The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni: Analysis of Major Characters
"The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni" is a novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne that explores complex themes of love, guilt, and moral transformation through its major characters. The story centers on Donatello, a seemingly naive young nobleman who embodies a faun-like connection to nature. His life dramatically shifts when he falls in love with Miriam Schaefer, a mysterious painter haunted by her past and the specter of her former fiancé, Brother Antonio. After Donatello commits a grave act of violence to protect Miriam, their lives become entwined in a deep sense of shared guilt and moral awakening.
Miriam grapples with her own conscience, feeling complicit in the crime despite her innocence. Another key character, Hilda, an American artist and friend of Miriam, witnesses the murder and later struggles with the psychological burden of her knowledge. Meanwhile, Kenyon, an American sculptor, serves as the bridge between Hilda and Donatello, ultimately finding love with Hilda. The narrative delves into the emotional and moral complexities faced by each character, ultimately revealing how their intertwined fates lead to profound transformations and reflections on the nature of sin and redemption.
The Marble Faun: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne
First published: 1860
Genre: Novel
Locale: Rome, Italy
Plot: Psychological realism
Time: Mid-nineteenth century
Donatello, in reality the Count of Monte Beni,atfirstanaïve young man who seems to be almost dim-witted, with little formal education and almost no intellectual, moral, or emotional depth. He appears almost a creature out of the mythical past, a faun out of his time and place associating with the painters and sculptors of an artists' colony in nineteenth century Rome. Feeling a kinship with nature and its inhabitants, he is truly happy only in the woods and gardens. He falls in love with Miriam Schaefer, a beautiful but mysterious young painter. One night, at her unspoken behest, Donatello murders a man. This crime brings about a change in the young Italian nobleman, who for a time retires to his ancestral home in Tuscany. He finds that he is no longer akin to nature, but in exchange for this loss, he acquires new depth of soul under the torment of his crime and awakes to moral values. In the garb of a penitent, he returns to Rome, where he is reunited briefly with his beloved during the carnival season. At the end of that time, he is seized by the authorities and imprisoned.
Miriam Schaefer, an exotically beautiful young woman of wealth who appears mysteriously among the people of an artist colony in Rome. She is also a painter, and her life is haunted by a man who appears to be an artist's model. He seems to have a strange hold over the girl and causes her great uneasiness. Miriam's lover, Donatello, rids her of the presence of this troublesome man by throwing him from the famous Tarpeian Rock. Because her eyes had commanded Donatello to commit the crime, Miriam feels as guilty as if the act had been her own. Also, she feels a bond with her companion-accomplice as strong as marriage ties. She, like Donatello, suffers the pangs of conscience fiercely. She and her lover, reunited after his return from a period of retirement in Tuscany, find a brief period of happiness before he is committed to prison. Miriam, who goes free, is really a member of an aristocratic Italian family and was at one time engaged to marry the man who haunted her. Her real name is never mentioned.
Brother Antonio, a Capuchin monk, the man who haunts and hounds Miriam Schaefer until he is murdered by Donatello. Having shown himself to be of great merit, at least on the surface, he is granted unusual freedom by his order, a freedom he uses in order to dog the girl's footsteps. Once her fiancé, he had committed a crime in which Miriam, though innocent, was implicated.
Hilda, a pretty, virtuous American girl studying painting in Rome. Because she is Miriam's friend, she becomes involved in the intrigue surrounding Miriam. She witnesses the midnight murder committed by Donatello, and at Miriam's request, she delivers a strange parcel that causes her to be held in a convent as a possible accessory to the crime. Hilda is much affected by the terrible deed she witnesses, even though she has no guilt. The weight of her knowledge drives the overly sensitive girl to lose all interest in her work. Though she is faithful to and proud of her Puritan heritage, she becomes so disturbed that she enters a confessional in St. Peter's Cathedral and tells her story to a priest. In the end, her experiences cause her to love Kenyon, a young American in love with her.
Kenyon, a young American sculptor working in Rome. He loves Hilda and is one of the little circle of friends surrounding Miriam Schaefer. He brings Donatello and Miriam together again after they have suffered alone following the murder of Brother Antonio by Donatello. Kenyon's love for Hilda is eventually rewarded, for she comes to love him, and they are married. Once after their marriage, they encounter Miriam, who both blesses and repulses them silently. They do not disturb her expiation and grief.