Art and Event in "Ethan Brand"

Abstract

E THAN BRAND IS unique in the Hawthorne canon in its every character and episode being traceable to a concrete source. It is unique, too, in revealing Hawthorne's developed artistic proclivities; for, although every character in the fiction existed in real life -in one way or another-Hawthorne has transformed and placed each with an economy such that the separately existing characters of life fuse perfectly into the allegorical unit of Also, apparently disparate incidents have been subsumed into an original plot dictated by Hawthorne's thematic preoccupation with the unpardonable sin. The transformation from the American Notebooks to the story is our study-one, I feel, doubly fruitful: with insight into Hawthorne's creative method and with a rendering of an exact interpretation to the tale. For this purpose, then, I will first consider Brand as a work of art; second, characters will be treated in their biographical reality and their fictional transformation; the same will then be done for incidents of particular importance; last, the organizing power of the dominant idea will be considered. We begin, then, with Brand as a work of literary art. Bartram, an obtuse, middle-aged, clown ... dull and torpid and who troubled himself with no thoughts, is the first character introduced in the story. He is tending a limekiln at the foot of Graylock. With Bartram is his son, Joe, whom Hawthorne employs as a symbol of love, and diametrically opposes to Brand. Ethan Brand, who found the unpardonable sin and is, consequently, a fiend, appears next while Bartram and Joe are con-