The situational irony at the heart of “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” is the fact that Robin arrives in Boston believing his cousin Major Molineux to be a highly revered leader in the community, only to discover at the end of the story that his cousin is so deeply despised that he has been tarred and feathered by a militant mob before being paraded through the streets. The irony of this reveal comes across in the following passage, as Robin first spies Major Molineux at the center of the parade:
A moment more, and the leader thundered a command to halt; the trumpets vomited a horrid breath, and held their peace; the shouts and laughter of the people died away, and there remained only a universal hum, nearly allied to silence. Right before Robin’s eyes was an uncovered cart. There the torches blazed the brightest, there the moon shone out like day, and there, in tar-and-feathery dignity, sate his kinsman, Major Molineux!
The way Hawthorne leads up to this moment prepares readers for a big reveal—the parade comes to a halt, the trumpets “hold their peace,” the spectators’ laughter “die[s] away,” and Robin looks toward “an uncovered cart.” In the brightness of the torches and the moon, Robin spots his cousin, and the narrator communicates his shock with the exclamation, “there, in tar-and-feathery dignity, sate his kinsman, Major Molineux!”
This example of situational irony is significant because it communicates just how innocent and naïve Robin was to believe his cousin would be highly regarded in a place where, in the 1730s, there were near-constant clashes between colonists and British-appointed officials. It is notable that Major Molineux is presented as innocent here, while colonists pushing for self-rule are depicted as evil members of a mob. Though Hawthorne was an American, he was also a Christian who placed a lot of importance on the concept of sin, and here he communicates his belief that the lawless violence of the American Revolution was condemnable.
