[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.But this darkness but gives moreeffect to the ever-moving dawn, that forever advances through it, and cir-cumnavigates his world.Whether Hawthorne has simply availed himselfof this mystical blackness as a means to the wondrous effects he makes itto produce in his lights and shades; or whether there really lurks in him,perhaps unknown to himself, a touch of Puritanic gloom, this I can-92 Hawthorne and His Mosses 93not altogether tell.Certain it is, however, that this great power of black-ness in him derives its force from its appeals to that Calvinistic senseof Innate Depravity and Original Sin, from whose visitations, in someshape or other, no deeply thinking mind is always and wholly free.For,in certain moods, no man can weigh this world, without throwing insomething, somehow like Original Sin, to strike the uneven balance.Atall events, perhaps no writer has ever wielded this terrific thought withgreater terror than this same harmless Hawthorne.Still more: this blackconceit pervades him, through and through.You may be witched by hissunlight, transported by the bright gildings in the skies he builds overyou; but there is the blackness of darkness beyond; and even his brightgildings but fringe, and play upon the edges of thunder-clouds.In this passage, Melville introduces the notion of blackness that is soimportant for any understanding of this essay.Hawthorne s soul, he says, is shrouded in a blackness, ten times black. The first job of any readerof this passage is to try and make sense of this imagery, to try to under-stand with some precision what Melville represents through this imageof blackness.You might first notice that he introduces the idea of Haw-thorne s blackness through its opposite,  the Indian-summer sunlight onthe hither side of Hawthorne s soul. What is the relationship betweenthe light and the dark in Hawthorne? Why does Melville use the imageof a planet or a moon,  the physical sphere, to describe Hawthorne ssoul? What does that image suggest about the relationship between thelight and the dark in Hawthorne and his writing? Is it significant thatthe  Indian-summer sunlight is on the  hither side of Hawthorne ssoul, while his darker side lies on the further side of his soul? At first itseems that in mentioning these two opposing sides of the author Melvillemight be emphasizing the sunlight and the brightness in Hawthorne, forhe claims that the darkness  gives more effect to the ever-moving dawnthat.circumnavigates his world. Without the darkness, he seems tosay, the brightness would not be so brilliant and clear.It should not takelong, though, for a careful reader to see that it is not the brightness andthe sunlight that interests Melville.Toward the end of the passage, whenhe again contrasts the bright and the dark in Hawthorne, he says that thereader  might be witched by his sunlight, transported by the bright gild-ings in the skies he builds over you; but there is a blackness of darknessbeyond; and even his bright gildings but fringe, and play upon the edges94 Bloom s How to Write about Herman Melvilleof thunder-clouds. The darkness, the  thunder-clouds are primary andcentral, and the sunlight is but  gilding, a deceptively pleasing surfaceapplication.Similarly, he argues that the reader is  witched or deluded bythe sunlight, but the blackness  pervades him, through and through.Having thus established the centrality of the blackness of Hawthorne,you will need to do more analysis in order to try to understand whatMelville means when he uses this term.Melville labels this blackness mystical. Why does he choose that term? According to the AmericanHeritage Dictionary, two possible meanings for the word mystical are  ofor having a spiritual reality or import not apparent to the intelligence orsenses, and  of, relating to, or stemming from direct communion withultimate reality or God. Is Melville suggesting, then, that Hawthorne sdarkness communicates some spiritual truth? If so, how is that spiritualtruth connected to the idea of  Puritanic gloom and  that Calvinisticsense of Innate Depravity and Original Sin, from whose visitations.no deeply thinking mind is always and wholly free ? Does the blacknessin Hawthorne stem from the recognition of humanity s fallen nature?While Melville seems to indicate that this is so, in the next sentence hemodifies his reference to the doctrine of  innate Depravity and OriginalSin, saying that  in certain moods, no man can weigh this world, with-out throwing in something, somehow like Original Sin [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]