Previous
Literary Devices
Definition of Allusion
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals, historical events, or philosophical ideas... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to other literary works, famous individuals... read full definition
In literature, an allusion is an unexplained reference to someone or something outside of the text. Writers commonly allude to... read full definition
Allusions
Explanation and Analysis—The Circus:
When introducing readers to the character Humphrey, the narrator alludes to the circus, as seen in the following passage:
For some years past, [Humphrey] had been wandering about among the hills, inquiring of all travellers whom he met, for his daughter. The girl, it seemed, had gone off with a company of circus-performers; and, occasionally, tidings of her came to the village, and fine stories were told of her glittering appearance, as she rode on horseback in the ring, or performed marvellous feats on the tight-rope.
Here, the narrator describes how Humphrey spent years searching for his daughter Esther, who disappeared and joined the circus after Brand forced her to take part in his sinful experiments. The allusion to the circus here is significant as, in the mid-19th century (when the story takes place), circus performers were looked down upon and viewed as synonymous with low-lives or criminals. In fact, because of the lewd and sexual nature of the circus in the 1800s, many people believed that women performers were also sex workers.
This historical context helps readers to understand how, given Esther’s new “sinful” profession, it might be easy for Brand (and others) to believe the story that he “ruined her soul.” At the same time, it is notable that the stories Humphrey hears about Esther “perform[ing] marvellous feats” paint her in a positive light. In this way, the narrator raises the question of whether Brand was really as “successful” in his sinning as he believes himself to be.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Pilgrim’s Progress:
When describing the appearance of the lime kiln, the narrator indirectly alludes to John Bunyan’s book The Pilgrim’s Progress, as seen in the following passage:
There was an opening at the bottom of the tower, like an oven-mouth, but large enough to admit a man in a stooping posture, and provided with a massive iron door. With the smoke and jets of flame issuing from the chinks and crevices of this door, which seemed to give admittance into the hill-side, it resembled nothing so much as the private entrance to the infernal regions, which the shepherds of the Delectable Mountains were accustomed to show pilgrims.
The Pilgrim’s Progress is an allegorical novel published in 1678 that tells the story of a Christian man journeying to Heaven, overcoming many challenges in the process. One such challenge is navigating the Delectable Mountains, where trusted shepherds show the man gruesome scenes of how sin leads to suffering. At one point, the shepherds open a door on the side of a mountain, revealing sinners burning in smoky hellfire and crying out for help.
Hawthorne alludes to this part of the story in his description of the lime kiln as the “private entrance to the infernal regions” that “the shepherds of the Delectable Mountains were accustomed to show pilgrims.” This allusion is significant because it establishes, from the start of the story, that, in some ways, the fiery kiln mirrors the fires of hell—after all, it was only after tending to the kiln for years in solitude that Brand transformed into a man obsessed with committing the Unpardonable Sin.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Delicious Fruit:
After all of the other men leave the lime kiln, Brand tends to it alone in the darkness, reflecting on his transformation from a simple laborer to a "successful" seeker of knowledge and sin. In this moment, the narrator metaphorically refers to Brand’s achievements as a flower and a fruit, as seen in the following passage:
Thus Ethan Brand became a fiend. He began to be so from the moment that his moral nature had ceased to keep the pace of improvement with his intellect. And now, as his highest effort and inevitable development—as the bright and gorgeous flower, and rich, delicious fruit of his life’s labor—he had produced the Unpardonable Sin!
“What more have I to seek? What more to achieve?” said Ethan Brand to himself. “My task is done, and well done!”
Here, the narrator momentarily moves into Brand’s mind, revealing for readers how Brand views committing the Unpardonable Sin as “the bright and gorgeous flower, and rich, delicious fruit of his life’s labor.” While “fruit of one’s labor” is a relatively common phrase, Brand highlights the metaphor here by describing it as “rich” and “delicious” (as well as mentioning the “bright and gorgeous” flower that turned into said fruit). It’s likely that Hawthorne includes the fruit metaphor here in order to hint at the parallels between Brand’s quest for sin and the story of Original Sin in the Bible, in which Adam and Eve eat a fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, disobeying God in the process.
While Brand prides himself on his efforts—referring to his quest for the Unpardonable Sin as a job “well done”—Hawthorne is clearly encouraging readers to question if this is really the case. The Search for Knowledge, Hawthorn subtly argues via this metaphor and biblical allusion, only leads to suffering.
Related Themes:
