What do you think?
Rate this book
Nathaniel Hawthorne's Tales
Criticism offers key contemporary assessments by Park Benjamin, Herman Melville, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry F. Chorley, James Russell Lowell, and Henry James The collection of recent criticism displays a considerable range of approaches, including essays by Q. D. Leavis, John P. McWilliams, Jr., Frederick C. Crews, Michael J. Colacurcio, Jorge Luis Borges, Sharon Cameron, Robert B. Heilman, Nina Baym, Leo Marx, and John W. Wright A Chronology of Hawthorne's life and a Selected Bibliography are included.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1837
About the author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
4,234 books3,164 followersNathaniel Hawthorne was a 19th century American novelist and short story writer. He is seen as a key figure in the development of American literature for his tales of the nation's colonial history.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
Shortly after graduating from Bowdoin College, Hathorne changed his name to Hawthorne. Hawthorne anonymously published his first work, a novel titled Fanshawe, in 1828. In 1837, he published Twice-Told Tales and became engaged to painter and illustrator Sophia Peabody the next year. He worked at a Custom House and joined a Transcendentalist Utopian community, before marrying Peabody in 1842. The couple moved to The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts, later moving to Salem, the Berkshires, then to The Wayside in Concord. The Scarlet Letter was published in 1850, followed by a succession of other novels. A political appointment took Hawthorne and family to Europe before returning to The Wayside in 1860. Hawthorne died on May 19, 1864, leaving behind his wife and their three children.
Much of Hawthorne's writing centers around New England and many feature moral allegories with a Puritan inspiration. His work is considered part of the Romantic movement and includes novels, short stories, and a biography of his friend, the United States President Franklin Pierce.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
November 15, 2014
Good. Bless. W.W. Norton!
This editions not only combines many of Hawthorne's shorts that are rarely anthologized, but also provides several of Hawthorne's own prefaces--a useful and entertaining addition. And, of course, the critical materials are wonderful. I appreciate the inclusion of Hawthorne's historical letters and reviews from the hand of Poe and James almost as much as Crew's contemporary article "The Logic of Compulsion."
This editions not only combines many of Hawthorne's shorts that are rarely anthologized, but also provides several of Hawthorne's own prefaces--a useful and entertaining addition. And, of course, the critical materials are wonderful. I appreciate the inclusion of Hawthorne's historical letters and reviews from the hand of Poe and James almost as much as Crew's contemporary article "The Logic of Compulsion."
December 31, 2012
Confession: I haven't read every story and essay in this collection.
However, I have read the majority, and I must say that LOVE Hawthorne's short stories. His grasp on human psychology is mind-boggling. I have truly come to appreciate his elevated language and old-fashioned writing style, even if it did take me a few stories before I could read him without much difficulty.
Ultimately, Hawthorne's stories make me think. Really think. About life, God, religion, community, guilt, nature, family, isolation, identity... the list goes on. He is a brilliant man, a brilliant writer, and his stories are a captivating read.
However, I have read the majority, and I must say that LOVE Hawthorne's short stories. His grasp on human psychology is mind-boggling. I have truly come to appreciate his elevated language and old-fashioned writing style, even if it did take me a few stories before I could read him without much difficulty.
Ultimately, Hawthorne's stories make me think. Really think. About life, God, religion, community, guilt, nature, family, isolation, identity... the list goes on. He is a brilliant man, a brilliant writer, and his stories are a captivating read.
September 12, 2012
A mixed bag to be sure, but when Hawthorne is at his best, he can be quite disturbing and shocking. He has a wonderful sense of the grotesque, and most of his stories transcend the boundaries of classification. I enjoyed these even more than his novels.
July 29, 2011
Mostly great stories about Puritanism with a Gothic undertone throughout. Hawthorne reads like a PG-13 version of Poe.
June 21, 2018
“The May-Pole of Merry Mount”
A historical allegory set in 17th century New England. The story allegories a mythic pivotal point in American history when the character of the nation was yet to be decided. The pagan revelers dancing around the May-Pole ("Comus' Crew) are brutally ousted by the grim Puritans, whose stern religiosity extinguishes the joy of life; their version of the May-Pole is the whipping post.
“Roger Malvin’s Burial”
The story begins immediately after the Battle of Pequawket in 1725, when two men who have just returned from the battle--Roger Malvin and Reuben Bourne--are trying to get home through the woods. Roger is badly injured and asks for Reuben to simply leave him there to die, although he later asks that he come back to bury him. Reuben agrees, but when the latter returns home, he is too conscience-stricken to tell his fiancée Dorcas (Roger's daughter) that he left her father in the woods when he was still alive, so he never returns to bury him. Here we have another iteration of Hawthorne's "secret sin" narratives. The guilt eats away at him for many years. He eventually marries Dorcas and they have a son, though they grow impoverished and are forced to live in the woods, where, out hunting one day, he thinks he hears a deer and shoots: it was his son, instead. He comes to the realization that he shot his son in the same spot where he left Roger Malvin so many years ago.
“The Minister’s Black Veil” (1832)
Also set in Puritan New England. When the Minister shows up wearing a black veil on e day, everyone in his congregation is deeply disturbed. The story traces the villagers reactions to his awful veil, which he reveals is a symbol of the secret sin that we all conceal beneath our exterior. The veil is an outward manifestation of an inward impurity.
“My Kinsman, Major Molineux” (1832)
A historical allegory about pre-revolutionary America in the years leading up to 1776. It's set in the 1730s and centers on a British youth names Robin who arrives in Boston looking for his uncle Major Molineux to serve as a connection and help him find work. Everywhere he inquires for his uncle, he is spurned and dismissed. In the end, he finds his uncle being wheeled down the village square after having been tarred and feathered. Robing laughs. An allegory of a changing America, in which the British no longer hold sway. The way to get ahead in this new country, as Robin realizes at the end, is to dissociate oneself from British authority not associate with it.
“Young Goodman Brown” (1835)
An allegory dream vision of the discovery of man's sinful nature. Young Goodman Brown has a revelation in a dream in which he realizes how all of us conceal secret sins within our breasts; even our role models (his catechism teacher, and the minister) are stained with sin. In leaving behind Faith his wife and journeying through the Dark woods, Young Goodman Brown (and the quaint appellation is ironized within the context of the story) goes deeper and deeper into a journey of discovery until he as a vision of all the villagers being baptized by the devil. The story follows a haunting dream logic. When he wakes up, he can never be the same again. He knows to much. He sees men and women for their true sinful natures.
“Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” (1837)
When the old Dr. Heidegger invites four of his friends to his study for an experiment involving a pitcher of water he had a friend retrieve for him from the Fountain of Youth in Florida, things get strange. They drink a glass and a process of rejuvenation begins; they become young and begin acting as foolishly as they did then. The three men compete for the girl. In their merriment, the pitcher of water spills on the ground, and they find they are grown old again. They agree to journey to Florida to get some more water from the fountain.
“The Ambitious Guest” (1841)
A traveler stops by an idyllic domestic cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The house is a place of warmth, family harmony, and rustic simplicity. The children play around the hearth, etc, while the grandmother knits in her rocker. The stranger begins conversing with the family, and he tells them that he plans to be someone great one day. This gets everyone in the family thinking about what their respective greatest ambitious are. A landslide above them begins to fall. They seek refuge in a nearby dwelling but are crushed beneath the landslide. Only the cottage stands. The aspirational optimism (the vanity on the stranger's part) is squashed by the dark and sinister landslide, which which gives rise to a series of haunting ironies about the nature of fate, life, death, anonymity, fame, and human happiness.
“Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1844)
Set in Padua. The young Giovanni falls in love with the daughter of Dr. Rappaccini, a botanist who keeps a carefully cultivated garden beside the lodgings Giovanni is living in. All of the plants, Giovanni realizes, are poisonous, and Beatrice--the doctor's daughter--has herself become poisonous through tending them. Giovanni finds that he himself begins to grow poisonous after being in the garden too long. He gets an antidote for Beatrice; she drinks it but she dies.
“The Birth-Mark” (1843)
Aylmer adores his beautiful wife but cant stand the small red birthmark in the shape of a hand on her cheek. The birth-mark is hidden when she blushes but very apparent when her cheeks turn white. The marks--which he takes to be a mark of human imperfection, the bloody hand of mortality claiming his otherwise perfect wife--drives him mad and he devises a drink for his wife to drink that will expunge the mark. She drinks it, trusting him utterly with her life. The mark goes away but she dies as a consequence. Aylmer destroys his wife Giorginanna in trying to perfect her.
A historical allegory set in 17th century New England. The story allegories a mythic pivotal point in American history when the character of the nation was yet to be decided. The pagan revelers dancing around the May-Pole ("Comus' Crew) are brutally ousted by the grim Puritans, whose stern religiosity extinguishes the joy of life; their version of the May-Pole is the whipping post.
“Roger Malvin’s Burial”
The story begins immediately after the Battle of Pequawket in 1725, when two men who have just returned from the battle--Roger Malvin and Reuben Bourne--are trying to get home through the woods. Roger is badly injured and asks for Reuben to simply leave him there to die, although he later asks that he come back to bury him. Reuben agrees, but when the latter returns home, he is too conscience-stricken to tell his fiancée Dorcas (Roger's daughter) that he left her father in the woods when he was still alive, so he never returns to bury him. Here we have another iteration of Hawthorne's "secret sin" narratives. The guilt eats away at him for many years. He eventually marries Dorcas and they have a son, though they grow impoverished and are forced to live in the woods, where, out hunting one day, he thinks he hears a deer and shoots: it was his son, instead. He comes to the realization that he shot his son in the same spot where he left Roger Malvin so many years ago.
“The Minister’s Black Veil” (1832)
Also set in Puritan New England. When the Minister shows up wearing a black veil on e day, everyone in his congregation is deeply disturbed. The story traces the villagers reactions to his awful veil, which he reveals is a symbol of the secret sin that we all conceal beneath our exterior. The veil is an outward manifestation of an inward impurity.
“My Kinsman, Major Molineux” (1832)
A historical allegory about pre-revolutionary America in the years leading up to 1776. It's set in the 1730s and centers on a British youth names Robin who arrives in Boston looking for his uncle Major Molineux to serve as a connection and help him find work. Everywhere he inquires for his uncle, he is spurned and dismissed. In the end, he finds his uncle being wheeled down the village square after having been tarred and feathered. Robing laughs. An allegory of a changing America, in which the British no longer hold sway. The way to get ahead in this new country, as Robin realizes at the end, is to dissociate oneself from British authority not associate with it.
“Young Goodman Brown” (1835)
An allegory dream vision of the discovery of man's sinful nature. Young Goodman Brown has a revelation in a dream in which he realizes how all of us conceal secret sins within our breasts; even our role models (his catechism teacher, and the minister) are stained with sin. In leaving behind Faith his wife and journeying through the Dark woods, Young Goodman Brown (and the quaint appellation is ironized within the context of the story) goes deeper and deeper into a journey of discovery until he as a vision of all the villagers being baptized by the devil. The story follows a haunting dream logic. When he wakes up, he can never be the same again. He knows to much. He sees men and women for their true sinful natures.
“Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment” (1837)
When the old Dr. Heidegger invites four of his friends to his study for an experiment involving a pitcher of water he had a friend retrieve for him from the Fountain of Youth in Florida, things get strange. They drink a glass and a process of rejuvenation begins; they become young and begin acting as foolishly as they did then. The three men compete for the girl. In their merriment, the pitcher of water spills on the ground, and they find they are grown old again. They agree to journey to Florida to get some more water from the fountain.
“The Ambitious Guest” (1841)
A traveler stops by an idyllic domestic cottage in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The house is a place of warmth, family harmony, and rustic simplicity. The children play around the hearth, etc, while the grandmother knits in her rocker. The stranger begins conversing with the family, and he tells them that he plans to be someone great one day. This gets everyone in the family thinking about what their respective greatest ambitious are. A landslide above them begins to fall. They seek refuge in a nearby dwelling but are crushed beneath the landslide. Only the cottage stands. The aspirational optimism (the vanity on the stranger's part) is squashed by the dark and sinister landslide, which which gives rise to a series of haunting ironies about the nature of fate, life, death, anonymity, fame, and human happiness.
“Rappaccini’s Daughter” (1844)
Set in Padua. The young Giovanni falls in love with the daughter of Dr. Rappaccini, a botanist who keeps a carefully cultivated garden beside the lodgings Giovanni is living in. All of the plants, Giovanni realizes, are poisonous, and Beatrice--the doctor's daughter--has herself become poisonous through tending them. Giovanni finds that he himself begins to grow poisonous after being in the garden too long. He gets an antidote for Beatrice; she drinks it but she dies.
“The Birth-Mark” (1843)
Aylmer adores his beautiful wife but cant stand the small red birthmark in the shape of a hand on her cheek. The birth-mark is hidden when she blushes but very apparent when her cheeks turn white. The marks--which he takes to be a mark of human imperfection, the bloody hand of mortality claiming his otherwise perfect wife--drives him mad and he devises a drink for his wife to drink that will expunge the mark. She drinks it, trusting him utterly with her life. The mark goes away but she dies as a consequence. Aylmer destroys his wife Giorginanna in trying to perfect her.
September 9, 2020
A fantastic edition of Nathaniel Hawthorne work. This edition in several essays which offer many different interpretations of the great writers work
January 7, 2020
I normally don’t write reviews of work I didn’t complete, but as the work in question is a short story collection and the review in question is a capsule review, I feel I can break the rule. I absolutely love the Selected Writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne, in part because these are the type of stories I’d love to write. Each story is somewhat fantastical, though this doesn’t prevent them from bringing up salient issues. The themes often have to do with questions of morality and humanity, and I absolutely adore that Hawthorne was able to blend such interesting settings and premises with deep things. Each story has many layers and prove an absolute joy to discuss and analyze. Some of my favorites include “Roger Melvin’s Burial”, “The Birthmark,” “The Minister’s Black Veil,” and “Earth’s Holocaust.” Each absolutely left chills down my spine and I’m grateful that I got to read them in an environment where I was forced to reflect on them and what they said, for they allow me to wrestle with questions that I might not have otherwise. I love the dismal tone of these stories, creating an eerie mood. I just can't state how much I appreciate this short story collection, for they debunk the myth that deep, powerful, and important works need to be plotless and realistic. One point of criticism is that the prose can be pretty dense. You definitely have to be a bit of a patient reader to make sense of some of the stories; not because the plots are convoluted but because the writing isn’t the most straightforward. If you’re a fan of dark fantasy and wish to engage in deep topics in a fantastic setting, I wholeheartedly recommend you give this collection a read.
February 10, 2012
Long Story Short: Hawthorn doesn't like Puritans, Soldiers, Preachers, Scientists, and Artists.
He tends to fall a little too deep into allegory for me, especially since they are transcendentalist allegories, which end up as meaning nothing and everything at the same time and usually ends up being neither. I'm tired so I think that made sense. Highlights would probably be The Artist of the Beautiful, The Birthmark, My Kinsman Major Molineux, and (my personal favorite) Young Goodman Brown.
He tends to fall a little too deep into allegory for me, especially since they are transcendentalist allegories, which end up as meaning nothing and everything at the same time and usually ends up being neither. I'm tired so I think that made sense. Highlights would probably be The Artist of the Beautiful, The Birthmark, My Kinsman Major Molineux, and (my personal favorite) Young Goodman Brown.
January 10, 2022
(3.5 Stars) Hawthorne always does such a fantastic job of capturing the New England spirit when it comes to religion and hidden secrets. I appreciated the myriad of allegories in some of the stories. I also enjoyed getting to read some of the letters Hawthorne wrote family, friends, and others. It was fun to see him in a human light, and not under the umbrella of revered American literature author.
December 7, 2011
Hawthorne is a genius, but it taKes reading beyond The Scarlet Letter to realize it.
February 21, 2020
Hated it
July 16, 2022
5 stars to the following three stories in this collection:
- "My Kinsman, Major Molineux"
- "Young Goodman Brown"
- "Rappaccini's Daughter"
As for the rest of the stories in this collection, I wish I could get back the time I spent reading them. I will admit that I was entertained by "The Birthmark" and "The Artist of the Beautiful." I also have to admit that one of the best lines in the collection is in "Earth's Holocaust," a story in which "reformers" attempt to burn all the books in the world, as well as all the money, possessions, etc. in an attempt to make everyone equal and thereby establish a utopia:
"Trust me; the world of tomorrow will again enrich itself with the gold and diamonds, which have been cast off by the world of to-day. Not a truth is destroyed--nor buried so deep among the ashes, but it will be raked up at last."
Hawthorne seems fond of the mysterious stranger in various stories: someone who seems to have seen it all before; the type of character who observes the follies of man with a detached cynicism. This character either knows that the chaos and madness will all go back to normal, or, perhaps more chilling, that the chaos and madness itself is normal.
Another trope that appears in many of these stories is the obsessive genius who has surrendered their life to the pursuit of some idea of perfection, and sacrificed everything and alienated themselves from everyone. At a certain point in "Rappaccini's Daughter," I wondered if this was a metaphor. Is Hawthorne trying to warn us that we should read and write stories not for the sake of pursuing knowledge or perfection, but to focus on the enjoyment they bring, especially when we share this enjoyment with each other?
It's as if one of the most serious authors of all time did not want to be taken so seriously.
- "My Kinsman, Major Molineux"
- "Young Goodman Brown"
- "Rappaccini's Daughter"
As for the rest of the stories in this collection, I wish I could get back the time I spent reading them. I will admit that I was entertained by "The Birthmark" and "The Artist of the Beautiful." I also have to admit that one of the best lines in the collection is in "Earth's Holocaust," a story in which "reformers" attempt to burn all the books in the world, as well as all the money, possessions, etc. in an attempt to make everyone equal and thereby establish a utopia:
"Trust me; the world of tomorrow will again enrich itself with the gold and diamonds, which have been cast off by the world of to-day. Not a truth is destroyed--nor buried so deep among the ashes, but it will be raked up at last."
Hawthorne seems fond of the mysterious stranger in various stories: someone who seems to have seen it all before; the type of character who observes the follies of man with a detached cynicism. This character either knows that the chaos and madness will all go back to normal, or, perhaps more chilling, that the chaos and madness itself is normal.
Another trope that appears in many of these stories is the obsessive genius who has surrendered their life to the pursuit of some idea of perfection, and sacrificed everything and alienated themselves from everyone. At a certain point in "Rappaccini's Daughter," I wondered if this was a metaphor. Is Hawthorne trying to warn us that we should read and write stories not for the sake of pursuing knowledge or perfection, but to focus on the enjoyment they bring, especially when we share this enjoyment with each other?
It's as if one of the most serious authors of all time did not want to be taken so seriously.
May 17, 2018
With engaging writing, going through the supernatural and gothic world, Hawthorne is one of the exponents of this style in the early half of the 18th century, influencing many other writers who came after him.
Young Master Brown, for example, how many movie scenes we see were possibly inspired by this tale written in 1835, in which the protagonist seeing the most ordinary people in society: from pastors and priests to politicians to merchants, from acquaintances to unknown pedestrians of a city - watches them closely and realizes that they are devils or faithful of a satanic cult. I remember for example, The Devil's Advocate, or a TV adaptation of an episode of Grimm.
In this tale, the characters' names are related to the symbolic, a direct metaphor of the story itself, as in American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Here we find a woman named Faith and the protagonist Goodman.
From the dark and mysterious adventure of a satanic cult, without the certainty of that if it is a dream or reality, and the participation in it of a kind of secret society with the most unlikely members, the author points to two profound reflections: the greater evil would be that which dwells within people? And guilt and obsession could intoxicate an individual's mind in a radical way until death?
Young Master Brown, for example, how many movie scenes we see were possibly inspired by this tale written in 1835, in which the protagonist seeing the most ordinary people in society: from pastors and priests to politicians to merchants, from acquaintances to unknown pedestrians of a city - watches them closely and realizes that they are devils or faithful of a satanic cult. I remember for example, The Devil's Advocate, or a TV adaptation of an episode of Grimm.
In this tale, the characters' names are related to the symbolic, a direct metaphor of the story itself, as in American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Here we find a woman named Faith and the protagonist Goodman.
From the dark and mysterious adventure of a satanic cult, without the certainty of that if it is a dream or reality, and the participation in it of a kind of secret society with the most unlikely members, the author points to two profound reflections: the greater evil would be that which dwells within people? And guilt and obsession could intoxicate an individual's mind in a radical way until death?
December 30, 2017
He is a bit much for me. His style and era an really not for me.
July 2, 2024
Should've become a Shaker.
February 12, 2024
I first came into possession of this book when I took a college class about 10 years ago. Since then, I've read through the stories at different times and I think I'm about due for another read through. Here are some thoughts I wrote in the past regarding a few of the tales...
Something I find over and over again in much of Hawthorne's writing is what Leavis calls "a symbolic recurring struggle" between two groups of former Englishmen in early America: those living the Puritan lifestyle and those not. I enjoy reading these stories because I appreciate how well he presented the ironic hypocrisy of the religious person which is usually represented by the Puritan characters. I also see an innocence and naivete in the non-Puritan people that seems to recur and makes me believe that this is the side with which he personally sympathizes. While these elements of duplicity are evident in each of the stories I read this week, the story lines in both The May Pole of Merry Mount and Feathertop epitomize this conflict.
One theme that really struck me was the way in which characters act rashly out of fear and end up misrepresenting the goodness they claim to possess. In May Pole, as in much of what we read about Puritan history, the Puritans were so afraid of incurring the wrath of God that they made condemning judgments on those who wouldn't conform to what they believed was right. I found it sad that the heathen people had more obvious joy than the Puritans who claimed to be full of the joy of the Lord. Unfortunately the first Puritan-like act of the "May-couple" is the act of them conforming out of fear because of all that they have lost. They have nothing left and so must now follow "the Puritan leader, their only guide." That same sort of fear is found in Feathertop's Master Gookin who gives his daughter freedom to socialize with someone he knows to be associated with the witch Mother Rigby out of fear of the consequences she would curse him with. Not only does he welcome Feathertop into his home, but he treats him as a higher-up calling him my Lord Feathertop and instructing his daughter to pay him reverence and honor.
Another thing I found in my reading is that Hawthorne was really good at pointing out those things in the religious man that make the non-religious man shun religion! Mother Rigby's threat to Feathertop that she would "hurl thee where that red coal came from" if he didn't continue to puff away at the cursed pipe is like the threat that Endicott faced if he were to back down on the pagan couple's punishment. Feathertop's curious puffings became more intense as his purpose changed. Where once he was obeying the witch's commands in order to "show (himself) a man," the fear she incites in him causes him to puff harder to avoid punishment. In this same way, I got the impression that Endicott saw a young and, in his opinion, confused couple who just needed some guidance. However, he had the voice of Peter Palfrey nudging him to courser actions. Not only did Endicott have to answer to God if he let them continue with their heathen practices, he would also be branded a heathen by all the other Puritans. His actions against the merrymakers weren't based on a desire to do right but rather on an over-inflated fear of doing wrong. This hypocrisy and fear are probably what turned the May Pole people off from religion to begin with!
I'm sure that in my own studies, Hawthorne's writings will continue to be an interesting source of historical interpretations of the time of the Puritans, as well as heart-humbling ideas to mull over. It's interesting to see that there really is nothing new under the sun and that each of us struggle, just as the Puritans did, to keep fear from ruling our decisions and characters.
2019 Reread:
I read through all of the stories again the past couple weeks. My favorites are:
My Kinsman, Major Molineaux
Roger Malvin's Burial
The Gentle Boy
Young Goodman Brown
Wakefield
The Ambitious Guest
The May-Pole of Merry Mount
The Birthmark
Something I find over and over again in much of Hawthorne's writing is what Leavis calls "a symbolic recurring struggle" between two groups of former Englishmen in early America: those living the Puritan lifestyle and those not. I enjoy reading these stories because I appreciate how well he presented the ironic hypocrisy of the religious person which is usually represented by the Puritan characters. I also see an innocence and naivete in the non-Puritan people that seems to recur and makes me believe that this is the side with which he personally sympathizes. While these elements of duplicity are evident in each of the stories I read this week, the story lines in both The May Pole of Merry Mount and Feathertop epitomize this conflict.
One theme that really struck me was the way in which characters act rashly out of fear and end up misrepresenting the goodness they claim to possess. In May Pole, as in much of what we read about Puritan history, the Puritans were so afraid of incurring the wrath of God that they made condemning judgments on those who wouldn't conform to what they believed was right. I found it sad that the heathen people had more obvious joy than the Puritans who claimed to be full of the joy of the Lord. Unfortunately the first Puritan-like act of the "May-couple" is the act of them conforming out of fear because of all that they have lost. They have nothing left and so must now follow "the Puritan leader, their only guide." That same sort of fear is found in Feathertop's Master Gookin who gives his daughter freedom to socialize with someone he knows to be associated with the witch Mother Rigby out of fear of the consequences she would curse him with. Not only does he welcome Feathertop into his home, but he treats him as a higher-up calling him my Lord Feathertop and instructing his daughter to pay him reverence and honor.
Another thing I found in my reading is that Hawthorne was really good at pointing out those things in the religious man that make the non-religious man shun religion! Mother Rigby's threat to Feathertop that she would "hurl thee where that red coal came from" if he didn't continue to puff away at the cursed pipe is like the threat that Endicott faced if he were to back down on the pagan couple's punishment. Feathertop's curious puffings became more intense as his purpose changed. Where once he was obeying the witch's commands in order to "show (himself) a man," the fear she incites in him causes him to puff harder to avoid punishment. In this same way, I got the impression that Endicott saw a young and, in his opinion, confused couple who just needed some guidance. However, he had the voice of Peter Palfrey nudging him to courser actions. Not only did Endicott have to answer to God if he let them continue with their heathen practices, he would also be branded a heathen by all the other Puritans. His actions against the merrymakers weren't based on a desire to do right but rather on an over-inflated fear of doing wrong. This hypocrisy and fear are probably what turned the May Pole people off from religion to begin with!
I'm sure that in my own studies, Hawthorne's writings will continue to be an interesting source of historical interpretations of the time of the Puritans, as well as heart-humbling ideas to mull over. It's interesting to see that there really is nothing new under the sun and that each of us struggle, just as the Puritans did, to keep fear from ruling our decisions and characters.
2019 Reread:
I read through all of the stories again the past couple weeks. My favorites are:
My Kinsman, Major Molineaux
Roger Malvin's Burial
The Gentle Boy
Young Goodman Brown
Wakefield
The Ambitious Guest
The May-Pole of Merry Mount
The Birthmark
September 13, 2021
The ghosts of Salem and Nathaniel Hawthorne's past are represented in many of the tales in this collection. None do it as well as in his magnificent short story, "Young Goodman Brown".
In this story Hawthorne describes the titular young man on a journey one evening that would change his life. As the story begins he comes "forth at sunset" after "crossing the threshold" of his house and his life, leaving his wife, Faith, who talks of "dreams" and is, he believes, "a blessed angel". His journey turns into one of his own dreams or visions where one after another of the people in his life are unmasked by the devil. He gradually discovers that his own corruptibility which he fears his embodied in his fellow townspeople, and ultimately in his own wife Faith. Young Goodman starts the evening journey with "excellent resolve", but he also has doubts which are fueled by comments from the stranger he meets. He grows more concerned and conceals himself even as his spectral visions (not unlike the evidence of witches in old Salem) show the deacon and elders of the town laid bare in their consorting with the devil. The evening has led to Young Goodman's loss of moral virginity. It is a loss that will haunt him the rest of his life.
This is the classic American short story of the guilty conscience. The question Brown confronts is whether his heritage of Original Sin incapacitates him for resisting personal sin. In this profoundly ambiguous story, Brown wavers between the desperate cynicism of the corrupt soul and the hopefulness of the believer. Hawthorne mirrors the communion of the church with that of Satan's altar. Contrasts abound with Faith, the angel of Young Goodman, joining the fallen angel in his mind. His tale is a blend of simplicity and seriousness. But more importantly he portrays experiences, fears, and feelings that, at least in part, his readers share in the sense they may experience similar doubts and wonder about the nature of their own morality and mortality. Melville would say of Hawthorne that his writing was "as deep as Dante".
At the beginning of the story, he has already made his bargain with the Devil—hardly a token that he is among God’s elect but not necessarily a sign of damnation, either, if he can reject the consummation in the form of the perverted communion service in the woods. Whether by act of will or by divine grace, Brown appears to have resisted the power of evil at the climactic moment and given evidence of at least the possibility of salvation for his wife and himself. There is abundant evidence in this and the best of his early stories that Hawthorne has much magic in his prose.
In this story Hawthorne describes the titular young man on a journey one evening that would change his life. As the story begins he comes "forth at sunset" after "crossing the threshold" of his house and his life, leaving his wife, Faith, who talks of "dreams" and is, he believes, "a blessed angel". His journey turns into one of his own dreams or visions where one after another of the people in his life are unmasked by the devil. He gradually discovers that his own corruptibility which he fears his embodied in his fellow townspeople, and ultimately in his own wife Faith. Young Goodman starts the evening journey with "excellent resolve", but he also has doubts which are fueled by comments from the stranger he meets. He grows more concerned and conceals himself even as his spectral visions (not unlike the evidence of witches in old Salem) show the deacon and elders of the town laid bare in their consorting with the devil. The evening has led to Young Goodman's loss of moral virginity. It is a loss that will haunt him the rest of his life.
This is the classic American short story of the guilty conscience. The question Brown confronts is whether his heritage of Original Sin incapacitates him for resisting personal sin. In this profoundly ambiguous story, Brown wavers between the desperate cynicism of the corrupt soul and the hopefulness of the believer. Hawthorne mirrors the communion of the church with that of Satan's altar. Contrasts abound with Faith, the angel of Young Goodman, joining the fallen angel in his mind. His tale is a blend of simplicity and seriousness. But more importantly he portrays experiences, fears, and feelings that, at least in part, his readers share in the sense they may experience similar doubts and wonder about the nature of their own morality and mortality. Melville would say of Hawthorne that his writing was "as deep as Dante".
At the beginning of the story, he has already made his bargain with the Devil—hardly a token that he is among God’s elect but not necessarily a sign of damnation, either, if he can reject the consummation in the form of the perverted communion service in the woods. Whether by act of will or by divine grace, Brown appears to have resisted the power of evil at the climactic moment and given evidence of at least the possibility of salvation for his wife and himself. There is abundant evidence in this and the best of his early stories that Hawthorne has much magic in his prose.
February 7, 2010
I enjoyed Hawthorne's tales. They were entertaining and an interesting contrast to the Transcendentalists, like Emerson, who denied evil and suffering in man. Hawthorne does spend a lot of time on the darkness of men's souls but unlike Poe, he does not simply dwell in that darkness but tries to bring out a moral at the end of these tales. Since I'm reading this for my grad school class on Melville, it was good to see the connection between Hawthorne and Melville.
September 9, 2009
I have to admit that I hated The Scarlet Letter. It was torture to read. I am, however, really liking Hawthorne's short stories. Maybe it's easier to put up with his writing style when I know it's only for a few pages compared to an entire novel, or maybe The Scarlet Letter just wasn't my thing and I need to give House of Seven Gables or The Blithedale Romance a chance.
January 1, 2016
As a feminist, many of these stories made me angry because of the way the female characters were objectified and taken advantage of. However, I also enjoyed the way the stories unfolded and resolved themselves. If you're looking for strange, whimsical, dreamy short stories, this book would be a great place to start!
March 18, 2016
My all-time favorite Hawthorne story is "Wakefield," but the rest are in here too ("Young Goodman Brown," "The Minister's Black Veil," and "The May-Pole of Merrymount"). All except "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," though. Still a worthy collection from a man whose short stories are as legendary as his novels.
December 2, 2016
Haven't read all of the short stories here, but I've read several of them over the course of two semesters, once for Gothic Fiction, the other for ENG314. There's some good ones in here, the others are just classic.
Favorites: Man of Adamant, Wakefield,
Read: Celesital Rail Road, Rappacini's Daughter, The Birthmark, Young Goodman Brown, My Kinsman Major Mullineux
Favorites: Man of Adamant, Wakefield,
Read: Celesital Rail Road, Rappacini's Daughter, The Birthmark, Young Goodman Brown, My Kinsman Major Mullineux
October 24, 2022
A nice collection of some of Hawthorne's short stories, as well as critical essays about Hawthorne and those short stories.
August 7, 2007
Any major dude will tell you to familiarize yourself with this old, dead white guy.
June 17, 2009
Great anthology.
March 15, 2010
"The Birthmark" - protagonist is loopy, yet some thought-provoking themes...
June 2, 2011
this classic
is alive
through many years
is alive
through many years
April 20, 2012
So marvelous!
March 4, 2015
Didn't read the full text, just selections for a college (300 level) English course
Read
December 26, 2016"The Minister's Black Veil"
"Young Goodman Brown"
"The Haunted Mind"
"Young Goodman Brown"
"The Haunted Mind"
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews