Hawthorne’s Spiritual Quest Beyond the Churches in The Marble Faun
0
조회
0
다운로드
0
인용
0
참고문헌
키워드
초록
This essay explores Nathaniel Hawthorne’s spiritual quest into the mystery of sin by examining his use of the Unpardonable Sin and the Fortunate Fall (felix culpa) in The Scarlet Letter and The Marble Faun. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne foregrounds “the Unpardonable Sin,” which is his version of the unpardonable sin that Jesus speaks of. Revised as it is, “the Unpardonable Sin” shows that the author is under the influence of New England Puritanism’s emphasis on the justice of God. In contrast, The Marble Faun shows a shift in Hawthorne’s attitude toward sin. Employing the early Christian concept of the Fortunate Fall, Hawthorne tests an alternative to the Puritan way of understanding sin. While the unpardonable sin is related to Original Sin and the Puritan notion of the total depravity of humanity, the fortunate fall emphasizes God’s love for humankind. This shift in Hawthorne’s moral awareness does not indicate an artistic decline in the author’s work. Rather, it suggests a spiritual maturity as he breaks free from the limits of his Puritan worldview. By reflecting on the negative views of both Puritanism and Roman Catholicism pervasive in nineteenth century America, Hawthorne draws the reader into the two romances. He then goes on to shed positive light on the two religious traditions in an effort to bring both of them justice. In the process, he seeks an answer to his own lifelong question of the mystery of sin. By innovating such concepts as the unpardonable sin and the fortunate fall and crossing over the boundaries of Puritanism and Roman Catholicism, Hawthorne implies that the established Church is a means to salvation, not the ultimate authority over an individual. This focus on Hawthorne’s quest into the truth of sin reveals the concerns of nineteenth century New Englanders with regard to their spiritual situation.
Abstract
This essay explores Nathaniel Hawthorne’s spiritual quest into the mystery of sin by examining his use of the Unpardonable Sin and the Fortunate Fall (felix culpa) in The Scarlet Letter and The Marble Faun. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne foregrounds “the Unpardonable Sin,” which is his version of the unpardonable sin that Jesus speaks of. Revised as it is, “the Unpardonable Sin” shows that the author is under the influence of New England Puritanism’s emphasis on the justice of God. In contrast, The Marble Faun shows a shift in Hawthorne’s attitude toward sin. Employing the early Christian concept of the Fortunate Fall, Hawthorne tests an alternative to the Puritan way of understanding sin. While the unpardonable sin is related to Original Sin and the Puritan notion of the total depravity of humanity, the fortunate fall emphasizes God’s love for humankind. This shift in Hawthorne’s moral awareness does not indicate an artistic decline in the author’s work. Rather, it suggests a spiritual maturity as he breaks free from the limits of his Puritan worldview. By reflecting on the negative views of both Puritanism and Roman Catholicism pervasive in nineteenth century America, Hawthorne draws the reader into the two romances. He then goes on to shed positive light on the two religious traditions in an effort to bring both of them justice. In the process, he seeks an answer to his own lifelong question of the mystery of sin. By innovating such concepts as the unpardonable sin and the fortunate fall and crossing over the boundaries of Puritanism and Roman Catholicism, Hawthorne implies that the established Church is a means to salvation, not the ultimate authority over an individual. This focus on Hawthorne’s quest into the truth of sin reveals the concerns of nineteenth century New Englanders with regard to their spiritual situation.
참고문헌 (21)
- Askew, Melvin W, "Hawthorne, the Fall, and the Psychology of Maturity", American Literature, 34(3), pp.335~343 (1962)
- Baym, Nina, "The Head, the Heart, and the Unpardonable Sin", The New England Quarterly, 40(1), pp.31~47 (1967)
- Berlant, Lauren, "The Anatomy of National Fantasy: Hawthorne, Utopia, and Everyday Life" (1991), The U of Chicago P
- Bell, Michael Davitt, "Hawthorne and the Historical Romance of New England" (1971), Princeton UP
- Crews, Frederick, "The Sins of the Fathers: Hawthorne’s Psychological Themes" (1989), U of California P
- Donohue, Agnes M, "Nathaniel Hawthorne: Calvin’s Ironic Stepchild" (1985), The Kent State UP
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel, "The American Notebooks. In: The Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Vol. 8" (1972), Ohio State UP
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel, "The French and Italian Notebooks. In: The Centenary Edition of the Works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Vol. 14" (1980), Ohio State UP
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel, "The Marble Faun: or, the Romance of Monte Beni" (1990), Penguin Books
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel, "The Scarlet Letter", pp.1991, Bedford
- Levine, Robert S, "‘Antebellum Rome’ in The Marble Faun", American Literary History, 2(1), pp.19~38 (1990)
- McCullen, Joseph T, "The Unpardonable Sin in Hawthorne: a Re-Examination", Nineteenth-Century Fiction, 15(3), pp.221~237 (1960)
- Melville, Herman, "Hawthorne and His Mosses. In: The Norton Anthology of American Literature: 1820-1865. Vol. B 6th ed", pp.2292~2304, Norton
- Mills, Barriss, "Hawthorne and Puritanism", The New Englnad Quarterly, 21(1), pp.78~102 (1948)
- "The New American Bible" (1987), World Catholic P
- Person,Leland S, "The Cambridge Introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne" (2007), Cambridge UP
- Shumaker, Conrad, "‘A Daughter of the Puritans’: History in Hawthorne’s The Marble Faun", New England Quarterly: A Historical Review, 57(1), pp.65~83 (1984)
- Schwartz, Joseph, "Three aspects of Hawthorne’s Puritanism", The New England Quarterly, 36(2), pp.192~208 (1963)
- Taylor, J. Goldon, "Hawthorne’s Ambivalence Toward Puritanism" (1965), Utah State UP
- Voigt, Gilbert P, "Hawthorne and the Roman Catholic Church", The New England Quarterly, 19(3), pp.394~397 (1946)
- Weldon, Roberta, "Hawthorne, Gender, and Death: Christianity and Its Discontent" (2008), Palgrave Macmillan