Alicia Nourse
Professor Harris
ENGL201-002
November 15, 2021
The Marble Faun
Nathaniel Hawthorne's final novel, The Marble Faun, describes the adventures of four
friends in Rome's culture-rich and artistic city - among them an Italian and three Americans. The
three American artists often compare the Italian Donatello to the Faun statue erected by
Praxiteles. The three Americans are sculptor Kenyon and art students Hilda and Miriam, who
come from different backgrounds. Miriam is a gifted painter with an elusive history. Throughout
the novel, she is compared to Eve, Beatrice Cenci, Judith, and Cleopatra, to name a few. Miriam
is stalked by a mysterious man she refers to as her "evil genius." Hilda is a plagiarist who is still
learning the ropes. Despite her big heart, she may be cruel at times because of her unshakable
moral convictions. Miriam and Hilda are frequently pitted against one another. Kenyon is a
sculptor who finds Italy and its many statues fascinating. He has a bit of a crush on Hilda but
does not seem to act upon it. Donatello, the Italian, is the Count of Monte Beni. Miriam grew up
in New England. She is referred to as "exotic" by Hawthorne because she may behave differently
from people who do not come from New England. Her journey leads her to the catacombs
beneath the city, where she meets a mysterious character. The character follows Miriam around
the city as she goes about her daily life. The stalker of Miriam approaches the friends when they
visit Capitoline Hill. As the story progresses, Donatello, who has grown somewhat obsessed with
Miriam, kills the stranger without thinking twice. Donatello transforms into a man who is beset
by regret and guilt about his actions. Hilda, who comes from a Puritanistic background,
witnessed the murder of the mysterious man by Donatello's hand and felt overwhelmed by the
burden of keeping the secret. It relieves her of the weight of the secret she had to bear by
confessing it to the Catholic Church. It takes a sad turn in the book, as Miriam becomes
depressed, Hilda marries Kenyon, and Donatello turns himself into the police for trial.
This book takes place in the 19th century. It was written by Hawthorne in 1860, which
classifies this novel as a Gothic Romanticism piece. Throughout the novel, there are dark themes
that correlate to the narrative of Gothic Romanticism. Hawthorne uses the emotions of Donatello
to catalyze the story. He becomes jealous, and after he kills the man, he is stuck in a cycle of
regret. Miriam goes into a depressive state which shows the continuation of the overall dark
theme. Gothic Romanticism relates to common strong human emotions such as grief, fear, and
love. Gothic romanticism plots typically portray protagonists or victims that tend to move
towards danger rather than away from it. The audience can conceptualize this with Miriam and
the mysterious stranger who eventually becomes her stalker. Her works show her tendency
towards this action as she often depicted the stranger in her art. Miriam attracts various people in
the form of stalkers, the mysterious stranger and Brother Antonio, as well as the friendship of
Hilda. Another example of the literature's gothic Romanticism is the group's movement into the
catacombs. This is a setting of fear in which the group is gravitating towards. Miriam encounters
the spectre of the catacomb who hides in "sepulchral gloom" (Hawthorne 12). Miriam expresses
pleasure in having met the ghost, ignoring her fears. The guide that led the group into the tombs
stated that it was possible that the spectre "is an old pagan phantom" (Hawthorne 13). This
evokes the supernatural or transcendentalism components of the book.
Hawthorne's use of Thoreau's Order of Transcendentalism is displayed in the piece by the
example of the Faun, which is depicted as having an animal nature with characteristics of
humanity. Hawthorne describes portions of the Faun as uncorrupted in nature, such as "the two
ears of the faun are leaf shaped and terminating in little peaks like those of some species of
animals" (Hawthorne). Here he is describing a mythological character that embodies nature in its
pristine condition. It is a bridge between humanity and nature. The group of friends find it odd
that Donatello has such similarities to the Faun. Donatello would dance around the wooden
railing that fenced in the dying gladiator, closely resembling a dancing faun. This is often
conveyed as a carefree, joyous expression of life.
In conjunction with the theme of transcendentalism, there is an overarching theme of
mythological Romanticism. This involves supernatural events and may include a stranger being
present as we experience with the "mysterious stranger." Characters are often split into "types"
such as a hero/villain, animal/trickster, and these characters are often doubled or mirrored. This
is evident with Donatello and how much he resembles the Faun. The style of the novel is
mythological in which there are references to Puritanism and Paganism, which fits the theme of
practices within a specific time period. It also incorporates the style of romance but not in the
traditional way that it is conveyed today. It is separated from reality, and this is seen within
Miriam's model of the stranger. It is also identified in the Faun as a statue as it is not able to be
defined as reality. This best exemplifies how one does not know and should not know as limited
knowledge. One does not know if the Faun was a real creature.
Sentimental Romanticism or sentimentalism conveys a constant stream of vulnerable
Works Cited
emotions such as nostalgia and sadness. This classification of literature is used to create emotion
within the novel. Sentimentalism is depicted by Hawthrone when he vividly describes Kenyon
reflecting back on the physical characteristics of an old saloon. Hawthorne writes, "It was often
difficult to puzzle out the design and even where it was more readily intelligible the figures
showed like the ghost of the dead and burried joys the closer their resemblance to happy past the
gloomier now." (Hawthorne 110). The character is reminiscing on the previously beautiful
architecture of the old salon. This depicts sentimentalism due to the nostalgic nature that
Hawthorne purposely intended to be conveyed.
As a final observation, in Nathaniel Hawthorne's book "The Marble Faun," four critical
components of literature are used to convey a dark yet nostalgic plotline. The author uses Gothic
Romanticism, Thoreau's Order of Transcendentalism, Mythological Romanticism, and
Sentimentalism to create an intricate and emotional piece of literature. The dark ambiance and
nostalgic outline were used to convey the complexity of the characters that was historically
accurate to when the book was written. The two messages Hawthrone intended to convey are
Crime and Punishment and innocence and animalistic nature. These messages were carefully
immersed into the different forms of literature throughout the novel.
