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Summary:The Marble Faun by Nathaniel Hawthorne
In The Marble Faun , Hawthorne's last complete romance, the Puritan
problem of sin is transplanted to Italian soil. The scene is laid in Rome,
where the art of Michael Angelo and Raphael, the secret orders of the
Church, the tragic history of the eternal city, with its catacombs and
ruins, furnish a rich and varied background for the story. So faithfully
indeed are the galleries, churches, and historic corners of Rome described,
that The Marble Faun has served as a guide for the cultured visitor. This
expression of opinion by the late A. P. Stanley (1815-1881), a well-known
author and dean of Westminster Abbey, is worth remembering: "I have read it
seven times. I read it when it appeared, as I read everything from that
English master. I read it again when I expected to visit Rome, then when on
the way to Rome, again while in Rome, afterwards to revive my impressions
of Rome. Recently I read it again because I wanted to." In this historic
setting, Hawthorne places four characters: Donatello, the faun, Miriam, the
beautiful and talented young artist, Kenyon, the American sculptor, and
Hilda, the Puritan maid who tends the lamp of the Virgin in her tower among
the doves and makes true copies of the old masters. From the beginning of
the story some mysterious evil power is felt, and this power gains fuller
and fuller ascendency over the characters. What that is the author does not
say. It seems the very spirit of evil itself that twines its shadow about
human beings and crushes them if they are not strong enough to resist.
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