounds of Hawthorne’s life; second, the tragic develop ment of Hawthorne’s characters as the result of sin; and third, the influence of the Puritan conception of sin upon Hawthorne’s portrayal of it in his tragic characters. - 1 - Chapter I THE PURITAN BACKGROUNDS OF HAWTHORNE1S LIFE Nathaniel Hawthorne was born of Puritan ancestors in a Puritan town. Records show that his great-great-grandfather came to Haesahusetts Bay Colony with Governor Endicott in Junet1630. Hi1degarde Hawthorne in her fascinating book, The Romantic Rebel, gives the following characterization of William Hawthorne: Sure- of himself, impatient of anyone that; differed from him, an out and out Puritan, he had Quakers whipped in the good cause, and strangers who could not prove they had come lawfully under sanction of the Company driven out of the place. He was always ready to expound the scriptures, and in fact he did expound them frequently in the meeting house at HanChester, where a pastor was lacking.. The idle and the vagabond feared him, for he liked nothing better than to clap them into the stocks, remark ing with his own idea of humor that since they enjoyed being idle, why idle they • should remain to their hearts' content. Then came John Hawthorne, great-grandfather of the writer, who was Justice of the Supreme Court, and Puritan to the core. His best known contribution to the history of Massachusetts Bay Colony was the sending of several witches to the stake. Daniel and Nathaniel, Hawthorne’s grand father and father, were both strong in the faith, although their names are less familiar to the world. As for the 1. Hi 1 degarde Hawt.ho: .e,Romantic. Rebel (New York: The Century Co., 1932), p. 8. — 2 — mother1s family, they seem to have followed the same tradi tion. Miss Hawthorne says of them: "The Mannings had their share of the Puritan temperament, their grim reserves and decided opinions."'■ 1 • " Gorman, along v/ith other biographers, lays great stress upon the importance of Hawthorne's ancestry: v . ■' The frowning shadow of his ancestors permeated his youth and early manhood, and, indeed, haunted him to the end of his life. To understand him one must understand his ancestors. They were the dark shadowed spring of icy water out of which rose the coldly delicate flower of Hawthorne's mind.1 2 3 Nathaniel Hawthorne had a keen interest in family tra dition and heritage. Part of his inheritance weighed heavily upon him, especially the cruelty of his Puritan ancestors. The belief that his family lay under an in herited curse pronounced by a woman convicted of witch craft by Judge Hawthorne affected deeply this imaginative, sensitive man. Other stories of. Puritan activities came down to him through family tradition. What he could not learn from stories handed down by word of mouth he got from books, for he read everything he could find of early New England, the conquest of the wilderness, and the sub dued coloring of infant Salem and Boston.In Salem lingered grim Puritan memories. Rich In legends and old 1. Hildegarde Hawthorne, on. clt., p. 10. 2. Herbert Gorman, Hawthorne: A Study in Solitude. (New York: George H. Doran Co., 1927), p. 21. 3. Ibid., p. 48. - 3 - wives* tales, the old town was full of the romance to which a sensitive youth such as Hawthorne would quickly respond. All about was a countryside where for generations men had built meeting houses, listened to sermons, made holy war on the savages, founded sober households, and searched their consciences that they might root out the half-concealed evil. Puritan warfare, the Puritan hone, and the Puritan conscience - these were both warp and woof in the cultural pattern which Hawthorne inherited; and out of these somber materials his • elicate art was compelled to take form. 1 So definitely Puritan seems Hawthorne’s inheritance and background that we must check ourselves lest we be too ready to pronounce him a typical Puritan and so con sider the matter settled. Says Percy Boynton: "It may o seem almost too easy to account for the man he was." It is necessary that we know Hawthorne* s background, but let us beware of being willing too quickly to term him a typical Puritan. Nathaniel Hawthorne was a confirmed in dividualist and a great genius. Other elements entered into his life besides Puritanism. His writings as a whole are the results of all of these factors. That we are going to center our attention upon sin and Puritanism does not mean that we can be too sure at the beginning that Hawthorne was a confirmed Puritan. The effects that Puritanism had upon him can be determined only by an *S. 1. Walter Fuller Taylor, A History of American Letters (New York: American Book Co. , ISco) pp.167-3. S. Percy H. Boynton, Literature and American Life (New York: Ginn and Co., 1930), p.519. - 4 - examination of his work. Perhaps he went along with it in his portrayal of sin; it may be that he rebelled against it. These are the things we have set out to dis cover as we study Hawthorne's use of sin in the tragic development of his characters. — . 5 — Chapter II THE TRAGIC DEVELOPMENT OF HAWTHORNE’S CHARACTERS AS THE RESULT OF SIN In studying Hawthorne * s tragic characters, I have grouped them .according to the sinful condition which brought about their downfall. I have tried to choose characters for analysis which are most representative and typical and.which have not been studied extensively. Characters Whose Tragic Development Is Due to Their Realization of the Inevitability of Sin First of all, let us consider a group of characters whose tragic development is the result of their awakening to the fact that sin is inevitable, both on their own part and on the part of their associates. With these characters, the tragic development, does not usually end in death. It is, generally speaking, a passing from a state of happiness to one of unhappiness. Their downfall, however," involves Just as much misery as if sudden and violent death awaited them. There are a number of characters in Hawthorne's stories which owe their tragic development to this realization of the sinful condition of man, but we" can look at only a few which are most typical and most striking. Mr. Smith in "Fancy's Show-Box" Mr. Smith is hardly a character in the true sense of the word. Perhaps we should refer to him as the subject of a sketch rather than as the full-fledged character of a story. — 6 — He does almost no acting and shows very little development, except for the fact that he passes from a pleasant feeling of satisfaction and well-being to an unpleasant sense of guilt and frustration. He is an Interesting character, though, due to the fact that he Is a clear and simple example of the person wno suffers tragic development as the result of the consciousness of sin. It seems almost as if Hawthorne were laying the foundation for Ills more complicated characters of this type. • Mr. Smith was a venerable old gentleman who was sitting in his easy chair thinking over his past life.