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Marble Faun, The
Marble Faun, The, romance by Hawthorne, published in 1860. It was issued in England as Transformation.
Kenyon, an American sculptor, Hilda, a New England girl, and the mysterious Miriam are friends among the art students in Rome. They become acquainted with Donatello, Count of Monte Beni, a handsome Italian who resembles the Faun of Praxiteles, not only physically, but also in his mingling of human and animal qualities, his amoral attitude, and his simple enjoyment of the life of the senses. The dark, passionate Miriam is loved by Donatello, but she is haunted by an unrevealed sin and by the persecution of a mysterious man who dogs her footsteps after an accidental meeting in the Catacombs. Donatello is enraged by this man, and after an encouraging glance from Miriam flings him to his death from the Tarpeian Rock. Thereafter they are linked by their mutual guilt, which they keep secret. Donatello becomes brooding and conscience‐stricken, and, though humanized by his suffering, is a broken spirit when he finally gives himself up to justice. Hilda, who saw the crime committed, is also involved in the sin until she forsakes Puritan tradition and pours out her secret at a church confessional. The unhappy Miriam disappears into the shadowy world from which she came, and Hilda and Kenyon are married. |
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Cite this article
James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Marble Faun, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Marble Faun, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-MarbleFaunThe.html James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Marble Faun, The." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-MarbleFaunThe.html |
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Marble Faun, The
Marble Faun, The, a novel by Hawthorne, published 1860 (in England as Transformation).
The scene is laid in Rome. Donatello is in love with the liberated young American art student Miriam, who is being persecuted by a mysterious stranger with whom she has some guilty connection. Roused to fury when encountering her with him on a moonlight expedition, Donatello murders him, with her unspoken assent, thus binding them together in a relationship ‘cemented by blood’. A sub-plot describes the relationship of a sculptor, Kenyon, and Miriam's art student friend Hilda, ‘the Dove’; Hilda, although herself totally innocent, feels herself under a ‘mysterious shadow of guilt’, by connection with Miriam. |
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Cite this article
MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Marble Faun, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Marble Faun, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-MarbleFaunThe.html MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Marble Faun, The." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-MarbleFaunThe.html |
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