HAWTHORNEにおける「孤独」の問題 : INSULATIONについて

抄録

In America, towards the middle of the 19th century general interests were focused on "solitude," just as in Europe from the end of the 18th century to the early 19th century. The interest in "solitude" was part of the emotional and intellectual trend of the day called by various names, that is, romanticism, naturalism, or individualism. Some of the Transcendentalists emphasized the use of "solitude" for the soul; others loved it so deeply that they tried to experience it in the country; others noticed its destructive effects on man. Poets often made use of the emotional atmosphere of "solitude" in their poems. Prose writers, including Poe, Cooper, Melville, and Hawthorne, also revealed their concern with the theme. The purpose of this essay is to define the nature of "solitude" that Hawthorne was deeply interested in, and then to comment on its various aspects and causes. Though Hawthorne spoke more than once of his own "natural tendency towards seclusion," and showed in essays and notebooks the love of aloneness, he firmly believed from his early days the importance of "participation" as something intrinsic in man. He was taught, as he confessed later, the "horror" of solitude during the so-called solitary years. Various cases of "solitude" described in his novels and short stories suggest that he emphasized the danger of destructiveness of "solitude." The kind of "solitude" that was considered destructive by Hawthorne is best characterized as "insulation." "Like all other men," wrote Hawthorne about a character in one of the short stories, "around whom an engrossing purpose wreathes itself, he was insulated from the mass of human kind.... Though gentle in manner and upright in intent and action, he did not possess kindly feelings; his heart was cold; no living creature could be brought near enough to keep him warm." Insulation then suggests not only isolation but also imperviousness due to the coldness of "the heart." A man becomes the victim of insulation when his heart becomes cold or loses "reciprocal influence" on others' sympathies. Or, a man suffers from insulation when he is too much intent upon his own purpose, whether or not it is private, religious, scientific, or intellectual. Insulation occurs also as a result of hubris or of some other crime. Or, when a man becomes a cold observer, he is in danger of being insulated from other human beings. Poets, other artists and even prophets are also in danger of falling into insulation. In many cases, because of the loss of the sense of both human brotherhood and reality, insulation results in grotesqueness, madness, dehumanization and, finally, in death. On the other hand, expiation of insulation is suggested by the image of "home" or "hearth," where man is united to each other by love or sympathy. Examples of insulation are found everywhere in Hawthorne's novels and short stories. Almost all the main characters of his novels are in the insulated situations; some short stories deal with insulation as their theme; others describe insulated persons, either seeking for human sympathy or falling into destruction.