California State University, Northridge

CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE HAWTHORNE'S FICTION: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SIN AND GUILT A thesis submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English by Edward Alfred Gika May 1984 The Thesis of Edward Alfred Gika is approved: Arthur Lane Arthur Lane, Committee Chairman California State University, Northridge ii Q . This thesis is dedicated to my parents and my brother Hector whose constant support and love gave me the strength to say "Yes." iii ABSTRACT HAWTHORNE'S FICTION: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SIN AND GUILT by Edward Alfred Gika Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English Throughout his career, Nathaniel Hawthorne dealt with themes of sin and guilt in his fiction. His treatment of these concepts was not that of the theologian or the moral philosopher who attempt to both define and judge the moral nature of such concepts. Rather, Hawthorne•s emphasis was on the psychological mechanisms and ultimate consequences of sin and guilt. Hawthorne's emphasis was one of effect and not so much one of cause. Hawthorne's interest in the psychology of sin and guilt stemmed undoubtedly from his fascination with his Puritan past. The self-righteous attitudes and judgemental stance that his forefathers often assumed helped to shape his views on sin, guilt, and man. Among the various aspects of sin that Hawthorne dealt with, the effects of the sin of intellectual pride was his iv foremost concern. Hawthorne's view that pride was the result of a separation, either physical or intellectual, from the community of man is illustrated in many of his short stories and is the crucial mechanism by which the Unpardonable Sin is created. It was this separation and consequent isolation of the individual, which in turn in stilled a lack of sympathy in that individual, for his fellow man. This separation between the heart and the intellect was, for Hawthorne, the most unpardonable of human sins. v At the time Nathaniel Hawthorne was writing, the field of psychology was just beginning to be organized as a valid and useful approach to the study of human behavior. Con cepts of good and evil were beginning to be viewed not sim ply as built in, innate states of being but rather as psy chological processes. External social forces were looked at as possible influences on the human psyche as opposed to the physiological approaches of the past. Old beliefs in the validity of such behavioral measurements as phrenology or body humors were being supplanted by studies in person altiy, social influences, and interrelationships. In its early development the field of psychology was likened to what we may term today a branch of para-psychol ogy. Mesmerism, hypnosis, and mysticism were considered part of, or stemming from this approach toward the under standing of human nature. Hawthorne's own interest in these fields is evident in his novels, The B1ithedale Ro mance and The House of the Seven Gables. Hawthorne adopted this psychological approach in his portrayal of human nature and in his treatment of the themes of sin and guilt in his fiction. Hawthorne's treat ment of these themes was radically different from that of past writers. It was not that of the theologian or the moral philosopher who attempt to both define and judge the moral nature of sin and guilt; rather, Hawthorne's emphasis 1 2 is on the psychological mechanisms and ultimate conse quences of sin and guilt for man's soul. His interest was therefore not so much one of immoral causality as it was one of psychological effect. Hawthorne was reluctant to make any moral judgments in his fiction preferring to allow the reader to form his own opinion from what is presented in the work. In many cases, he refused even to deal explicitly with the evil or sin in the work. His focus instead was on the psycholo gical effect of the dead rather than on the dead itself. This reluctance to condemn any character or action directly is in part responsible for the ambiguity that is charac teristic of his writing. While it is true that Hawthorne is very often ambiguous, more often than not the ambiguity serves to underline the thematic structure and message of his stories: "Young Goodman Brown" is perhaps the most notable example. In part, the ambiguity is also a reflection of Hawthorne's reluctance to assume the accusa tory stance of his Puritan ancestors. This fear of re peating the judgmental role that his ancestors played is essential to the understanding of Hawthorne's major themes, namely, the isolation of the individual from the community, the "unpardonable sin," and the influence of the past on the present. In order to fully comprehend these themes in Haw thorne's work, it is necessary to look at the various influences that helped to shape his view of sin and its 3 effect on mankind. One of the greatest of these was his Puritan ancestry; many of Hawthorne's ideas carne as a I. direct result of the historical accounts of the brutality and hypocrisy of his early Puritan forefathers. Hawthorne understood the fundamental message of Puri- tan doctrine and realized the often contradictory and hypocritical behavior of the most pious Puritans. The puritan belief in the universal depravity of man stirred his imagination with ideas of a common brotherhood even if it were a brotherhood of man fallen in sin. With this belief carne another: that man must not, in order to be "good," try to estrange himself from the community. In Hawthorne's story, "Fancy's Show Box," he states explicitly his view on the doctrine of universal depravity as well as his view on the necessity of remaining linked to the chain of humanity. Man must not disclaim his brotherhood, even with the guiltiest, since, though his hand be clean, his heart has surely been polluted by the flitting phantoms of iniquity.l But this belief in the universal depravity of man carried with it an idea that was both difficult and fruit- ful for Hawthorne. If all men were sinful due to original sin, then how can one man be the moral judge of another? This question would pervade much of his fiction and be brought to its most intense light in the novel, The Scarlet Letter. 4 Hawthorne's view that man should not attempt to es trange himself from others revealed a marked difference be tween him and the other noteworthy Trancendentalists of his time. Unlike Emerson, Hawthorne was not disturbed by the dangers of conformity or compromise; he was more dis turbed by what he considered the evil formed in man's na ture by the conscious or unconscious separation of the in dividual from the community of man. Hawthorne felt that this separation led toward a tendency to hold oneself not only aloof but also superior to other men. He viewed the many judgments and punishments handed down from the Puri tan magistrates as just this sort of separation and con sidered that this ability to pass judgments on morality was a result of pride. "I wrap myself in pride as in a mantle," declares the heroine of "Lady Eleanore's Mantle." Most of Hawthorne's characters wrap themselves in some such cloak but the pride they symbolize may take on many forms: the pride of social rank, the pride of moral self righteousness, the pride of wealth and power, or the pride of the intellect. Of all these different forms of pride, the pride of the intellect for Hawthorne was the most dan gerous and the most unforgivable. To take undue pride in one's intellectual prowess or attainments, to cultivate and develop the intellect at the expense of the sympathies, to take only an intellectual or scientific interest without sympathy or compassion; this was for Hawthorne the deadli- 5 0 ' est form human guilt could take. This form of pride was indeed the "unpardonable sin" of Ethan Brand, Hr. Hooper, Dr. Rappaccini, and Roger Chillingsworth. Hawthorne didn't have to look far to find models for such characters. His own ancestors supplied hi~ with the necessary role models. Hawthorne's first American ancestor, William Haw- thorne (1607-1681), was a member of the general court of Massachusetts and later became a member of the Governor's advisory council. Frederick Crews, in his book The Sins of the Fathers, relates some of the punitive sentences Hawthorne employed in his attempt to stamp out evil in Es sex County. For a man caught in burglary he and his fellow judges prescribed the lopping off of one ear and the branding of a "B" on his forehead; for someone convicted of man slaughter they ordered that the offending hand be burned; another man who insulted the judges' dignity had his ear nailed to a pillory and then amputated, after which he ".;as whipped and fined; a boy convicted of bestiality with a mare saw the animal bludgeon2d to death and then was hanged himself. Crews goes on to relate an incident in which an adulterer was made to stand in the market place of Boston wearing a paper with the words, "Thus I stand for my adult erous and whorish carriage." Clearly, the events of New England's history as well as those of his own family pro vided Hawthorne with rich material for his favorite themes. 6 In the sketch, Main Street, Hawthorne illustrates the sadistic treatment of a woman who is made to stand naked, tied to a cart, while being whipped. He loves his business, faithful officer that he is, and puts his soul into every stroke, zealous to fulfill the injunc tion of Major Hawthorne's warrant, in the spirit and to the letter.

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