ꡔ블라이드데일 로맨스ꡕ —이상 사회 건설의 시도와 실패—

Abstract

Trial and Failure of the Utopian Community: Hawthorne's The Blithedale Romance Jang, Jung-Hoon(Chonnam National Univ.) The Blithedale Romance is in some ways based on Hawthorne's four-month stay at Brook Farm in 1841, though the extent of his concern with actual communal life is an issue for debate. In this work, Hawthorne(1804-1864) deals with the possibility and failure of a new Utopian community based on transcendentalism. The people who gather together in Blithedale establish an ideal society which pursues brotherhood and sisterhood and the harmony of body and spirit. They object to the corrupted existing society, but they fail to construct an alternative society because they are ignorant of reality and human nature. The ideal society can't be accomplished by simply establishing a structural reformation through moving into the country from the city without an understanding of human nature. They are too optimistic and superficial. The reformers can not, or will not, put off their veils, so they can't help separating. The Blithedale community has the almost a complete absence of any actual brotherhood and sisterhood. The major characters, Zenobia, Priscilla, Coverdale, and Hollingsworth, are scarcely concerned at all about the fate of the community; each uses it for his own purposes. Zenobia falls in love with Hollingsworth but her love is a manifestation of eros rather than agape. Priscilla, despite the veil thrust upon her in her role as the Veiled Lady, is the only main character who does not wear a veil by choice. She manifests spiritual and intellectual pride. But her love is redemptive so far as the others will let it be. Coverdale does not need a mask, but he remains hidden, peering, peeking, and eavesdropping. Hollingsworth is thrown completely off his moral balance to achieve a philanthropic scheme, “the plan for the reformation of criminals through an appeal to their higher instincts.” He is unable to overcome selfishness. Through this work, Hawthorne emphasizes that an ideal society can be attained only through a moral balance between Head and Heart. He asserts that all reformations are superficial so long as the heart remains unchanged. In other words, we can't create “Paradise anew” while maintaining our separateness, our disguises, and the fundamental self-centeredness, or pride.