PURITAN NEW ENGLAND IN NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE'S SHORT STORIES

Abstract

[...]we will deal with historical considerations of the Puritans as the most influential religious group in colonial New England and their treatment of the outsiders, i.e. those who did not share their religious beliefs. The foundation of their faith was the belief that men can be saved only by faith and God's grace, which he bestows on the elected few according to his own sovereign will. [...]from the beginning of time, some people are predestined for heaven, while the majority is predestined for hell (see for example, Miller 1963: 56-57, or Murphy 2001: 29). According to Henry Adams (qtd in Delbanco 1991: 14), "Resistance to something was the law of New England nature". Endicott's reply to the "Wanton Gospeller" who demands the right to exercise his religion freely is a harsh one and in line with the previously quoted Nathaniel Ward. [...]Hawthorne's Puritan ancestor is, on one hand, celebrated as the champion of liberty from tyranny, while on the other, portrayed as the tyrant himself, leaving the resolution of the story ambiguous. 4.

Headnote

Abstract: This article is an attempt to (re)consider the American colonial past, as represented in some of Hawthorne's best-known short stories, from the perspective of cultural studies. After the theoretical introduction, which deals with the Puritans as the majority group in colonial New England, several short stories from the "Twice-Told Tales" collection are analyzed in order to compare the historical data with the fictionalized representations of the American past.

Keywords: Colonial America, majority/minority groups, Nathaniel Hawthorne, New England, Puritans.

1. Introduction

The purpose of my paper is to examine the colonial American past by using the interdisciplinary method of cultural studies, which takes into account historical and social factors, as well as the texts and discourses produced (Saukko 2003: 33). Firstly, we will deal with historical considerations of the Puritans as the most influential religious group in colonial New England and their treatment of the outsiders, i.e. those who did not share their religious beliefs. Furthermore, the importance of the Puritan heritage for the general American history will be emphasized. The rest of the paper will offer a reading of three short stories from Nathaniel Hawthorne's collection "Twice-Told Tales", based on the comparison of historical data and fictionalized history. As Hawthorne's works dealing with colonial America shaped the more contemporary perception of the Puritans to a great extent, we thought it would be interesting to compare the historical considerations of the Puritans and their legacy with their representations in some of Hawthorne's best-known short stories. We will see that Hawthorne's representations of his Puritan ancestors, although harsh and without much sympathy at first glance, are filled with ambiguities and complexities. A careful reading of his stories reveals that, although critical of Puritan sternness, rigidity and religious zeal, Hawthorne still acknowledges, or at least hints at the fact that such zeal and unwavering determination were crucial for survival in the hostile wilderness of the first colonies. What is more, Hawthorne openly praises the Puritans' firm belief in the freedom of (their) opinion and their rebellious nature, which, in scholarly literature dealing with this period of American history, are seen as the first truly American traits.

2. New England Puritans: a historical perspective

It is noticeable that the treatment of Puritans by historians varies from dismissing them as "a set of somber killjoys whose greatest pleasure was preventing simple folk from enjoying themselves, and whose principal object in life was to repress beauty and inhibit human nature" (Morison, 1992, quoted in Bremer 2009: 107) to seeing them as harbingers of "democracy, more perfect than any which antiquity had dreamt of'(DeTocqueville 2006). Both of these views could be considered rather extreme, but they could also be starting points in the research of Puritanism in America, leading towards a balanced assessment of the importance of Puritans for American history.

2.1. Religious background

Almost any discussion of the Puritans who settled in America highlights the issue of their faith as the central and most prominent feature of the period in which they lived. They are described as a group of religious zealots who came to the New World with the idea of forming an ideal community of the chosen people - a City Upon a Hill, as the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, John Winthrop, stated in his often-quoted sermon. The foundation of their faith was the belief that men can be saved only by faith and God's grace, which he bestows on the elected few according to his own sovereign will. Therefore, from the beginning of time, some people are predestined for heaven, while the majority is predestined for hell (see for example, Miller 1963: 56-57, or Murphy 2001: 29). The belief in the doctrine of predestination led to constant self-examination in search for the signs of god's grace, so introspection and turning inward with almost merciless zeal also marked the Puritan culture (Heimert and Delbanco 2001: 15).

Furthermore, Puritans (on both sides of the Atlantic) believed that they, as the elect nation, had a particular agreement with God - a covenant, which bound them to build a godly society in return for divine blessings (Conforti 2006: 54). This meant that there was a strong sense of collective responsibility for everything that happened in the colonies: prosperity was interpreted as a sign of God's mercy, and hardships, such as droughts, Indian attacks, diseases, etc. were the proof of providential afflictions, inflicted on the colonists for failing to fulfill their part of the sacred contract. American Puritans also believed that they were a part of a social covenant, instituted among them in order to erect a new Zion on earth, which effectively meant hard work and reliance on their elected leaders and representatives.

Thinking in terms of a contract pervaded state affairs as well - it implied "the willing acceptance of God's rule by an earthly community" (Murphy 2001: 41). State officials, therefore, had the task to ensure the fulfillment of the contract with God and to preserve the ideal community of visible saints, by suppressing potential dissenters both from within and from the outside.

2.2. Puritan treatment of dissent

As the previous section has shown, the Puritan experience in the New World was oriented towards establishing and preserving the society of the likeminded based on a set of strict laws and principles and that effectively meant that any hint of dissent would have to be immediately suppressed and silenced. Those who strayed from the holy precepts, whether they were members of the Puritan community or outsiders who came to the colony (colonies) later, were punished and excluded from the colony with equal zeal and efficiency. The sense of collective responsibility was very strong in the Puritan community; therefore, no individual transgressions were tolerated, as that would have jeopardized the prospects of the entire colony (Vaughan 1997: 199). The cases of Roger Williams and Ann Hutchinson, who were banished from New England due to their (public) disagreement with the Puritan authorities on the issues of faith and doctrine, prove that the early colonists not only regarded strangers with suspicion but also purged their own ranks of those who did not live up to the standards of the New Zion.

A similar thing happened to Thomas Morton, a flamboyant founder of an outpost at Mount Wollaston which grew into the colony of Merry Mount; he attempted to recreate the Old England rural spirit in the New World. He was quickly arrested by the Puritan authorities, who viewed his experiment (which included celebrating May Day, maintaining [almost too] friendly relations with the Indians and rejoicing in the beauties of the North American wilderness) as an instance of offensive paganism, and shipped back to England, while the other inhabitants were relocated (Conforti 2006: 67). After an almost 15-year-long exile, Morton returned to America, only to be arrested again. He spent a year in prison, which completely ruined his health and ultimately led to his death. The main charges against him were that he armed the Indians, thus aiding the enemies of the Puritan colonies, but it is more likely that his indulging in sensual pleasures and his lifestyle, described by Puritan magistrates as "libertine", along with erecting the Maypole as a symbol of joy and carefree living in the heart of the Puritan colony, posed too much of a threat to the community of visible saints (Zuckerman 1977: 256).

The Morton episode was only a minor incident in the history of Puritan conflicts with dissenters. What New England Puritans fought against most bitterly was what they called enthusiasm (Miller and Johnson, 1963: 10). Perhaps the best summary of their attitude was given by one of the first-generation Puritan clergymen and authors:

"All Familists, Antinomians, Anabaptists, and other Enthusiasts, shall have free Liberty to keep away from us, and such as will come to be gone as fast as they can, the sooner the better. " (Ward 1963: 227)

Among the so-called Enthusiasts, a religious group that repeatedly refused the right to freely exercise their creed outside the boundaries of the Puritan colonies and therefore suffered the harsh consequences of such persistence, were the Quakers. The Quakers also came to the New World in order to build their own community based on the belief in the Inner Light, but, unlike the Puritans, they did not insist on perfection and exclusiveness but on the equality of all men, tolerance and refusal of all ceremonies (Boorstin 1958: 33-34). Furthermore, they constantly came back to Massachusetts, despite banishments and other harsh punishments (often including whipping, ear-cropping and other cruelties), in the quest for martyrdom, disrupting the sermons and sometimes even publicly displaying their naked bodies (Bremer 1976: 139). In several extreme cases, repeated offenders who came back to the Puritan colony regardless of the previous banishment became even subjected to the death penalty. The two groups seem to have formed a peculiar symbiosis: the Quakers were relentless in their pursuit of the crown of martyrdom, while the Puritans were sometimes even too eager to oblige.

The relations between the New England Puritans and the Quakers represent only one of the dichotomies that seem to have marked the Puritan colonial experience in America. According to Henry Adams (qtd in Delbanco 1991: 14), "Resistance to something was the law of New England nature". It seems that in many ways, Puritanism in America was defined and, according to some scholars, even invented by its opposition, by those who detested and resisted it regardless of the price they had to pay (Heimert and Delbanco 2001: 8). It is interesting that Hawthorne's short stories that deal with these themes are also built around the opposition of two sides, one of which is always the Puritan, as we will see in the third part of the paper.

2.3. Puritan legacy in America

It is noticeable that most of the scholarly literature that deals with the New England Puritans focuses on the totalitarian, autocratic, hierarchical and authoritarian aspects of their regime. However, what is often understated is the fact that the religion they brought to the new continent, although seemingly narrow and rigid, also included a peculiar philosophy and a metaphysic that provided a cultural framework inside which one's emotional and intellectual life could be organized (Miller and Johnson 1963: 4). Owing to the complexity of the culture they brought with themselves, their errand into the wilderness was successful and the Puritans managed to establish themselves as a dominant majority group in colonial New England.

Another part of the Puritan heritage that has often been praised throughout American history was their resistance to English oppression and their struggle for preserving New England (Bremer 2009: 105). Many of the 17th-century Puritan characteristics survived long enough to influence the character of the new nation bom in the 18th century: viewing Americans as the chosen people identified with ancient Israel, their activist Christianity, the covenant theology, a strong inclination towards introspection and, especially present today, the idea of America fighting the war against the Antichrist (McKenna 2007: 49).

We have seen that the Puritan legacy in the USA, although unquestionably important, can be seen in a more or less (un)favorable light in terms of historical considerations. However, it must not be overlooked that the author who was the first to bring the Puritans into the limelight was Nathaniel Hawthorne, many of whose works explored and re-contextualized the American colonial past. The following section will focus on Hawthorne's short stories that have New England Puritans as their main protagonists.

3. Hawthorne's Puritans

Many of the preconceptions about the (New England) Puritans we hold even today are based on the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne. The famous opening scene of the first chapter of "The Scarlet Letter", in which "a throng of bearded men, in sad-colored garments and grey steeple-crowned hats" (Hawthorne 1994: 40) watch and comment on the punishment of a young woman with a baby in her arms, is how most people see the Puritans even today - somber, merciless patriarchs dressed in black and opposed to anything that brings joy to life. Many of Hawthorne's short stories also deal with this chapter of American heritage and are fictionalized scenes from the American colonial past. The stories that will be presented here are all from the "Twice-Told Tales" collection. What they all have in common, besides the fact that some of their protagonists are New England Puritans, is that they are constructed around the opposition of two sides.

3.1. Jollity vs. gloom: "The Maypole of Merry Mount"

In the opening scene of "The Maypole of Merry Mount" (all subsequent quotations, unless indicated otherwise are from Hawthorne 2004: 49-63), we have the Maypole as the central symbol of a jolly and carefree colony and its inhabitants dressed in bright colors, decorated with flowers and ribbons and wearing animal masks. They are contrasted and, perhaps significantly, surrounded by a group of Puritans, described as "most dismal wretches", who are led by John Endicott, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, "the Puritan of Puritans". The two groups symbolically represent light and darkness and can be seen as the struggle between unrestrained sensuality and rational suppression of natural impulses (Bell 1971: 120).

Hawthorne's description of the Puritans certainly lacks sympathy, but we can also find hints of disapproval in his portrayal of the Merry Mounters. Even though, at first glance, it seems that the colony of Merry Mount and its dedication to the celebration of life, love and nature is meant to represent a happy alternative to the somber Puritan world, a careful reader will notice that the activities undertaken by the Merry Mounters are false, escapist, irresponsible, pointless and therefore, destined to failure. This view is expressed by critic Terrence Martin (1983: 88-89), who claims that the story is told in such a manner that readers cannot identify with either side - both alternatives for the New England future seem gloomy. While the stem Puritans dedicate their lives to hard work, even harder prayers and hunting for profit, the Merry Mounters organize celebrations and hunt only to use animal skins for masquerading. It is clear that such a way of life, a "wild philosophy of pleasure", is not compatible with the virgin soil of the New World, which demands dedication and hard work in order to survive. In the struggle in which "jollity and gloom were contending for an empire", the winner seems to be predetermined from the start.

When Endicott triumphantly cuts down the Maypole and then suggests that a whipping post, "the Puritan Maypole" as Hawthorne ironically calls it, should be put in its place instead, the direction in which the future country is going to move seems to be irrevocably set. The Puritans swiftly disperse with all the symbols of the "gay colony": whippings and tortures are ordered, the dancing bear is shot and the blasphemous priest is to wait for the trial, because his offence against the Puritan religion is considered the gravest one. However, a seemingly merciless Puritan leader still shows some sympathy when faced with a newly-wed couple, who, encouraged by their youth and mutual love, are the only ones among the Merry Mounters who dare to speak for themselves and show some resistance and integrity. Thus, the rigidity of the sternest representative of the Puritans is slightly mitigated in the end. The young couple also realizes that their future life will be filled with more than just merry-making and that they have to take responsibility for their actions and start behaving like adults.

The story is in line with the historical considerations of the Puritan treatment of dissent: Endicott's swift reaction against a minor settlement, the inhabitants of which dared to live by a creed different from the Puritan one, testifies to the Puritan intolerance of any transgressions however insignificant they may have seemed. Puritan views of the transgressors, who are compared to devil's disciples, and the harsh punishment that the Merry Mount priest is to receive confirm the centrality of the issue of faith in Puritan life. However, it must be acknowledged that Hawthorne is critical of both options: he sides neither with the Puritan sternness and exclusivity, nor with the frivolity of the Merry Mounters. This criticality of two very different and very extreme world views and life philosophies can also be observed in the story which we will analyze next.

3.2. We are holier than thou: "The Gentle Boy"

"The Gentle Boy" (all subsequent quotations, unless indicated otherwise are from Hawthorne 2004: 63-99) is another of Hawthorne's short stories that recontextualizes the American colonial past and is built around two oppositions. In this case, it is "rational piety and unbridled fanaticism contending for the empire of a young heart". The center of the story is the fate of a young Quaker boy, whose father has been executed by the Puritans because of his religious beliefs and repeated transgressions against the Puritan laws, which strictly forbade preaching the Quaker doctrine of the inner light within the boundaries of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. His mother also abandons him and chooses to follow "the dictates of a wild fanaticism", as Hawthorne describes the unrelenting zeal and enthusiasm of the Quaker sect. The boy is adopted by a Puritan family, but his inclusion in the Puritan society proves to be an unachievable end.

Even though the boy's innocence and meekness of spirit are emphasized throughout the story, he is still shunned by the Puritan community, who even extend their prejudices and rejection to the boy's adopted family. The climax of the story is the scene where the boy is tricked by one of his peers, whom he had previously treated with kindness and believed to have become his true friend, and cruelly beaten and insulted by a group of Puritan children. The scene significantly takes place behind the Puritan meeting house and the cruelty with which the boy is treated is amplified by the fact that it is performed by children, "baby-fiends", who completely repeat the patterns of behavior of their parents. The scene abounds in irony and testifies to the force of Puritan prejudices, which are imprinted onto the minds of the members of their community from early childhood. The gentle-spirited boy does not survive that outburst of unprovoked and undeserved cruelty and only his deathbed shortly manages to unite his biological mother and his adopted parents in grief and regret. The event leaves a deep mark on the boy's adopted father, who begins to lose his faith and becomes more inclined towards the Quaker doctrine, whereas the boy's biological mother becomes even more fanatical in her religious zeal. Hawthorne openly criticizes both religious views and exposes the consequences of religious fanaticism that neglects basic human values. The only character who actually manages to see beyond the religious dogma is the boy's adopted mother, who remains brokenhearted in the end. As we said in the previous section, it takes a careful reader to see beyond the simple explanation of the Quaker doctrine representing a more humanistic alternative to stem Puritanism. In this story as well, both options are severely criticized: the former because of its obstinate and self-destmctive insistence on martyrdom at all costs, and the latter because of its intolerance, which sometimes turns into utmost cruelty (see, for example, Crews 1966: 65-69). Hawthorne's sympathy goes to those who are not willing to sacrifice the sanctity of a human life in the name of an abstract idea, thus exposing and criticizing "the dehumanizing effects of a religious idea" (Martin 1983: 71).

This story gives another harsh portrayal of New England Puritans, as is almost customary in Hawthorne. However, not all of his stories show his Puritan ancestors in an unfavorable light. Such is the case with the third story, discussed below.

3.3. Bold exploits: "Endicott and the Red Cross"

As previously mentioned, one of the acknowledged Puritan achievements was their opposition to the tyranny of the mother country, which ultimately ushered in the American Revolution. The event that Hawthorne recontextualizes in this story also serves this purpose. The story is set in the period when Charles I mied England and the Puritan authorities in Plymouth and Massachusetts were in danger of losing their power, due to the hostile attitude towards the Puritan movement of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was appointed by the King.

In the opening scene of "Endicott and the Red Cross" (all subsequent quotations, unless indicated otherwise are from Hawthorne 2004: 419-427), we see the English banner with the red cross above the Puritan colony in the center of which is the meeting house. Scattered around the meetinghouse are the means of enforcing the Puritan authority: the whipping post, the pillory with a suspected Roman Catholic confined to it, the stocks which imprison a royalist and a band of Puritan soldiers led by John Endicott. Other transgressors are also publicly displayed: a member of the "enthusiast" sect, wearing the sign "A Wanton Gospeller", a woman punished with a cleft stick on her tongue for publicly criticizing the authorities, people with cropped ears, branded cheeks and slit nostrils and a woman with the scarlet letter A on her dress - the precursor of Hester Prynne. Although the portrayed scene testifies to the intolerance and brutality of New England Puritans, Hawthorne reminds the readers that "It was the policy of our ancestors to search out even the most secret sins, and expose them to shame, without fear of favor, in the broadest light of the noonday sun."

Another member of this mixture of fictional and historical characters is Roger Williams, minister in Salem at that period, who brings news from England for Endicott to read. Enraged by the received news, Endicott announces that the colony is to be put under the rule of a governor-general, appointed from England, and interprets this gesture as the English attempt "to establish the idolatrous forms of English Episcopacy". He reminds his fellow Puritans that it is precisely their search for religious freedom and civil rights that brought them to the New World in the first place and that they should not accept any imposition of authority. Endicott then boldly advances towards the English banner and, with a triumphant cry and the approval of the on-looking multitude, cuts the red cross out of the banner - thus, symbolically, announcing the removal of the English rule in the Puritan colonies. Hawthorne calls this gesture "one of the boldest exploits which our history records" and weaves the trait of oppression to tyranny into the American national character. Endicott's predominantly religious gesture thus receives political implications, announcing the American Revolution and the prominent role that the descendants of the first Puritan settlers would have in it many years later (Grant 1988: 143-163).

Despite the fact that the main purpose of this story seems to be the glorification of the rebellious Puritans, whose bravery and resolution laid the groundwork for the future independence of the U.S.A., there are still ambiguities in the portrayal of the Puritans and their leader Endicott (Wright 2007: 80). It is obvious that their struggle for civil and religious rights includes only the members of the community of visible saints, whereas all those with different opinions, beliefs and aspirations are to be denied those same rights. Endicott's reply to the "Wanton Gospeller" who demands the right to exercise his religion freely is a harsh one and in line with the previously quoted Nathaniel Ward. Thus, Hawthorne's Puritan ancestor is, on one hand, celebrated as the champion of liberty from tyranny, while on the other, portrayed as the tyrant himself, leaving the resolution of the story ambiguous.

4. Conclusion

In this article, we have attempted to use the interdisciplinary method that is characteristic of cultural studies in order to analyze three of Hawthorne's short stories from the "Twice-Told Tales" collection. Comparing historical data and fictionalized history, we were able to see certain similarities between the treatment of the New England Puritans in history books and in Hawthorne's works. It seems indisputable that the Puritan New England society was a rigid, totalitarian and closed one, as is the case with Hawthorne's Puritans. Any transgression against the social and especially religious norms was immediately sanctioned and suppressed. Outsiders were treated with suspicion and even the members of the community of visible saints were under constant scrutiny. In certain cases, the harshest punishments were administered to the transgressors. However, what both history and Hawthorne acknowledge is the fact that the Puritan dedication, hard work and cultural framework were in many ways necessary for the survival of the colonies in the hostile wilderness. Furthermore, the spirit of rebellion against any kind of oppression that the Puritans carried with themselves (although ironically, in many ways they were the ones who oppressed) was later on fully expressed during the American Revolution and has been praised as one of the main traits of the American national character. While they helped to enforce stereotypes of the Puritans, Hawthorne's works also served another important purpose: that of exploring the American heritage and thus creating genuinely American literature.

References

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