Allegory, Symbolism, and Madness †Comparing the Demons...

Allegory, Symbolism, and Madness – Comparing the Demons of Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne As contemporaries of each other, Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne endeavored to write about man’s dark side, the supernatural influence, and moral truths. Each writer saw man as the center-point in his stories; Poe sees man’s internal struggle as madness, while Hawthorne sees man as having a â€Å"secret sin.† Each had their reasons for writing in the Gothic format. Poe was not a religious man; he was well educated and favored reading the German Gothic literature, which would become the basis for his own writing. Hawthorne on the other hand, called on his Puritan-Calvinistic background to influence his writing style.†¦show more content†¦An allegory for Hawthorne is a moral tale [†¦]† (77). Hawthorne saw his writing in allegorical terms to bring to the reader’s attention concrete realities by way of abstract ideas; he was able to imagine the natural world into an imaginary--supernatural one. Hawthorne’s natural world influence on his imaginary world began within his home; Donald A. Ringe quotes a passage from Hawthorne’s introduction to The Scarlet Letter: A coal fire diffuses a â€Å"scarcely visible† but â€Å"mild, heart-warm influence† throughout the room, while moonlight from the window â€Å"produces a very beautiful effect.† [†¦] all the familiar objects of the room â€Å"are invested with something like strangeness and remoteness,† as if one were viewing them after the passage of years. [†¦] â€Å"such a medium is created that the room seems just fit for the ghosts of persons very dear, who have lived in the room with us [†¦] It would be like a matter of course, to look round, and find some familiar form in one of the chairs† (156). Hawthorne is absorbed into the natural environment around him and in combination with his concerns for man’s moral behavior, he brings to his tales a picturesque quality suited to the allegorical motif. His motifs would consist of demons, witches, and natural settings as symbols of man’s conflicts with evil and struggle to suppress the sins that plague all men. Hawthorne was comfortable writing about