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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Key Examples in The Blithedale Romance
Chapter 1: Old Moodie
Explanation and Analysis—Mesmerism:
In The Blithedale Romance, Hawthorne develops a recurring motif of mesmerism in order to show that he disapproves of the practice. Social and economic tensions, present in the decades that helped create characters like the poor, exploited seamstress Priscilla, likewise gave rise to mesmerism. In a newly industrialized world, many people yearned for some form of escape. Mesmerism represented such an escape and became a popular form of entertainment in the 18th and 19th centuries. But what, exactly, is mesmerism? Some people believed that by using natural energy, a "mesmerist" could put someone into a trance, in which they could speak to the dead, heal heartaches, predict the future, and more. Spectators often paid to see mesmerists; one recurring example of this in The Blithedale Romance is the Veiled Lady. In Chapter 1, Coverdale calls her a "phenomenon in the mesmeric line":
As I have casually alluded to the Veiled Lady, it may not be amiss to mention, for the benefit of such of my readers as are unacquainted with her now forgotten celebrity, that she was a phenomenon in the mesmeric line; one of the earliest that had indicated the birth of a new science, or the revival of an old humbug.
Related Themes:
Chapter 2: Blithedale
Explanation and Analysis—Concealment:
Throughout The Blithedale Romance, many characters attempt to conceal their feelings, motives, and identities. One example is the narrator—Miles "Coverdale"—who attempts to "cover" his personal feelings and motives while explaining those of others. His name reveals the defining quality of his character; he not only tries to hide his true thoughts, but also deludes himself into believing that he does not know them. For example, when Zenobia asks him why he keeps bringing up Priscilla's love for Hollingsworth, he claims that “an uncertain sense of some duty to perform, that brings my thoughts, and therefore my words, continually to that one point.” However, his own love for Priscilla—which he conceals until the very last chapter—is the true motive behind continuously talking about her attraction to Hollingsworth. He claims to have an "uncertain sense of duty" toward the subject of Priscilla's romantic relationships when, in reality, his sense of duty derives from his own feelings of love.
Related Themes:
Chapter 3: A Knot of Dreamers
Explanation and Analysis—The Role of Women:
The role of women becomes a recurring motif in The Blithedale Romance as the members of Blithedale discuss gender roles in their new community. In Chapter 3, Zenobia declares that the "softer sex" will perform domestic tasks. Coverdale responds:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“What a pity,” I remarked, “that the kitchen, and the house-work generally, cannot be left out of our system altogether! It is odd enough, that the kind of labor which falls to the lot of women is just that which chiefly distinguishes artificial life—the life of degenerated mortals—from the life of Paradise. Eve had no dinner-pot, and no clothes to mend, and no washing-day.”
Related Themes:
Chapter 5: Until Bedtime
Explanation and Analysis—Priscilla's Purses:
The Blithedale Romance contains many symbols of sexual desire, such as Priscilla's purses, which become recurring motifs of purity and hiddenness. In Chapter 5, the narrator describes her handiwork:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She now produced, out of a work-bag that she had with her, some little wooden instruments[...]and proceeded to knit, or net, an article which ultimately took the shape of a silk purse. As the work went on, I remembered to have seen just such purses, before. Indeed, I was the possessor of one. Their peculiar excellence, besides the great delicacy and beauty of the manufacture, lay in the almost impossibility that any uninitiated person should discover the aperture; although, to a practised touch, they would open as wide as charity or prodigality might wish. I wondered if it were not a symbol of Priscilla’s own mystery.
Related Themes:
Chapter 9: Hollingsworth. Zenobia, Priscilla
Explanation and Analysis—Passion:
The motif of passion takes two forms in The Blithedale Romance, and these forms clash in a way that shows the incompatibility between human emotion and utopian idealism. First, the narrator presents the reader with a host of characters with a passion for building Blithedale. Then he reveals a complex network of sexual passions, most notably Priscilla and Zenobia's love for Hollingsworth. These passions—for building Blithedale, and for other people—tend to work against each other. The volatility of love, especially when it leads to violence (as it does in the case of Zenobia's suicide), limits the characters' potential to perfect society and humankind. By using this motif, Hawthorne reminds the reader that human passions win out over artifice—whether they result in triumph or tragedy.
In Chapter 9, Coverdale captures the significance of romantic love within the Blithedale project:
Unlock with LitCharts A+There was the more danger of this, inasmuch as the footing, on which we all associated at Blithedale, was widely different from that of conventional society. While inclining us to the soft affections of the Golden Age, it seemed to authorize any individual, of either sex, to fall in love with any other, regardless of what would elsewhere be judged suitable and prudent. Accordingly, the tender passion was very rife among us, in various degrees of mildness or virulence[...] This was all well enough; but, for a girl like Priscilla, and a woman like Zenobia, to jostle one another in their love of a man like Hollingsworth, was likely to be no child’s play.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Priscilla's Purses:
The Blithedale Romance contains many symbols of sexual desire, such as Priscilla's purses, which become recurring motifs of purity and hiddenness. In Chapter 5, the narrator describes her handiwork:
Unlock with LitCharts A+She now produced, out of a work-bag that she had with her, some little wooden instruments[...]and proceeded to knit, or net, an article which ultimately took the shape of a silk purse. As the work went on, I remembered to have seen just such purses, before. Indeed, I was the possessor of one. Their peculiar excellence, besides the great delicacy and beauty of the manufacture, lay in the almost impossibility that any uninitiated person should discover the aperture; although, to a practised touch, they would open as wide as charity or prodigality might wish. I wondered if it were not a symbol of Priscilla’s own mystery.
Related Themes:
Chapter 11: The Wood-path
Explanation and Analysis—The Role of Women:
The role of women becomes a recurring motif in The Blithedale Romance as the members of Blithedale discuss gender roles in their new community. In Chapter 3, Zenobia declares that the "softer sex" will perform domestic tasks. Coverdale responds:
Unlock with LitCharts A+“What a pity,” I remarked, “that the kitchen, and the house-work generally, cannot be left out of our system altogether! It is odd enough, that the kind of labor which falls to the lot of women is just that which chiefly distinguishes artificial life—the life of degenerated mortals—from the life of Paradise. Eve had no dinner-pot, and no clothes to mend, and no washing-day.”
Related Themes:
