Excerpts from Melville's Moby-Dick, first
the dedication of the novel to Hawthorne, then a passage from the seventieth
chapter "The Sphynx" in which Captain Ahab's soliloquy-like address to a whale's
head exhibits language clues that permit a second interpretation of the passage
as further tribute to Hawthorne. The term "mosses" alludes to Melville's
review "Hawthorne and His Mosses" for Hawthorne's collection of stories Mosses
from an Old Manse; the Shakespearean form of soliloquy echoes Melville's
connection of Hawthorne and Shakespeare in that review; the references to
"The Sphynx" and "the secret thing that is in thee" parallel Melville's repeated
observations of Hawthorne's possessing a "secret," the knowledge of which
would shed light upon his works; and the words of praise "venerable",
"mighty", and "deepest" in this context suggest that Moby
Dick's author intended his masterpiece as an offerering to his beloved
Hawthorne more than is generally recognized:
Excerpt from Hawthorne's "The Old Manse" in Mosses
from an Old Manse in which the term "mosses" is clarified in
reference to the qualities of the mosses on the walls of the house, the significance
of the term lying not only in its use in the title of the collection of short
stories but also Melville's use of it in his review of that work and elsewhere.
In the following excerpts from Hawthorne's The
Blithedale Romance, the Hawthorne-like character, poet and narrator
Miles Coverdale, and the Melville-like character, passionate monomaniac Hollingsworth
suggest Melville's influence on the novel. The first person narrator, a young
man who joins a major enterprise with mostly adventure-seeking motives, certainly
calls to mind narrator Ishmael in Melville's Moby-Dick. The dark and
brawny Hollingsworth, bearing a physical resemblance to Melville, cares for
Coverdale and seeks his partnership, moreover, in an intensity that seems
to parallel Melville's evident affection for and desire for intimacy with
Hawthorne. The sharp, mysterious break in the relationships between the two
authors and the fictional pair constitute yet another likeness.
Excerpts from A Tanglewood Tale by Juliane
Glantz and Stephen Glantz copyright 2001 (courtesy of Juliane and Stephen
Glantz)
The play dramatizes the developing friendship of Nathaniel Hawthorne and
Herman Melville during the 1850-1851 period when both authors resided in
Berkshire County, Massachusetts. In spite of their strong attraction to
each other, they become estranged by fundamental differences. Puritan-in-spite-of
himself, Hawthorne is pressed too far when worldly former whaler Melville
becomes explicit about shipboard liaisons with fellow sailors. Though the
play suggests Hawthorne is curious about same sex relations, the reserved
New Englander flees Melville and the Berkshires rather than pursue the subject.
In this long passage from The Scarlet Letter, Roger Chillingworth
not only admits to becoming the demon who has tormented Arthur Dimmesdale
beyond reason, but recognizes as well that he has no power to pardon, that
is, no power to alter the evil that has grown in him. For Chillingworth
the evil is the same as fate, a darkness out of his control that he must,
of necessity, act out. Melville's John Claggart, the villain of Herman Melville's
Billy Budd, Sailor, is described in strikingly similar, if more elaborated,
terms. Like Chillingworth, he cannot "annul the elemental evil in him" and
so must act out his dark part.
Echoes of Hawthorne in Melville's
Billy Budd: an essay by Dr. John W. Stuart, Department of English,
Manchester-Essex Regional High School, Manchester, MA, prepared for the Hawthorne
in Salem Website, November 2003
Melville's novelette Billy Budd connects with Hawthorne in several
respects: I.) an allusion to Hawthorne's short story "The Birthmark"; II.)
tensions of same sex relationships that mirror situations in both the real
lives and fictional narratives of Hawthorne and Melville; and III.) a preoccupation
with the nature of evil, an ongoing subject of fascination for both authors.
Excerpt from Hawthorne's "The Old Manse" in Mosses from an Old Manse in which the term "mosses" is clarified in reference to the qualities of the mosses on the walls of the house, the significance of the term lying not only in its use in the title of the collection of short stories but also Melville's use of it in his review of that work and elsewhere.
