Set on Midsummer Eve in 1620s New England, “The Maypole of Merry Mount” is an account of the Puritans’ extermination of Merry Mount. In this first person piece, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the line “jollity and gloom were contending for an empire” to show that this is an allegorical piece. The Merry Mounters represent jollity, while the Puritans represent gloom.
The fact that they are “contending for an empire” shows that there is a conflict between the two groups. With the words “jollity” and “gloom,” Hawthorne reflects the two contending philosophies of life: self-gratification and self-denial. In this piece, many literary devices are used to make “The Maypole of Merry Mount” into a colorful piece with a deep connotation.
Edgar and Edith are the two main characters in Hawthorne’s “The Maypole of Merry Mount,” who are also known as the Lord and Lady of the May. They display the story’s theme, love, in several instances. The first is when they are by the Maypole waiting to be married. Edgar looks at Edith and realizes she is sad, which is considered high treason in Merry Mount. When asked what is troubling her, Edith responds by telling Edgar that she has realized that life in Merry Mount is superficial. Hawthorne says about love:
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No sooner had [Edgar’s and Edith’s] hearts glowed with real passion than they were sensible of something vague and unsubstantial in their former pleasures, and felt a dreary presentiment of inevitable change. From the moment they truly loved, they had subjected themselves to earth’s doom of care and sorrow, and troubled joy, and had no more a home at Merry Mount.
With this realization, Hawthorne demonstrates that real love does not only bring joy, but that it can bring pain as well. There is also foreshadowing of the Puritan invasion in the previously mentioned quote when the young couple is said to feel a dreary presentiment of inevitable change. The second time Edgar and Edith demonstrate love is when they are standing before Endicott, who is the leader of the Puritans, and Endicott is trying to decide what to do with them. Hawthorne says that Endicott can clearly see the love and support that the couple has for each other. When the stern Puritan threatens the young couple, Edgar and Edith each ask for the other to be spared and for the punishment to be inflicted on his or her self. This display of selfless love softens Endicott, and he decides to treat them kinder than he treats the others of Merry Mount.
Some of the symbols that Hawthorne uses can mean different things to different people. For example, to the people of Merry Mount, the bright colors, the costumes of those around the maypole, and the maypole itself all represent happiness and the freedom of expression. To the Puritans, these things are reflective of pagan rituals. One thing that has very clear symbolism, however, is the whipping post. It is symbolic of the strict, upright ways of the Puritans.
The way that tone is used in this piece is quite interesting. When one first begins to read “The Maypole of Merry Mount,” it may be hard to discern what the tone of the story is since Hawthorne does not seem to approve of neither the Merry Mounters nor the Puritans. After getting farther into the story, the reader will see that Hawthorne is expressing different points of view. He is showing the Merry Mounters from the Puritan’s perspective, and the Puritans from the perspective of the Merry Mounters. Throughout the extent of the piece, the reader is shown both the Puritans and the Merry Mounters through the eyes of Edgar and Edith.
Nathaniel Hawthorne seems to have an ambivalent attitude towards the Puritans. This means that he shows mixed feelings toward them. Hawthorne sympathizes with Puritan values, although he rejected their faith in God and in the Bible. It is obvious in “The Maypole of Merry Mount” that Hawthorne possessed a contradictory view of the Puritan people.
There is an abundance of imagery used in “The Maypole of Merry Mount.” A clear picture of the maypole is painted in the reader’s head when it is described as a pine-tree that is tall, slender, and graceful. At the top is a silk, rainbow colored banner that flows down. The maypole is decorated liberally with flowers, greenery, and ribbon. Hawthorne gives a detailed description of the creatures around the maypole:
On the shoulders of a comely youth uprose the head and branching antlers of a stag; a second, human in all other points, had the grim visage of a wolf; a third, still with the trunk and limbs of a mortal man, showed the beard and horns of a venerable he-goat. There was the likeness of a bear erect, brute in all but his hind legs, which were adorned with pink silk stockings. Edgar and Edith are portrayed as dignified, brightly dressed, and almost royal.
There are several figures of speech present in “The Maypole of Merry Mount.” One metaphor is found in the very first paragraph of the story, when sunshine is compared to liquid in a pleasant line that talks about pouring the sunshine over the New England hills. A bit later, Hawthorne compares life to a dance by saying that when Edgar and Edith are married, they will truly become partners in the life of dance.
Hawthorne uses a simile in order to equate the creatures around the maypole to evil spirits. Some of the same creatures are described with a hyperbole as well. The sizes of the mouths of their mouths are exaggerated by saying that “…their mouths, which seemed of awful depth,… stretched from ear to ear in an eternal fit of laughter.” Personification is used to compare both the month of May and flowers to a human. There is also alliteration, a sound device, that is used in “The Maypole of Merry Mount.” Just a few examples of alliteration throughout the piece are the phrases Merry Mount, sprung up spontaneously, continual carnival, prelude of pipe, and fantastic foolery.
“The Maypole of Merry Mount” is full of brilliant uses of literary devices. These devices serve the purpose of giving the story a deeper meaning, as well as making the story more interesting. In “The Maypole of Merry Mount,” Edgar and Edith display both the beauty and the pain of loving someone. Nathaniel Hawthorne cleverly uses this short story to demonstrate the battle of the two opposing philosophies of life in action.
Works Cited
- Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Maypole of Merry Mount.” American Literature for Christian Schools, by St John Raymond A., BJU Press, 2003, pp. 264–273.
- Mjc. “Cummings Study Guide.” The Road Not Taken: a Study Guide, www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides6/Maypole.html.
