Unknown In American Literature

Nathaniel Hawthorne was a popular author during the nineteenth century, the time in which Romanticism had a significant influence upon literature. The literary genre of romanticism has six main components: the individual, imagination, personal and social intuition, nature, emotion, and the unknown. The unknown is typically portrayed as death as throughout the time period in which Romanticism was prominent as death was a mystery. While humans can understand the events that occur whilst they live, they know nothing of what happens during death or after death has occurred. Do human beings simply decay in the earth in which they are buried or, perhaps, become spirits and live eternally watching over the Earth they have left? Hawthorne addresses
In The House of Seven Gables the Pyncheon family is isolated from the rest of the society that they live amongst. The town is unaware of the family’s true past, but are frightened by the circumstances surrounding the Pyncheon family’s perceived history The mystery surrounding Clifford Pyncheon was particularly worrisome for the members of the society. In The Marble Faun, an analogous situation occurs. Miriam’s unknown past affects her deeply, which loosens divide the bond the four artists have shared from the novel’s beginning. Miriam and Donatello unite to hide Miriam’s fateful history and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of a figure from her past. These hidden secrets split the former colony of artists, leaving the question of whether the unknown should become known to resolve all
Hawthorne, in The House of the Seven Gables, portrays the character’s ages using physical descriptions and metaphors: “streaks of grey among her hair, like silver ribbons” (The House of the Seven Gables 35). Hawthorne refers to Hepzibah Pyncheon, an older woman. As she is older and closer to death than the younger generation of characters, her emotions and personality resemble her fear of the unknown. Hawthorne portrays this fear of the unknown in Hepzibah’s isolation and actions. She is harsh in her words and actions, leading many in her society to disregard her. Phoebe, initially, is young and full of life. However, after spending time amongst the Pyncheon family and their unknown past, she feels as if she has grown older: “I have grown a great deal older, in this little time. Older, and I hope, wiser, and – not exactly sadder, but, certainly, with not half so much lightness in my spirit's!” (149). The unknown has had a deepening effect on her