The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-01
lfHE SCARLET TRIANGLE,
HAWTHORNE AND THE DRAMA OF
ftGHE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT.

ezhO 0oaTIet letter. AZ Problem Novel
and PIsy - George WOodberry
ana HNWthorne's Original Morality
IN Mangneld as Observation-Disclosures"
FhA stage version Of "The Scarlet Letter.
nnlsBs something moro than the regret
tSihldh 10 inevitable when a good novel lie
RntchsrOd to make an actors holiday.
M, ManGdold's powers are worthy Of far
lbether things. But it vas Hawthorne's
Fplnsnoe which suffered the chief i~ndignity,
shcth In itself and % a potential therne for
sfhA drains, OF its greatness there has
nevOr. been any question, but American
HteFaturO holds no better example OF the
ifeea tbat the true altitude Of a work OF
egniub can be measured only through the
.sD~pTepective OF years. The fret edition
.gpHpbeesd 5000 copies, and Mr.. Fields con-
sot&ered this 90 libeyal that he distributed
ceheg types. The edition was exhausted IN
20 dayS. Before long-eloquent testimony
IT Worth!~it figured prominently in lists
ct tbO world'e best novels. And each OF
~ eiI decadee, as they have passed, has
aohseGned the impression Of its greatness.
q Hewthorns's primary distinction lies
II his choice Of subject. The chief virtue
"a EnRliSh literature, 1t has been said. is
bhta purity. Beyond question lite chief de-
sfecA 10 its moral anamia. One pdssion
xinas above all others in the human heart
one tmpulse unites the generations in the
s0Aernal evolution toward perfection. Yet
Is q race We have elected to ignore In our
5adt this transcendant passion. his vital
|impulbe, except in such expressions as
are oonventionGlly recognized and ap-
.rFovod. HAwthcrne's scarlet letter 10 the
lenahlem Of adultery. In the whole course OF
2BnRlish literature there has been one, and
kenly one, era when the hoopskrt Of con-
aaoious propriety swelled to the possible limit
"a pRotAet against the eye for things as they
.afAi and that was the era in which Haw-
thorne conceived The Scarlet Letter
What wa true Of composite England was
sesn times truer OF provincial and Puritan
.sAnaarica; yet Hawthorne published his
romance Of adultery in the capital OF our
Fgovincialisna and our prudery. In the
entire scope Of American literature there
Il no novel 90 daring in theme; and I cannot
.now recall ite equal In the literature OF
England.
y. GArtain defects no doubt It has, which
8EtUvent 81 from taking a as a con-
.eumrnate work Of art. A recent English
uatio hss complained that Hawthorne was
.provincial. II IL possible that he himself
would not greatly have resented the charge.
Mr.. Howells records that when he first
fAot him, she said he would like to see some
inert Of the country on which the shadow
s[cr,, II must be precise, the damned
shadow Of Europe had not fallen But
0yeh the most resolute individuality Is not
aimed without cost. Hawthorne's style,
q once formal. cumbrous and p~olysyllabic,
dates from q certain undtstinguished time
ana nlaet--and the same 10 true of the style
az Poe. Any one OF a dozen magazine
writers Of the present (and no other time
ssfelds d pen Of which the steel 10 at once
549neg, sharper, smoother, more ductile and
more resilient.
When It is a question Of Hawthorne's
raind and his spirit, however, it Is not so
easy to Ak this charge OF provincialism.
While lately rereading the book after a
lapse Of almost twenty years, I confess
that for q long time I felt crushed and APP
palled by what seemed to me a lack of SYM
patby with human passion and suffering.
The story In nearly three-quarters told.
IN fact, before there is any mention OF the
sanctions that brought these two spirits
20 Elm. Then the reference is caeual-as
it; seenas; almost p~arentbetical. Such
Yves the ruin to which she had brought the
mann onoe-nay. why should we not speak
.isa--stiu 60 passionately loved Was it
possible that while soaring upon our heart
and brain the awful penalties Of this pas
ston Hawthorne shrank from exposing to
IN the guise in which it assails the noble
apirit2 To portray the actual sin as frankly
n its ohastisement would tax the courage
even Of Q writer in this twentieth century;
md IL 10 known that, overworked and in
debt, the novelist feared that his story,
painful at best, would put too great a strain
ssipon the gympathies of his readers.
!. And were not the eufferings of Hester
and DinsneSddls, as Hawthorne pictures
them, % black wen for Puritan New
.Enkiand2 Again I confess to a period
.Df doubt. Severe as was the elder practice,
sc always laid stress on repentance and the
forgiveness Of sin; a matter which the
novelist leaves out Of the question. That
the picture OF old New England lie partial
md distorted there can oe no question.
Wee there not cider, soft and hard? Was
,tkere not rum2 I myself, a disciple Of the
odiiuto and degenerate highball. possess.
and hereby boast, an early ~progenitor
Who loudly swore, In the very face Of his
saduDonishing dannei that he would not
.Hkink O rod Of the brook to get a little rum.
etraieht was the talk and straight the
drink Of this Pilgrim. And then there
wssS bundhng. But far from contemplat-
ing anything OF all this Hawthorne speaks
.ealy Of the severity Of Puntanism, and
sGstlfises It at that. In describing a certain
festive celebration he remarks that into
~ sthe Puritans compressed whatever
.mirth and public Joy they deemed allowable
TO human infrmity; thereby 90 far dis
spsItng the customary cloud that. for the
.upsos Of q single holiday they seemed
scarcely more grave than most other COM
szumfties at q period Of general affection
But did he hinself rise above the severity
BE .eatiriDed7 In his conversation with
the youthful 'Howels he spoke Of the New
England temperament and suggested that
The apparent ooldness Of IL a also real,
sad that the euppressing Of emotion for
Wsneratons would e~xtinguish it at last
had he not himself suffered some such
zextinction?
= These questions brought me. long before
the end OF the romance, to Prof. Wood
heyty'a able though hardly sympathetic
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