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The Marble Faun

MARJORIE ELDER (ESSAY DATE 1972)

SOURCE: Elder, Marjorie. "Hawthorne's The Marble Faun: A Gothic Structure." Costerus, no. 1 (1972): 81-8.

In the following essay, Elder studies Hawthorne's Gothic narrative structure in The Marble Faun.

Hawthorne has frequently been referred to as, to some extent and in some ways, a "Gothic" novelist. Whether mentioned in general revaluation of the Gothic,¹ looked at within the tradition of the Gothic Romance for his use of devices like castles, ghosts, crime and blood, or works of art with signs of life,² or cited for his appreciation of Gothic architecture,³ Hawthorne is variously labeled "Gothic." It is the purpose of this study to interrelate Hawthorne's use of what may be called Gothic structure in a work of art with his use of specific Gothic devices and techniques in The Marble Faun.

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Primary Sources
   1. Nathaniel Hawthorne (Story Date 1830)
4. General Commentary
   1. Neal Frank Doubleday (Essay Date February 1946)
   2. Jane Lundblad (Essay Date 1946)
5. Title Commentary
   1. The Marble Faun
6. Further Reading

1. Nathaniel Hawthorne