Hilda's Tears and "Sunlight on the Mountain-Tops" : Acceptance of Morbidity in Hawthorne's The Marble Faun

Abstract

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Marble Faun, Hilda is repeatedly described as a "dove" and an "angel," in contrast to the "morbidity" of such things as the dust, poison, and unwholesomeness that fill the scenes set in Rome. Miriam and Donatello, who commit murder, are, in this context, described as if they have contracted a disease as a result of their sin. For this reason, Hilda, who wants to preserve her own purity, has to obstinately reject them, for which readers have not accepted her as a flexible and humanized character. It may be that the author had a critical view of this fastidious character due to his wife, who was one of the models for Hilda. Sophia Hawthorne subscribed to the Victorian values of her time, which compelled her to delete "inappropriate" expressions from her husband's manuscript after his death. However, Hilda's personality should not be reduced to this superficial reading. In the latter part of the narrative, Hilda gradually comes to accept the fact that she is trying to avoid what is unhealthy and sinful because she is, in truth, attracted to it. And so, she comes to realize that evil brings a sorrowful beauty to the arts. Like Donatello, Hilda also experiences the "Fortunate Fall," and is humanized, thereby becoming a suitable guide for Kenyon, who eagerly needs her to come back to their country. The darkness of Rome, its "disease" and "unwholesomeness," is, in this narrative, necessary for artists to create original works. As Hawthorne mentions in the preface, Italy was valuable in that it provided authors with a suitable environment for creating literary works. This contrasts with America, which has "no shadow, no antiquity, no mystery, no picturesque and gloomy wrong." By accepting the darkness of Rome, which she had previously rejected, we may say that Hilda acquires the ability to become an eminent artist in her own country.