He has found a charm
that robs sin and crime of their deadly hurt, and can handle them
without danger. It is said by some that Hawthorne treats wrong and
corruption too shrinkingly, and his mood of never-lessened and acute
sensibility touching them is contrasted with that of "virile" writers
like Balzac and George Sand. But these incline to make a menagerie of
life, thrusting their heads into the very lion's mouth, or boldly
embracing the snake of sin. They are indeed superior in strong dramatic
and realistic effects; but, unvicious as may be their aim, they are not
filled with a robust morality: they deliberately choose unclean elements
to heighten the interest,--albeit using such elements with magnificent
strength and skill. Let us be grateful that Hawthorne does not so covet
the applause of the clever club-man or of the unconscious vulgarian, as
to junket about in caravan, carrying the passions with him in gaudy
cages, and feeding them with raw flesh; grateful that he never loses the
archangelic light of pure, divine, dispassionate wrath, in piercing the
dragon!
We see now how, in this early term of probation, he was finding a
philosophy and an unsectarian religiousness, which ever stirred below
the clear surface of his language like the bubbling spring at bottom of
a forest pool. It has been thought that Hawthorne developed late. But
the most striking thing about the "Twice-Told Tales" and the first
entries in the "American Note-Books" is their evidence of a calm and
mellow maturity.
Pages:
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178