Nathaniel Hawthorne 霍桑

Manifestation of the “Original Sin” inHawthorne’s four great short storiesClass2 唐立 Background of Nathaniel HawthorneAs a descendant of a family with a long Puritan tradition, Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose great-great grandfather had been among the judges that condemned the “witches” in the Salem witchcraft trial in 1692, deals in his fiction mainly with the themes of guilt and secrecy, and manifests pervasively among his works the “Original Sin” of human race.Hawthorne’s major works includes The Scarlet Letter which is often considered the first great American novel, The House of the Seven Gables, The Marble Faun, and several collections of short stories.Plot summery of Hawthorne’s four great short storiesYoung Goodman BrownThe story begins with the young Goodman Brown leaving his wife to meet with a mysterious figure deep in the forest. As the traveling proceeds further into the dark forest, it is hinted that the companion is, in fact, the Devil. Before long, Brown discovers others also proceeding to the wicked meeting. Many of them are Christians, including ministers, teachers, and his ancestors and at last even his wife Faith. At the ceremony, Brown and Faith approach the flame-lit altar and are about to seal their alliance with wickedness, he cries out to Faith to resist. However, in the next instanthe finds himself standing alone in the forest and everyone else has vanished. Next morning, Brown goes back with a deep shaken, begins to wary of anyone around him, including Faith.Ethan BrandThe lime-burner Bartram and his son meet at the burner with Ethan Brand, who tells of how he went off in search of the “Unpardonable Sin”, which he then reports to have found. This attracts the visits of many townspeople. And when asked what the unpardonable sin is, Brand replies that it’s a sin that grew within his own breast, which confuse everyone. After several evens afterwards that night, Bartram and his son and other townspeople go back, while Ethan Brand climbs to the top of the kiln and falls into self immolation. When Bartram and his son find next morning the landscape has become as beautiful as in heaven, they also find at the top of the lime kiln that Ethan Brand’s skeleton has turned to lime. And inside the rib cage of the skeleton, they see a chunk of lime in the shape of a human heart.The BirthmarkGeorgiana, a beautiful woman who has a hand-shaped birthmark on her cheek and her husband Aylmer who is a scientist hates this “sinful” birthmark. Eventually they decided to remove the birthmark in Aylmer’s laboratory with the help of his assistant Aminadab. With a successful test on plants, Aylmer prepares a liquid for Georgiana. After a moment of perfection, however, Georgiana dies a painless death.The Minister’s Black VeilMr. Hooper, the new minister, is wearing a black veil that obscures his face. This creates a stir among the townspeople, who begin to speculate about his veil and its meanings, but no one asks directly about it, except for his fiancée Elizabeth. But Hooper refuses to answer, which leads the break of the engagement. Until Mr. Hooper’s death, they ask him once again to remove the veil, but he refuses. And he tells in anger that everyone is wearing a black veil, just like him.Review of these four storiesNathaniel Hawthorne’s works are always a display of thick color of religion. And these four great short stories are no exception. They are all congested with the dark side of mankind, which is Nathaniel Hawthorne’s manifestation of the Original Sin of human race. Below are my analyses of the thesis statement mainly from two aspects.First, Hawthorne manifests that secret sin by using symbols. The secret sin hides in the deepest heart of human beings, but by using tangible symbols, it is exposed to the public. The marble heart within Ethan Brand’s skeleton, the sinful birthmark on the cheek of Georgiana, and the black veil of the minister Mr. Hooper all reveal the secretly overwhelming sin. In Ethan Brand, when asked what the Unpardonable Sin is, Ethan Brand replied ”It is a sin that grew within my own breast, a sin that grew nowhere else! The sin of an intellect that deserves a recompense of immortal agony!Freely, were it to do again, would I incur the guilt. Unshrinkingly I accept the retribution.” And at last, when Ethan Brand falls into self immolation, the symbol of the circle, snow white too, and thoroughly converted in to lime, lat a human skeleton, in the attitude of a person who, after long toil, lies down to long repose. Within the ribs, strange to say, was the shape of a human heart. As in the Birthmark, the birthmark is the symbol of the original sin. “It was the fatal flaw of humanity which nature, in one shape or another, stamps ineffaceably on all her productions, either to imply that they are temporary finite or that their perfection must be wrought by toil and pain.” And in the Minister’s Black Veil, the black veil is the symbol of secret sin that all men carry in their hearts. “This veil is a type and a symbol, and I an bound to were it ever, both in light and darkness, in solitude and before the gaze of multitudes, and as with strangers, so with my familiar friends. No mortal eyes will see it withdrawn. This dismal shade must separate me from the world: even you, Elizabeth, can never come behind it!”Second, the Original Sin could not be removed till death. In Yong Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown at last tries to resist the alliance with wickedness, but he failed; in Ethan Brand, after Brand falls into self immolation, though the body has been vanished to skeleton, the Unpardonable Sin——the marble heart even still exists. “So saying, the rude lime-burner lifted his pole, and letting it fall upon the skeleton, the relics of Ethan Brand were crumbled into fragment.” In The Birthmark, Georgiana and Aylmer tried to remove the sinful birthmark but it is just too ingrained. InAylmer’s dream, he attempts an operation for the removal of the birthmark, but the deeper went the knife, the deeper sank the hand, until at length its tiny grasp appeared to have caught hold of Georgiana’s heart. At last, after drinking the liquid, the birthmark finally vanished, however, Georgiana also dies. “As the last crimson tint of the birthmark, that sole token of human imperfection, faded from her cheek, the parting breath of the now perfect woman passed into the atmosphere, and her soul, lingering a moment near her husband, took its heavenward fight.” As regards the minister Mr. Hooper, he refuses to remove his black veil till death, and proclaims that everyone wears a black veil just like him. The veil, tangible or intangible, could not be removed during the life-time, because it is just the original sin that roots in everyone’s heart. “Deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and lo! On every visage a Black Veil!”In Sum, from these four short stories of deep religion color, Nathanial Hawthorne delivers to us his manifestation of the Original Sin that pervasively governs everyone’s deepest heart. And it is a sin that could not be removed nor could be get rid of, until the descent of heath will the sin finally vanish.References:http://www.ad .org/publications/pamphlets/common_vascular.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-02Poe, E.A(1805). The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Por. “Nathaniel Hawthorne” pp.188-202American Literature Understanding and Appreciation ISBN 978-7-307-05466-0 Wikipedia (/wiki/ethan)。