POE, HAWTHORNE, MELVILLE
characterized by arrogant self-righteousness, avarice and love of
power; and that of the witch, who represents, in general, the repressed
elements in the puritan psyche. In
The Scarlet Letter
this opposition
is
indicated chiefly through the environmental setting, in the con–
trast between Boston and the forest, In
The House of the Seven
Gables
the two images are embodied in the two hostile familes, the
Pyncheons and the Maules, while in
The BlithB'dale Romance
they
reappear in the personalities of Hollingsworth and Zenobia. And both
the magistrate and the witch, in contr.asting ways, have cut them–
selves off from ordinary humanity and are therefore damned.
Yet while Hawthorne states clearly enough what he regards as
evil, it is difficult to derive from his writings any positive conception
of good. Profoundly skeptical about all social reforms, convinced of
the innate sinfulness of the human heart, he seems to regard almost
any form of unusual ambition or achievement as a symptom of pride
and lack of love. The alternative to isolation is apparently to remain
content with things as they are. The desire for perfection (as in
The
Birthmark)
leads to destruction. That achievement may be social
rather than private, or that it may be a means of reuniting the in–
dividual with society, are possibilities which are scarcely considered.
Melville differs from both Poe and Hawthorne in that he has a
positive conception of solidarity.
This
solidarity, however, can be
found only in the miniature world of the ship, which is transitory and
artificial, and ceases as soon as the sailor goes ashore. Ashore, as in
the Liverpool scenes of
Redburn,
in the concluding chapters of
Israel Potter,
and in
Pierre,
the individual is utterly and hopelessly
alone. This aloneness is not glorified, as in Poe, or attributed to
sin,
as
in
Hawthorne; it is simply stated as an inescapable part of the gen–
eral misery of human existence. And although the individual can
sometimes (by no means always, as
Redburn
demonstrates) find a
place for himself as a member of a ship's crew, his isolation is only
transferred thereby to a different plane. The ultimate relationship
between man and the universe is, for Melville, one of conflict rather
than
of underlying unity and harmony. The human being can
choose, like Ahab, to go to sea, do battle with the white whale, and
die heroically; or he can remain ashore and die ignobly. Whether he
aaerts
his
will or denies it, he is, in the end, alone.
Thus all three of these writers present individuals who lack the
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