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= The_Blithedale_Romance =
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Introduction
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'The Blithedale Romance' is a novel by American author Nathaniel
Hawthorne published in 1852. It is the third major "romance", as he
called the form. Its setting is a utopian socialist farming commune
based on Brook Farm, of which Hawthorne was a founding member and
where he lived in 1841. The novel dramatizes the conflict between the
commune's ideals and the members' private desires and romantic
rivalries.
Plot summary
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Before moving to the communist community of Blithedale in the
mid-1800s, Miles Coverdale is approached by Moodie (an apparent
beggar) who asks for a favor. Though willing, Moodie eventually
decides he will ask an older, more experienced man and departs. Miles
leaves for Blithedale without his acquaintance Hollingsworth, who
arrives later with Priscilla, a frail girl. They are welcomed by Mr.
and Mrs. Silas Foster (a gruff, experienced farmer) and Zenobia, a
charming woman who enchants Coverdale, Hollingsworth and Priscilla.
Coverdale becomes severely ill and is bedridden. During his sickness,
he develops a closeness with Hollingsworth, who cares for him.
Meanwhile, Hollingsworth also becomes close with Zenobia, and they
plan to build a cottage together. Moodie approaches Coverdale in the
fields one day and asks about Priscilla and Zenobia, but declines to
see them when he hears they are good friends. During a walk, Coverdale
encounters Westervelt, a man whom he immediately dislikes. He asks to
see Zenobia, but only in a private way. Coverdale gives him some
instruction but wonders about his motives. Coverdale later sees
Westervelt walking with Zenobia and assumes them to be arguing about
some past encounter.
Later, Zenobia theorizes that Priscilla, whose background is a
mystery, may, in fact, be the Veiled Lady: a popular clairvoyant who
recently stopped doing public shows. Afterwards, Coverdale,
Hollingsworth, Zenobia and Priscilla meet at Eliot's Pulpit, a rock
they habitually visit. There they discuss women's rights, and Zenobia
sides with Hollingsworth (and against Coverdale) on a misogynistic
point of view of women's roles. As they leave the Pulpit, Coverdale
witnesses a moment of affection between Zenobia and Hollingsworth.
Coverdale and Hollingsworth's disagreements intensify the next day
when they discuss their hopes for the future of Blithedale -
Hollingsworth, who devoted himself to criminal rehabilitation and
hopes to establish a facility for that purpose on the farm. When
Hollingsworth indicates that Coverdale is either "with him or against
him" in this effort, Coverdale refuses to assist him and ends their
friendship. Coverdale decides to seek respite from the tumultuous
relationships at the farm and leaves for the city.
In the city, Coverdale looks out from his hotel window into a boarding
house and thinks he sees Priscilla; in another room, he sees Zenobia
and Westervelt. They see him, so he goes to visit. Zenobia confirms
that Priscilla is there, but Westervelt indicates that they must
leave, and take Priscilla with them. Suspicious, Coverdale seeks out
Moodie. Moodie explains that his name used to be Fauntleroy, and he
was a wealthy man. His first daughter was Zenobia. He fell into
financial ruin and left her to be raised by his still-wealthy uncle
(who died, leaving her considerable wealth). Later, he remarries a
pauper woman, and fathers Priscilla. Her unusual ways gain the
attention of a "wizard," who has an odd relationship with her. He
gets a message to Zenobia and entreats her to look out for Priscilla,
but does not reveal that they are related.
Coverdale is shocked, proceeds to a show of the Veiled Lady, and
recognizes Westervelt as the "wizard." Hollingsworth is also in the
audience. When Coverdale asks Hollingsworth where Priscilla is, he
goes up on stage, removes the veil and takes her away. The three
return to Blithedale immediately; Coverdale returns later. Upon his
return, he dreads seeing the three and takes a circuitous path through
the trees. There he witnesses the community dressed as witches,
fairies and other creatures; when he laughs, they chase him and he
runs toward Eliot's Pulpit. There he finds his three companions;
Zenobia indicates that he missed a "trial" conducted by Hollingsworth.
She proceeds to accuse him of selfishness and heartlessness, and he
angrily leaves with Priscilla, who follows him. Zenobia begins to
weep.
When she recovers, she tells Coverdale that she will eventually get
over it but will leave Blithedale. She says she will become a nun and
asks Coverdale to tell Hollingsworth he "murdered" her. She leaves
and Coverdale falls asleep under the rock. When he awakes at
midnight, he proceeds to Hollingsworth's cottage and asks for his
help; Silas Foster also wakes up and is asked to help. Leading them
to a familiar spot by the river and reflecting on her words, Coverdale
reveals he believes Zenobia drowned herself. Hollingsworth hooks her
body with a pole; Silas Foster observes that he left a physical wound
near her heart.
Years later, Coverdale has become listless in life. He visits
Hollingsworth, who is a broken man and has not accomplished anything
in the way of his dreams of rehabilitation. Priscilla remains by his
side, and Coverdale realizes the weight of Zenobia's death ruined him.
Coverdale had fallen in love with Priscilla and feels similarly
hopeless.
Major characters
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Miles Coverdale: The story's protagonist and narrator, Coverdale is a
simple observer of the activities of the Blithedale farm. However, his
narrative occasionally exaggerates or becomes dreamlike and is not
entirely trustworthy. At points in the novel, Coverdale seems to
practice mild voyeurism. He is a professed supporter of women's
equality, as evidenced in an argument with Hollingsworth, although he
also views Zenobia's feminism as a symptom of romantic
disillusionment. He is typically mild-mannered, though often strange
and illogical. He is consistently curious about his surroundings,
leading to his voyeurism and mostly unsupported speculations on his
fellow residents. Though he seems to fancy Zenobia and certainly
regards her as beautiful, in the last line of the story he confesses
that he is truly in love with Priscilla. However, critics often
identify a strongly homoerotic relationship between Coverdale and
Hollingsworth.
Old Moodie: Though introduced as Old Moodie, he was formerly known as
Fauntleroy, a wealthy but immoral man who loses his riches in a
financial scandal. He is separated from his beautiful wife and
daughter and disowned by the rest of his family. Years later, poorer
and wiser, he remarries and has a second daughter. Coverdale uses him
to discover the backgrounds of Zenobia and Priscilla, who are his two
daughters.
The Veiled Lady: She is a mystical character, first introduced as a
public curiosity, who suddenly disappears from the public's eye. Her
story is developed in a type of ghost story narrated by Zenobia in a
segment titled The Silvery Veil. She is said to have been held captive
by the curse of the veil, a symbol that in Hawthorne's literature
typically represents secret sin. She is controlled by the magician
Westervelt and is eventually revealed to be Priscilla herself when
Hollingsworth removes the veil.
Hollingsworth: A philanthropist overly concerned with his own ideals,
he comes to the farm with Priscilla having been told she has a place
there. He becomes good friends with Coverdale during the other's
sickness, but his attempts to recruit the other to his cause
eventually cause enough tension for a split in the friendship. He
believes in the reform of all sinners and attempts to use Blithedale
and its residents to achieve these ends, instead of those supported by
the group. He is rumored to have a relationship with Zenobia partway
through the novel, and they plan on building a cottage together.
However, he falls for Priscilla, saving her from the fate of the
Veiled Lady, and breaks up with Zenobia, which causes her to commit
suicide.
Silas Foster: Coverdale describes him as "lank, stalwart, uncouth, and
grizzly-bearded." He is the only resident that seems to be truly
experienced in the art of farming. He is level-headed and sensible and
is the first to suggest Priscilla stay upon her arrival. He is one of
the three men to search for and find Zenobia's body and, while
displaying proper sadness and emotion, also accepts her death with the
most ease.
Mrs. Foster: Wife of Silas Foster.
Zenobia: Beautiful and wealthy, she wears a different tropical flower
in her hair every day. She is admired by both Hollingsworth and
Coverdale, though both eventually fall for her sister Priscilla
instead. Priscilla herself is also quite taken with the older woman
and follows her around the farm. Zenobia's main vice is pride, and she
has an unusual and unexplained prior relationship with Professor
Westervelt. By the end of the story, she is revealed to be
(presumably) complicit in Westervelt's pseudo-slavery of Priscilla as
the Veiled Lady, a scheme she uses to perpetuate her wealthy
lifestyle, and a potential reason Hollingsworth leaves her. She is the
daughter of Old Moodie's first, prosperous marriage when he was still
referred to as Fauntleroy. She often is thought to be analogous to the
author Margaret Fuller, who although not a resident of Brook Farm was
a frequent visitor there.
Priscilla: A fragile, mysterious girl brought to the farm by
Hollingsworth. She makes intricate purses that Coverdale considers a
"symbol of her mystery." She is known to frequently pause as if
responding to a call, though no other characters hear it. She becomes
progressively more open and less frail throughout the novel and
develops a strong attachment to Hollingsworth on top of her sisterly
affection for Zenobia. She is eventually revealed to be the second
daughter of Old Moodie, as well as the alter ego of the Veiled Lady.
Hollingsworth frees her from the curse of the veil, and at the book's
close, she remains attached to him.
Professor Westervelt: Stumbles into the plot looking for Priscilla and
Zenobia. Coverdale takes an immediate distaste for him and describes
him with such language as one would describe the devil. In fact, much
of the imagery Coverdale uses, such as the flames on Westervelt's pin
and the serpent-headed staff he carries are direct references to
Satan. He presumably has a former, possibly romantic, relationship
with Zenobia. He is revealed to be the magician controlling Priscilla
near the end of the book, and his last appearance is at Zenobia's
funeral where he criticizes her foolish suicide.
Narrative style
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The novel is written from a first-person limited point of view and the
narrator is Miles Coverdale. Coverdale's narrative style is erratic
and dreamlike, bringing a strange form of syntax to the novel that is
more Coverdale's than Hawthorne's. In a final chapter added after the
original manuscript was completed but before publishing, Coverdale
breaks the fourth wall and reveals that the writing takes place
significantly after leaving Blithedale. He reveals the fates of the
other characters from a still limited viewpoint.
Symbolism
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*Flower: Zenobia wears a new exotic flower every day. It represents
vitality, and all the other characters are focused on destroying it.
Coverdale is always probing and investigating her life. Hollingsworth
uses her in his conspiracy to create an ideal society. Priscilla
betrays her when she chooses Hollingsworth over her. Lastly,
Westervelt blackmails her. She ultimately destroys herself through
suicide. The exotic flower is a symbol of her pride, life and vitality
all of which the characters in the 'Blithedale Romance' are set on
destroying. Zenobia's main vice is pride; however, it is why she is
admired by all. Its physical representation is demonstrated through
her exotic flower.
*Veil: The veil represents withdrawal and concealment. Priscilla, as
the Veiled Lady, is private and hidden. The image of the veil appears
with almost every character. Old Moodie with his alias and eye patch
illustrates his use of concealment. Westervelt's gold teeth, and
Hollingsworth's philanthropic project are also examples of a
withdrawal. Additionally, the whole community is withdrawn from
society, as it is a secluded Utopian community. The veil is a
constantly recurring theme throughout the novel. Concealment and
withdrawal continually surface through all the characters.
*Spring/Fall: The novel starts in spring and ends in fall. Upon moving
to Blithedale, Coverdale proclaims his own rebirth. Spring is full of
warmth and hope, while fall is full of dark imagery. In spring,
Coverdale recovers from his illness. In the fall, it concludes with
the mutilated, marbled, rigid corpse of Zenobia.
*Sickness: At the beginning of the novel, Coverdale becomes deathly
ill and is bedridden. Hollingsworth cares for him and he returns to
health. Priscilla is also sick and gradually regains her health as
time elapses and she adjusts to Blithedale. As Roy R. Male Jr. wrote,
"This sickness is what the book is about." Coverdale's mental state
also changes throughout the novel. Upon his return, he emphasizes that
there is a "Sickness of the spirits [which] kept alternating with my
flights of causeless buoyancy."
*Dreams: The dream of building a Utopian Society is just one of the
dreams in the novel. As Daniel Hoffman wrote, "Whether Miles Coverdale
is reporting what he has actually seen and heard, or what he has
dreamed. Parts of the book indeed seem to rely on, to create, a
stream-of-consciousness narration" Coverdale's dreams reveal his
discovery and continued repression of his sexual desire of Zenobia.
There are dreams created in his imagination and memory, as well as the
dreams in his sleep. All of which include the veil and mask imagery
that recur in the novel.
Development and publication history
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'The Blithedale Romance' is a work of fiction based on Hawthorne's
recollections of Brook Farm, a short-lived agricultural and
educational commune where Hawthorne lived from April to November 1841.
The commune, an attempt at an intellectual utopian society, interested
many famous Transcendentalists such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and
Margaret Fuller, though few of the Transcendentalists actually lived
there. In the novel's preface, Hawthorne describes his memories of
this temporary home as "essentially a daydream, and yet a fact" which
he employs as "an available foothold between fiction and reality." His
feelings of affectionate scepticism toward the commune are reflected
not only in the novel but also in his journal entries and in the
numerous letters he wrote from Brook Farm to Sophia Peabody, his
future wife.
Hawthorne's claim that the novel's characters are "entirely
fictitious" has been widely questioned. The character of Zenobia, for
example, is said to have been modelled upon Margaret Fuller, an
acquaintance of Hawthorne and a frequent guest at Brook Farm. The
circumstances of Zenobia's death, however, were not inspired by the
shipwreck that ended Fuller's life but by the suicide of a certain
Miss Martha Hunt, a refined but melancholy young woman who drowned
herself in a river on the morning of July 9, 1845. Hawthorne helped to
search for the body that night and later recorded the incident at
considerable length in his journal. Suggested prototypes for
Hollingsworth include Amos Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and
Horace Mann, while the narrator is often supposed to be Hawthorne
himself.
Literary significance and reception
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Following its publication, 'The Blithedale Romance' was received with
little enthusiasm by contemporary critics. As one reviewer claims, the
preface which is merely a disclaimer of sorts, "is by no means the
least important part of it". In fact, too many reviews this simple,
non-fictional disclaimer seems to be the most important part of the
book. Many reviews refer to the preface of the novel and express
skepticism in regard to Hawthorne's plea contained therein for the
reader not to take the characters and occurrences of the novel as
representative of real-life people and events. They claim that there
is simply too much correlation between fiction and nonfiction. One
reviewer states "So vividly does [Hawthorne] present to us the scheme
at Brook Farm, to which some of our acquaintance were parties, so
sharply and accurately does he portray some incidents of life there,
that we are irresistibly impelled to fix the real names of men and
women to the characters of his book". As such they read into what
Hawthorne writes about characters that have associated real-life
figures.
However, other reviews, while stating that there is a correlation
between the fiction of the novel and reality, but these correlations
should not lead to an association of fiction and non-fiction. One
review states "We can recognize in the personages of his Romance
individual traits of several real characters who were [at Brook Farm],
but no one has his or her whole counterpart in one who was actually a
member of the community. There was no actual Zenobia, Hollingsworth,
or Priscilla there, and no such catastrophe as described ever occurred
there".
In 'Hawthorne' (1879), Henry James called it "the lightest, the
brightest, the liveliest" of Hawthorne's "unhumorous fictions", while
literary critic Richard Brodhead has described it as "the darkest of
Hawthorne's novels."
A lot of modern criticism centers around the relationship between
fiction and non-fiction as well. Critics believe that when viewed as
representative of Hawthorne's own life and beliefs, "The Blithedale
Romance" provides insight into the mind of the author. According to
critics, the novel can be seen as a reflection of the religious
conflict Hawthorne faced throughout his life. Irving Howe summarizes
this religious conflict, stating, "Throughout his life, Hawthorne was
caught up in what we would call a crisis of religious belief. His
acute moral sense had been largely detached from the traditional
context of the orthodox faith, but it had found little else in which
to thrive". Although Hawthorne did not agree with Puritan dogmas,
Transcendentalists often associated morality with the observance of
these dogmas. The novel presents an ironic contradiction between the
perception of morality and actual morality, such as the "Utopian"
Blithedale filled with sin and far less than "moral" individuals.
Critics claim, therefore that Blithedale is an attempt by Hawthorne to
represent morality as independent from faith.
In a broader sense, critics have long argued that the majority of the
people, places, and events of 'The Blithedale Romance' can be traced
back to Hawthorne's observations and experiences over his lifetime.
The most obvious of these correlations between fiction and reality is
the similarity between Blithedale and Brook Farm, an actual
experimental community in the 19th century of which Hawthorne was a
part. In addition, the character of Coverdale is often associated with
Hawthorne himself. However, according to critics, this self-portrait
is "a highly and mocking self-portrait, as if Hawthorne were trying to
isolate and thereby exorcise everything within him that impedes full
participation in life". Critics have also argued for less obvious
connections such as the connection between Zenobia and Margaret
Fuller, a contemporary of Hawthorne.
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Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blithedale_Romance
