the apocalypse in cooper, hawthorne, and melville

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THE APOCALYPSE IN COOPER, HAWTHORNE, AND MELVILLE
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THE APOCALYPSE IN COOPER, HAWTHORNE, AND MELVILLE
A dl.ssertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the
satisfaction of the requirements of the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in English
by
Lakshmi Mani
JUly 1972
McGill University, Montreal
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®
La...l{shmi I·:iani 1973
THE APOCALYPSE IN COOPER, HAWTHORNE, AND MELVILLE
A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English
McGill University, Montreal, 1972
by
Lakshmi Mani
Abstract
The apocalyptic concept of millennium for the elect
and catastrophe for those who'transgress has been the shaping
principle of the American experience from colonial times. The
phenomenal prosperity following the westward expansion and
technological progress of the post-revolutionary pEriod
generated an ebullient optimism in nineteenth century America,
driving the dread of Jehovah's wrath underground, and resulting
in a spiritual myopia which troubled the major literary figures
of the time, notably James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne,
and Herman Melville. Drawing upon an eschatological tradition
that gave form to American history, these authors use the
analogue of the Apocalypse to censure the expansive spirit of
the times. Cooper draws upon Christian and Indian myths of
Apocalypse, while Hawthorne structures his vision upon the
Puritan tradition. Melville uses the myths of both Christian
and Eastern., particularly Hindu, eschatology, in his wri tings.
This lit erary vogue has evolved into a rnajor genre in our own
century. '
PREFACE
Since earliest times, America has inspired various
interpretations of the millennial theme. Even before the
discovery of the New World, the European imagination en
visioned the virgin continent as an earthly paradise, and
subsequent experience appeared to corroborate the dream.
To the Puritan colonists who planted New England, the new
land pointed the way towards the fulfillment of the biblical
prophecies, and the consummation of the work of the Protestant
Reformation: the advent of the millennium in which the visible
saints of the Puritan church would reign with Christ. They
believed that through them, the chosen instruments of God,
the Gospel kingdom would materiallze in America, although,
these "saints" were ever mindful of the apocalyptlc woes,
should they transgresse
The Amerlcan Revolution confirmed the separateness
of America as weIl as her special destiny. During the Romantic
era, millennium came to be interpreted as revolution, a
cataclysmic break with a corrupt order and the ushering in
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of a better order. The theological interpretation of the
m1llenn1um underwent a transformat1on dur1ng the post
revolut1onary period, as the result of the phenomenal
prosperity brought about by the westward expansion and the
1ndustrial revolut1on, Science, technology and Enlightenment
ideas made an impact upon society, soften1ng the apocalypt1c
dread of losing heaven through d1sobed1ence of God's
commandments, and g1v1ng way to a more comforting, secular
concept of a utop1a founded on the fa1th in human perfect1-
b1lity. By the beginn1ng of the nineteenth century, the
apotheos1s of "progress," the mess1anic concept of "manifest
destiny," and by mid-nineteenth century, the
~ranscendentalist
notion of the divinity of man drove the seventeenth century
fear of Jehovah's wrath underground, and gave ri se to a
bunyant mood in the country. The greatest writers of the
period, however, notably James Fen!more Cooper, Hawthorne,
Melville, viewed the dominance of ebullient optimism
an~
with concerne It is my thesis that these three writers draw
lThus the Romantics on the other side of the
Atlantic viewed the American Revolution as the universal
millennium of virtue, reason, and peace. Richard Priee, an
English Unitarian preacher, proclaimed in 1785 that the
.American Revolution wa.s the MoSt step next to the
impor~ant
introduction of Christianlty itself, in the fulfillment of
the "old prophecles," of an empire in which the "wolf will
dwell with the kid." Quoted by M. H. Abrams, "English
Romanticisml the Spirit of the Age," Romantic1sm Reconsidered,
ed. Northrop Frye, English Institute Essa.ys (New York, 1963),
pp. 34-35.
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upon the very tradition that shaped the millennial vision
of the nation to say "No, in thunderl" to the prevailing
optative mood. They use the archetypes and motifs of the
Apocalypse to structure their ironie v1sion of contemporary
Amer1can exper1ence.
A number of studies have 1nvest1gated the use of
the millennial pattern in discursive as weIl as 1maginative
wr1t1ng in America s1nce colonial times as the preponderant
form imposed upon the Amer1can experience. Among these, the
most notable are Perry Miller's Effand into the W1lderness,
Henry Nash Smith's The Virsin Land, Charles Sanford's
~
Quest for Paradise, David Minter's The Interpreted Design,
Leo The Machine in the Garden and R. W. B. Lewis'
Y~rx's
The American Adam. Miller 1nvestigates the theocratic
foundations of colonial New England and the Puritan belief
that the plantation activity was in fulfillment of carrying
out God's errand into the wilderness •. S.m1th traces the
evolution of the myth of the American West as the moving
parad1se. Sanford defines the 1ntellectual tradition within
which the Edenic image evolved as a dramatic expression of
America's "collect1ve exper1ence within a framework of polar
oPPositese"2 Minter investigates a genre of prose, ranging
from colonial writings to works of fiotion written dur1ng the
2The Quest for Paradise (Urbana, Il11nois, 1961),
p. vi.
l
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n1neteenth and twent1eth centur1es, wh1ch essent1ally
reflects the utop1an 1deal. Marx descr1bes and evaluates
the pastoral 1deal and 1ts subsequent transformat1on under
1ndustr1a11sm. In The Amer1can Adam, Lew1s analyzes the
genes1s of the Adam1c myth as an express10n of the Amer1can
1dent1ty.
Wh1le l have been 1nfluenced,by the 1ns1ghts of
these scholars, my thes1s also d1ffers from the1r work in
i
s1gn1f1cant respects. The of my 1nvest1gat1on
se~eral foc~s
1s much narrower, and so 1s my scope. My concern 1s only
w1th Cooper, Hawthorne, and Melv1lle, 1n a l1terary tradit10n
wh1ch, l ma1nta1n, draws upon the analogue of the Apocalypse
for mean1ng and forme l must here my 1nterest
ac~owledge
1n R. W. B. Lew1s' essay "Days of Wrath and Laughter" 1n h1s
Tr1als of the Word, where he draws atte,ntlon to the doomsday
theme as a control11ng 1mage 1n several modern genres.
Professor Lewis however, d1sm1sses s1m1lar concern of
n1neteenth century f1gures 1n a few pages.J Melville 1s
cursor1ly treated while Cooper and Hawthorne are not d1scussed
at all. My 1nterest 1s 1n these f1gures of the
~hree;major
n1neteenth century l1terary trad1t10n, spec1f1cally in the1r
,
use of the metaphor of the Apocalypse w1th 1ron1c as well as
romant1c 1ntent. The 1rony 1s worked out by juxtapos1ng the
J"Days of Wrath and Laughter,n Trials of the Word
(New Haven & London, 1965), pp. 206-212.
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dream with the reality. l also see the romantic intent of
these authors in their achievement of what M.H. Abrams calls
the "Apocalypse of the imagination": the poetic imagination
is able to achieve the apocalyptic vision of the new heaven
and new earth that has failed to materialize at the level of
reality.4 Cooper's romantic vision of the ideal America is
portrayed in the Leatherstocking Tales in the myths of the
wilderness-Eden and Leatherstocking-Adam. This vision is
juxtaposed with, and evolves from the ironie reality of a
not-so-Christian white civilization. As Cooper becomes
increasingly disillusioned with American democracy, the irony
deepens into satire which finds expression in his prophetie
warning to his country by way of the final catastrophe in
The Crater.
The Apocalypse is also the Book of Revelation. It
is in this sense that Hawthorne uses the archetypes and motifs
of the New England interpretation of St. John's Book of
Revelation when exploring the motivations of the human psyche.
This exploration also reveals to Hawthorne the sham of many
of the pseudo-utopian enterprises of the nineteenth century.
4Abrams points out that the great Romantic poems of
Apocalypse were written "not in the mood of revolutionary
exaltation but in the later mood of revolutionary disillusion
ment or despair." According to Abrams, these poets urge a
spiritual and moral revolution that will transform the old
order. See Romanticism Reconsidered, pp. 53, 59-60.
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Underlying this criticism, however. is Hawthorne's humanism
which seems to point the way towards a more realistic under
standing of the millennium. Revelation becomes the basic
theme of the Sketches and Tales that l have included in my
investigation, as weIl as The Scarlet Letter and The Blithedale
Romance; and The Marble Faun offers Hawthorne's synoptic
vision of the human destiny in paradise before and after the
Fall.
While Cooper and Hawthor.ne remain within the frame
work of the tradition of the Christian Apocalypse, Melville
draws upon a more eclectic tradition of Christian as weIl as
non-Chrilitian:,,:eschà1ttJlogy. My concern is with Melville's
use of both Christian and Hindu apocalyptic archetypesand
motifs. Like Cooper and Hawthorne, Melville achieves his
own vision of salvation. through Ishmael in MobY-Dick, through
the authorial voice in "The Bell Tower," and through the
narrator in "The Tartarus of Maids." This vision, however,
becornes increasingly dark, culminating in the mid'night chaos
of The Confidence-Man. Melville and Hawthorne are kindred
spirits in.their unds:"standing of the post-lapsarian paradise.
They face evil squarely and recognize it as a principle of ('
growth, necessary for the maturation of consciousness. Hindu
eschatology conceives of evil as adynamie principle in the
evolutionary process. Hence, the end is not the End in the
Hindu Apocalypse, but only end, and forms a part of
~
a continuous cyclic process in which each di"ine
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victory in the periodical dissolution of the uni verse
dramatizes a fresh phase in the cosmic struggle between
the forces of evil and good. The victory restores the
cosmic balance but also carries within it the seed of an
ongoing crisis (see Appendix A). It is my thesis that
Melville finds in this eschatology a rich possibllity for
expresslng his own Manichean conception of evil. My analysis
of The Confidence-Man, in this llght is a departure from
existing critlcism of the novel.
In order to limit and clarlfy the framework of
reference in which certain terms about the Apocalypse are
used throtighout this dissertation, l have analyzed in
Appendix A some of the basic concepts of Judaeo-Christian
and of Hindu eschatology. A small section on American Indian
myths of eschatology as derived from the accounts of the Rev.
John Heckewelder, a source for Cooper, is also included in
Appendix B. Melville's innumerable sources for Hindu
eschatology in eighteenth and nineteenth century books and
journals, have been documented in the chapter on Melville.
l owe a deep debt of gratitude to many people for
aIl the cooperation and encouragement that l have received
in writing this thesis. However, l would like to make
special mention of the following people whose criticism and
advice have been of immense help to me: Professor Peter
BUitenhuis, Professor Hugo Mcpherson, Professor Norman Holmes
Pearson who gave me access to his valuable, unpublished