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Puritan Or Rebel? Ambiguity and Conflicts in the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Puritan Or Rebel? Ambiguity and Conflicts in the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne Puritan or Rebel? Ambiguity and Conflicts in the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne Kate Rogers May, 2007 This book is a thesis in satisfaction of requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Teaching with concentration in Secondary Education: English conferred upon the author by Union Graduate College, Schenectady, NY in May, 2007. Original document admitted to the thesis collection of the Schaffer Library, Union College, May, 2007. Call No: Thesis UO992 R724p 2007 © 2007 Catherine Ashworth Rogers All rights reserved Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................... 4 The Puritan Legacy ........................................................................ 6 Early Puritan History ................................................................ 13 Puritan Beliefs ......................................................................... 15 The Second Generation .......................................................... 18 The Salem Witch Trials ........................................................... 23 Nathaniel Hawthorne: Inheritor of the Puritan Legacy ................. 28 An Emerging American Literary Tradition ............................... 35 The Transcendentalist Movement ........................................... 38 Impacts of Transcendentalism ................................................ 40 Puritan or Rebel? .................................................................... 43 The Custom House ...................................................................... 45 “The Haunted Mind” ..................................................................... 50 “The Maypole of Merry Mount” .................................................... 54 “The Minister’s Black Veil” ........................................................... 62 “Alice Doane’s Appeal” ................................................................ 68 “Young Goodman Brown” ............................................................ 76 The Scarlet Letter ........................................................................ 84 Works Cited ................................................................................. 92 Works Consulted ......................................................................... 95 3 Abstract Throughout his literature, Nathaniel Hawthorne can be seen to both embrace and reject his Puritan heritage. His work reveals that he has clearly internalized many of the beliefs and values espoused by the Puritans. However, by those standards, he is an unworthy sinner, a state that he earnestly attempts to reject. He accepts Puritan judgments while rebelling against its conclusions. He is a rebel guilt-ridden by his own rebellion. Hawthorne‟s writing can be seen as a struggle to accept his “sinful” status. He wants the promise of salvation, but can‟t achieve it by his own internalized Puritan standards. By those standards, he sees himself as sin-stained. Hints about the nature of his secret sin may be discerned through a critical reading of his stories and The Scarlet Letter. Scholarship might never reveal the ultimate truths about what secret sins plagued Hawthorne‟s guilty heart, but much of his writing can be seen as a rebellion against his internalized ancestral Puritan values. 4 Puritan or Rebel? Ambiguity and Conflicts in the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne The Puritans left a legacy that has become deeply embedded in American culture. Their early goals and values have become defining traits that continue to shape the evolving concepts of American identity. Far from being an anachronistic part of our nation's ancient history, the coming of the Puritans was perhaps the most defining event in the ongoing evolution of an American national sense of self. Their driving sense of purpose, serious demeanor, unshakable faith, famous work ethic and commitment to their cause became a standard against which future generations of Americans measured themselves. As a direct descendant of these Puritan forebears, Nathaniel Hawthorne inherited the weight of their legacy. At a defining period of the forming of an American literature, he simultaneously embraced and rejected Puritan beliefs and values. This ambiguity serves as the foundation for Hawthorne‟s psyche, and is critical to understanding his work. As a “founding father” of American literature, Hawthorne‟s ambiguity also contributed to the formation of a similar ambiguity in the American psyche. 5 The Puritan Legacy The early Puritans were critical of the first glimmerings of American identity. Nonetheless, our national history begins with their arrival. They were a committed group of intellectuals and religious activists who were determined to prove the superiority of their beliefs to the entire world. They weren‟t running to these shores out of fear or desperation. Rather, they deliberately set out on a mission to create a society based on ecclesiastical law (Kazin 7). In a very real sense, one strand of early national identity was founded by these early Puritan missionaries. Although the Pilgrims were also important early founders, they were forced by circumstances to come here. Their story of religious persecution remains the inspirational progenitor of our national determination to preserve the freedom of religion. However, the Puritans were not escaping religious persecution as much as they were on a mission to prove the superiority of their interpretation of Christianity. It is this mission which has left an enduring imprint on the American psyche. The Puritans‟ original mission to create an ideal society became an important piece of our national legacy. Beginning as a belief that New England would form an ideal societal order depicted as a „City on a Hill‟ that would show the world the way to be, the seed of this idea blossomed into the concept of Manifest Destiny. In fact, the policy of Manifest Destiny propelled the nation into an unparalleled era of expansion. The idea that this nation had a responsibility to spread its ideals around the world, and that such a goal is sanctioned by God, 6 continues to be heard from national political leaders even today. Our current social and political systems are also an outgrowth of the early structures that were successfully built by the Puritan leaders. The Puritans conceived of a community of the "elect," God's chosen people, who would work cooperatively to govern themselves according to God's law, as interpreted from the Bible. They came here believing that they were fulfilling a holy covenant with God. Only such a divinely inspired mission would take them away from their homes to travel halfway around the world to a wilderness they believed was inherently evil. The temptations of Satan were quite real to them, especially in an uncivilized pagan wilderness, but these obstacles were overcome by their determination to uphold their end of their covenant with God. This single- focused determination played a critical role in their survival during the early years of hardship, and their diligent work ethic led to their eventual prosperity. Their sense of mission never left them, and became the birthright given to their children. In many ways, America was shaped by the Puritans‟ early mission. The influence of the Puritans can be clearly seen in the arena of politics. From George Washington to George W. Bush, American leaders have drawn upon the conviction that Americans are motivated by a divine mission from God. In spite of the ideal of religious freedom imprinted on the American psyche by the Pilgrims, it is the Puritans‟ sense of divine covenant and establishment of a political body based on God's will that has been used by politicians ever since. Regardless of the constitutional mandate of the separation of 7 church and state, these two domains have been intimately intertwined in American national rhetoric since the very earliest days of colonial America. The cultural impact of the early Puritans is so pervasive that authors are continually returning to this colonial identity to reinterpret what it means to be an American. As a nation and a people, we define ourselves in comparison to our forebears. The past serves as a shaping influence for our national dialogue. As the fabric of society is woven of the interactions between our hopes, values, and actions, so each American author weaves a thread into the tapestry of American literature, crafted on the loom of the Puritans‟ mission to create a paradise on earth. We can see this most clearly through the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Many of his stories and novels can be seen as a personal exploration as he struggles to resolve a conflict between Puritan ideals and his own personal reality. Hawthorne continually defined himself in comparison to his ancestors. His ancestral lineage was prestigious in some regards, but deeply shameful in others. As Hawthorne reached back to the Puritan legacy, he did so with mixed emotions of homage and shame. For this reason, Hawthorne‟s work serves as an excellent example to demonstrate the impact the Puritan legacy had on this young, developing author as he struggled to define a uniquely American identity. The Puritan legacy is not one dimensional, but is in conflict with another dynamic aspect of American identity: that of the independent rebel. As described in “The Declaration of Independence,” Americans typically feel that they are entitled to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Although the 8 genesis of this ideal formed in the cradle of democracy, this secular
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