Hilda In The Marble Faun

Hilda wanders into a cathedral and becomes entranced by its magic.

Hilda in the marble faun. When hilda knelt to receive the priest s benediction the act was witnessed by a person who stood leaning against the marble balustrade that surrounds the hundred golden lights before the high altar. The marble faun 1860 nathaniel hawthorne 1804 1864. Befriended by donatello a young italian with the classical grace of the marble faun miriam hilda and kenyon find their pursuit of art taking a sinister turn as miriam s unhappy past precipitates the present into tragedy. The fragility and the durability of human life and art dominate this story of american expatriates in italy in the mid nineteenth century.

In the faun s fusing of animal and human characteristics hawthorne found an. The marble faun written on the eve of the american civil war is set in a fantastical italy the romance mixes elements of a fable pastoral gothic novel and travel guide. Edging that she and all she represents are in direct conflict. Some of her friend s airy family the doves with their heads imbedded disconsolately in their bosoms were huddled in a corner of the piazza.

The marble faun 373 problem that stern quite rightly observes is that hilda not only disturbs us she violates the moral integrity of the novel. The book features picturesque descriptions of historic art and architecture in rome as a backdrop to a tale of mystery murder and romance. He uses words like intrusive anomalous and alien to describe hilda s disruptive presence acknowl. And hilda as contrasted to the affair of donatello and miriam.

Or the romance of monte beni is a novel by british author nathaniel hawthorne published in 1860. The marble faun concerns three young american artists miriam hilda and kenyon and their italian faun like friend donatello whose characters are transformed while on their stay in rome the eternal city. Others had alighted on the heads wings shoulders and trumpets of the marble angels which adorned the facade of the neighboring church. The marble faun in full the marble faun.

The novel s central metaphor is a statue of a faun by praxiteles that hawthorne had seen in rome. Two or three had betaken themselves to the virgin s shrine. By now the eternal city. The novel is set in italy and focuses on four main characters.

Like the pyncheon house rome is the corrupt old world the ruin of ancient mythologies a global symbol of decadence. Or the romance of monte beni novel by nathaniel hawthorne published in 1860 it is one of the works hawthorne called romances unrealistic stories in exotic settings.