Abstract
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Ambitious Guest” has been regarded by various readers as a tale of natural sublimity and a defeat of humankind under crushing forces of Nature. However, Hawthorne’s captivating writing leaves space for multiple interpretations, and bearing in mind that Hawthorne belongs to Dark Romanticism this short story can be regarded as a defeat of individual heart against collective mind. In this story, Hawthorne, a great symbolist of his time, carefully developed the plot and the characters in order to portray how individual striving for progress and betterment can destroy a harmonious family that is in peace with natural order. Hawthorne uses a complete stranger and turns him into a force for destruction, as the character deeply disturbs the philosophy of each family member and changes the close-knit structure of the family into a scattered group of unsatisfied individuals who yearn for change, which results in a natural catastrophe. “The Ambitious Guest” represents Hawthorne’s warning against individualism and yearning for progress, and it praises the institution of family as a building block upon which humankind is built.
Highlights
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a nineteen century American writer, is regarded as one of the most prominent authors of the time, gaining literary fame and appreciation by his short tales and romances, The Scarlet Letter being the most recognisable
In Hawthorne’s mind, the most distinguished feature of human nature is darkness, which leaves him very cautious about human reform and capabilities of man to achieve meaningful progress (Georgieva, 2009)[5]. Hawthorne forms this view on human nature based on the idealism of the Puritans, which makes him a moral historian, unwilling to idealise about human soul (White, 1999)[16]
Evil must be your only happiness!” Religious hypocrisy of the Puritans is present in “The May Pole of Merry Mount”, in which Hawthorne portrays a dark world of Puritan jurisdiction, in which his ancestors did not have a flexible mind towards other people, and spread corruption on earth (White, 1999)[16]
Summary
Nathaniel Hawthorne, a nineteen century American writer, is regarded as one of the most prominent authors of the time, gaining literary fame and appreciation by his short tales and romances, The Scarlet Letter being the most recognisable. The Transcendentalists believed in inherent human goodness, which represents a powerful force for moral laws: in abandonment of tradition and customs, by seeking for the whole of morality and epistemology inside the human soul lies the salvation of humanity (Manzari, 2012)[12] This aching for progress and novelty is the core belief of American Transcendentalism, because for a man to unveil the mystery of existence, it is necessary to “live through his own experience and interaction with the world”, and “new poetry, new art and philosophy and religious theories” ought to be invented (Eisenman, 2011)[4]. He confirms the Transcendentalist ideology of the human heart as the primary force for change, deifying Man, presenting a pure Man to be the epistemological authority It is in the late romance, The Blithedale Romance, that Hawthorne denounces this belief in inherent human goodness and the potential of human soul for moral change (White, 1999)[16]. One other short story can further prove the point of Hawthorne’s cautious approach to individuality and its power for good – The Ambitious Guest, in which Hawthorne criticizes the idea of individual strivings towards progress and develops a reformed Puritan idea of humble family as the ideal form of societal organisation that does not transgress natural laws and which realises its limitations and essential depravity
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