The Blithedale Romance Literary Devices

Explanation and Analysis—Mesmerism:

In The Blithedale Romance, Hawthorne develops a recurring motif of mesmerism in order to show that he disapproves of the practice. Social and economic tensions, present in the decades that helped create characters like the poor, exploited seamstress Priscilla, likewise gave rise to mesmerism. In a newly industrialized world, many people yearned for some form of escape. Mesmerism represented such an escape and became a popular form of entertainment in the 18th and 19th centuries. But what, exactly, is mesmerism? Some people believed that by using natural energy, a "mesmerist" could put someone into a trance, in which they could speak to the dead, heal heartaches, predict the future, and more. Spectators often paid to see mesmerists; one recurring example of this in The Blithedale Romance is the Veiled Lady. In Chapter 1, Coverdale calls her a "phenomenon in the mesmeric line":

As I have casually alluded to the Veiled Lady, it may not be amiss to mention, for the benefit of such of my readers as are unacquainted with her now forgotten celebrity, that she was a phenomenon in the mesmeric line; one of the earliest that had indicated the birth of a new science, or the revival of an old humbug.

The Veiled Lady appears at key points in the story and is later revealed to be Priscilla. Her fame indicates either "the birth of a new science" or the "revival of an old humbug." Here Coverdale remains skeptical of her practice of mesmerism because it can be used to manipulate people, which clashes with Priscilla's subservient personality. However, he always speaks in a somewhat reverent tone for this mysterious lady and remains slightly amenable to the possible truth of her talent. Professor Westervelt, an enigmatic musician, likewise engages in mesmerism. He has a sinister appearance and behaviors, such as very white teeth and a golden rod in his mouth (details that suggest his teeth are fake). He has tremendous power over the Veiled Lady, and she follows all of his orders in his mesmerism shows and makes him a lot of money. However, in the end, Priscilla runs offstage to Hollingsworth and Zenobia kills herself, leaving Westervelt with no one to manipulate. Thus mesmerism as a motif highlights the potential harm it can cause, as well as the author's skepticism about the practice.

Explanation and Analysis—Concealment:

Throughout The Blithedale Romance, many characters attempt to conceal their feelings, motives, and identities. One example is the narrator—Miles "Coverdale"—who attempts to "cover" his personal feelings and motives while explaining those of others. His name reveals the defining quality of his character; he not only tries to hide his true thoughts, but also deludes himself into believing that he does not know them. For example, when Zenobia asks him why he keeps bringing up Priscilla's love for Hollingsworth, he claims that “an uncertain sense of some duty to perform, that brings my thoughts, and therefore my words, continually to that one point.” However, his own love for Priscilla—which he conceals until the very last chapter—is the true motive behind continuously talking about her attraction to Hollingsworth. He claims to have an "uncertain sense of duty" toward the subject of Priscilla's romantic relationships when, in reality, his sense of duty derives from his own feelings of love.

A second key example of concealment is that Hollingsworth hides the fact that he uses everybody's labor to further his "philanthropic" vision. At first, Hollingsworth seems like a good man. He appears to be friendly, helpful, and hardworking; he also cares for Coverdale when he falls ill. But later in the story, the narrator reveals that Hollingsworth's obsession with philanthropy leads him to manipulate others in pursuit of his goal. He joined Blithedale in order to build it up, buy its land, and build his own facility. The continual masking of his motives marks another important instance of concealment, and this iteration of the motif supports the theme of the discrepancy between self-interest and collectivism.

A third example is Zenobia's name, which conceals her identity. In Chapter 2, the old man says,

Zenobia, by-the-by, as I suppose you know, is merely her public name; a sort of mask in which she comes before the world, retaining all the privileges of privacy—a contrivance, in short, like the white drapery of the Veiled Lady, only a little more transparent. But it is late! Will you tell me what I can do for you?

Here an old man compares Zenobia to the Veiled Lady, who is perhaps the most obvious example of hiddenness. Zenobia hopes to "retain all the privileges of privacy" by hiding her real name. Rumors of a past marriage, as well as an unspoken connection to the other members of Blithedale, make Zenobia the most mysterious character in the first half of the novel. Her name represents her efforts to protect herself via concealment. Later in the novel, the narrator reveals how he discovered her true identity, her love for Hollingsworth, and her connections to the other characters.

Lastly, it is important to note that concealment works a bit differently for women than it does for men. Zenobia conceals her true name, and the Veiled Lady conceals her physical appearance. Both represent self-protection. But in the case of the men like Coverdale or Hollingsworth, motives must be concealed in order to accomplish goals or protect reputations. Every character has something to hide, and they strive by different means to preserve their privacy of identity, motive, feeling, or past. In the end, though, the reader learns the truth about each and every character.

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Explanation and Analysis—The Role of Women:

The role of women becomes a recurring motif in The Blithedale Romance as the members of Blithedale discuss gender roles in their new community. In Chapter 3, Zenobia declares that the "softer sex" will perform domestic tasks. Coverdale responds:

“What a pity,” I remarked, “that the kitchen, and the house-work generally, cannot be left out of our system altogether! It is odd enough, that the kind of labor which falls to the lot of women is just that which chiefly distinguishes artificial life—the life of degenerated mortals—from the life of Paradise. Eve had no dinner-pot, and no clothes to mend, and no washing-day.”

Here Coverdale displays a shocking lack of appreciation for the value of women's work. He claims that mending, cooking, cleaning, and other chores are chiefly "artificial" tasks that belong to a "life of degenerated mortals." This commentary fits his character; he is a poet with a very tenuous grasp on reality. He wants to write lofty poems and have lofty ideas, and he believes in the superiority of the mind over the body. But he does not realize the importance of household work to the health and sanity of Blithedale inhabitants. He rather holds their new life to the impossibly high standard of Paradise before the fall of Adam and Eve, to which Zenobia retaliates by saying that they might "find some difficulty in adopting the Paradisical system" for at least a month as they work to set up their new life.

However, Coverdale also acknowledges that women might play a positive role in Blithedale. In Chapter 11, he observes:

Most men—and, certainly, I could not always claim to be one of the exceptions—have a natural indifference, if not an absolutely hostile feeling, towards those whom disease, or weakness, or calamity of any kind, causes to faulter and faint amid the rude jostle of our selfish existence. The education of Christianity, it is true, the sympathy of a like experience, and the example of women, may soften, and possibly subvert, this ugly characteristic of our sex.

Coverdale recognizes that women might positively influence the emotional lives of their male counterparts. He notes the masculine tendency to be "hostile" toward weakness and derides the "rude jostle" and "selfish existence" of common life. By contrast, the softer, more understanding "example of women" has the potential to improve or overrule this male tendency. In the novel as a whole, the role of women represents a range of negative and positive qualities in Coverdale's mind, most of which reflect 19th-century gender roles.

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Explanation and Analysis—Priscilla's Purses:

The Blithedale Romance contains many symbols of sexual desire, such as Priscilla's purses, which become recurring motifs of purity and hiddenness. In Chapter 5, the narrator describes her handiwork:

She now produced, out of a work-bag that she had with her, some little wooden instruments[...]and proceeded to knit, or net, an article which ultimately took the shape of a silk purse. As the work went on, I remembered to have seen just such purses, before. Indeed, I was the possessor of one. Their peculiar excellence, besides the great delicacy and beauty of the manufacture, lay in the almost impossibility that any uninitiated person should discover the aperture; although, to a practised touch, they would open as wide as charity or prodigality might wish. I wondered if it were not a symbol of Priscilla’s own mystery.

Like Priscilla herself, the purses are delicate, beautiful, and "peculiar." They can be opened only by the maker or by those who have a "practised touch." Many phrases in this passage connote sexual purity, and the narrator explicitly wonders if the purses are a "symbol of Priscilla's own mystery." But what mystery? That of her strange disposition? Or the mystery of the adult world to her innocent purity? The latter idea seems more probable because Priscilla's purity makes her attractive to men: both Hollingsworth and Coverdale fall in love with her simple, girlish presence.

The purses also serve as a symbol of female value in Chapter 9, when the narrator claims that Priscilla remains "unserviceable" except for her needlework:

[...]except with her needle, and those little wooden instruments for purse-making – [Priscilla] was as unserviceable a member of society as any young lady in the land. There was no other sort of efficiency about her. Yet everybody was kind to Priscilla; everybody loved her, and laughed at her, to her face, and did not laugh, behind her back; everybody would have given her half of his last crust, or the bigger share of his plum-cake.

Here, Coverdale says that pursemaking is Priscilla's only talent—just as being beautiful and feminine was often considered a woman's only calling. She is "unserviceable" and inefficient, but just as the purses themselves are beautiful, so is Priscilla, and everyone genuinely seems to like her. At the end of the novel, Priscilla cares for Hollingsworth, and she proves her practical worth beyond the purses. Throughout the story, this recurring motif emphasizes the novel's themes of sexuality, purity, and a woman's role in the Blithedale project.

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Explanation and Analysis—Priscilla's Purses:

The Blithedale Romance contains many symbols of sexual desire, such as Priscilla's purses, which become recurring motifs of purity and hiddenness. In Chapter 5, the narrator describes her handiwork:

She now produced, out of a work-bag that she had with her, some little wooden instruments[...]and proceeded to knit, or net, an article which ultimately took the shape of a silk purse. As the work went on, I remembered to have seen just such purses, before. Indeed, I was the possessor of one. Their peculiar excellence, besides the great delicacy and beauty of the manufacture, lay in the almost impossibility that any uninitiated person should discover the aperture; although, to a practised touch, they would open as wide as charity or prodigality might wish. I wondered if it were not a symbol of Priscilla’s own mystery.

Like Priscilla herself, the purses are delicate, beautiful, and "peculiar." They can be opened only by the maker or by those who have a "practised touch." Many phrases in this passage connote sexual purity, and the narrator explicitly wonders if the purses are a "symbol of Priscilla's own mystery." But what mystery? That of her strange disposition? Or the mystery of the adult world to her innocent purity? The latter idea seems more probable because Priscilla's purity makes her attractive to men: both Hollingsworth and Coverdale fall in love with her simple, girlish presence.

The purses also serve as a symbol of female value in Chapter 9, when the narrator claims that Priscilla remains "unserviceable" except for her needlework:

[...]except with her needle, and those little wooden instruments for purse-making – [Priscilla] was as unserviceable a member of society as any young lady in the land. There was no other sort of efficiency about her. Yet everybody was kind to Priscilla; everybody loved her, and laughed at her, to her face, and did not laugh, behind her back; everybody would have given her half of his last crust, or the bigger share of his plum-cake.

Here, Coverdale says that pursemaking is Priscilla's only talent—just as being beautiful and feminine was often considered a woman's only calling. She is "unserviceable" and inefficient, but just as the purses themselves are beautiful, so is Priscilla, and everyone genuinely seems to like her. At the end of the novel, Priscilla cares for Hollingsworth, and she proves her practical worth beyond the purses. Throughout the story, this recurring motif emphasizes the novel's themes of sexuality, purity, and a woman's role in the Blithedale project.

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Explanation and Analysis—Passion:

The motif of passion takes two forms in The Blithedale Romance, and these forms clash in a way that shows the incompatibility between human emotion and utopian idealism. First, the narrator presents the reader with a host of characters with a passion for building Blithedale. Then he reveals a complex network of sexual passions, most notably Priscilla and Zenobia's love for Hollingsworth. These passions—for building Blithedale, and for other people—tend to work against each other. The volatility of love, especially when it leads to violence (as it does in the case of Zenobia's suicide), limits the characters' potential to perfect society and humankind. By using this motif, Hawthorne reminds the reader that human passions win out over artifice—whether they result in triumph or tragedy.

In Chapter 9, Coverdale captures the significance of romantic love within the Blithedale project:

There was the more danger of this, inasmuch as the footing, on which we all associated at Blithedale, was widely different from that of conventional society. While inclining us to the soft affections of the Golden Age, it seemed to authorize any individual, of either sex, to fall in love with any other, regardless of what would elsewhere be judged suitable and prudent. Accordingly, the tender passion was very rife among us, in various degrees of mildness or virulence[...] This was all well enough; but, for a girl like Priscilla, and a woman like Zenobia, to jostle one another in their love of a man like Hollingsworth, was likely to be no child’s play.

Here Coverdale seems to believe that love among men and women is interchangeable, and any person can "fall in love with any other." Nonetheless, love is "no child's play" and can have major consequences for those involved, whether they give or receive love. Love and passion have an enormous impact on the social dynamics of Blithedale; two women love Hollingsworth, two men love Priscilla, and their desires drive them to act irrationally. Perhaps this is why Coverdale uses the word "danger" even as he engages inconsistently with the idea of love. Here he takes it seriously, but later in the story he playfully suggests that Priscilla should show Hollingsworth her new dress, to which Zenobia replies: "It is dangerous, sir, believe me, to tamper thus with earnest human passions, out of your own mere idleness."

Throughout the novel, passion becomes a recurring motif that appears in two key spheres (that ultimately work against each other). Passion in the form of volatile romantic/sexual passion ends up undercutting the type of passion that's essential to creating Blithedale.

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Explanation and Analysis—The Role of Women:

The role of women becomes a recurring motif in The Blithedale Romance as the members of Blithedale discuss gender roles in their new community. In Chapter 3, Zenobia declares that the "softer sex" will perform domestic tasks. Coverdale responds:

“What a pity,” I remarked, “that the kitchen, and the house-work generally, cannot be left out of our system altogether! It is odd enough, that the kind of labor which falls to the lot of women is just that which chiefly distinguishes artificial life—the life of degenerated mortals—from the life of Paradise. Eve had no dinner-pot, and no clothes to mend, and no washing-day.”

Here Coverdale displays a shocking lack of appreciation for the value of women's work. He claims that mending, cooking, cleaning, and other chores are chiefly "artificial" tasks that belong to a "life of degenerated mortals." This commentary fits his character; he is a poet with a very tenuous grasp on reality. He wants to write lofty poems and have lofty ideas, and he believes in the superiority of the mind over the body. But he does not realize the importance of household work to the health and sanity of Blithedale inhabitants. He rather holds their new life to the impossibly high standard of Paradise before the fall of Adam and Eve, to which Zenobia retaliates by saying that they might "find some difficulty in adopting the Paradisical system" for at least a month as they work to set up their new life.

However, Coverdale also acknowledges that women might play a positive role in Blithedale. In Chapter 11, he observes:

Most men—and, certainly, I could not always claim to be one of the exceptions—have a natural indifference, if not an absolutely hostile feeling, towards those whom disease, or weakness, or calamity of any kind, causes to faulter and faint amid the rude jostle of our selfish existence. The education of Christianity, it is true, the sympathy of a like experience, and the example of women, may soften, and possibly subvert, this ugly characteristic of our sex.

Coverdale recognizes that women might positively influence the emotional lives of their male counterparts. He notes the masculine tendency to be "hostile" toward weakness and derides the "rude jostle" and "selfish existence" of common life. By contrast, the softer, more understanding "example of women" has the potential to improve or overrule this male tendency. In the novel as a whole, the role of women represents a range of negative and positive qualities in Coverdale's mind, most of which reflect 19th-century gender roles.

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The Blithedale Romance

Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Blithedale Romance: Motifs 5 key examples