The Maypole Of Merry Mount

“Bright roses glowed in contrast with the dark and glossy curls of each, and were scattered round their feet or had sprung up spontaneously there.”

This quotation demonstrates the similarities between Edith and Edgar, specifically using descriptive language to speak of them in terms of their appearances. Unlike the Puritans, who seem to have staunch gender roles in terms of appearance, both Edith and Edgar seem to have the same beautiful hair which speaks of their innocence and youth. They are adorned in flowers in a way that appears almost magical; the red of the roses symbolizes the love between them. As such, it seems that Hawthorne is attempting to demonstrate that the magic that exists almost palpably between these two characters is the result of their love. Hawthorne suggests that love is, in and of itself, a positive force of magic.

“This wedlock was more serious than most affairs of Merry Mount, where jest and delusion, trick and fantasy, kept up a continual carnival. The Lord and Lady of the May […] were really and truly to be partners for the dance of life.” 

At Merry Mount, seriousness seems to be relative as typically, weddings are not thought of as being particularly serious affairs. However, in comparison to the other revelry and merriment that the Merry Mounters partake in, weddings might be considered more serious because they dictate a person’s partner for the rest of their dance of life, as it were. There are no tricks and delusions at this wedding as are typical of a Merry Mount celebration; rather, the Merry Mounters seem to exhibit Hawthorne’s own assumptions about marriage. While undoubtedly happy affairs, weddings also indicate the seriousness of love and the responsibility that stems therein.

“It was high treason to be sad at Merry Mount.”

The narrator harps on the ridiculous nature of the Merry Mount community. Even though happiness seems to be the ultimate goal of the community, the narrator makes it clear that this is a forced happiness—one the community mandates. Any person found to be not in compliance with this rule of law would theoretically be punished, although the punishments are never made clear. However, labeling sadness as high treason does seem to indicate that the punishment for this emotion would be severe. This quotation also serves to indicate the rigidity of the Merry Mount community, which is similar in many ways to that of the Puritans. Although the Puritans are rigid in appearance and seriousness, the Merry Mounters demonstrate rigidity in their desire that all members appear happy. Both conformity and the appearance therein are important to Merry Mounters and Puritans alike, demonstrating the shallow nature of both communities.

“No sooner had their 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 that they truly loved they had subjected themselves to earth’s doom of care and sorrow and trouble joy, and had no more a home at Merry Mount.”

Hawthorne demonstrates the real love evinced between Edgar and Edith, contrasting this true emotion with the false happiness of the Merry Mount community. In fact, the reality of their feelings towards one another reveals the false nature of their previous emotions; it is only through the truth of love that they are able to see the falsehood of what they were once blinded to in their previous community. It is once Edith and Edgar notice the comparison between realness and falsehood that they become upset, wherein in a kind of catch-22 they have therefore sinned in the eyes of the community. Merry Mount requires its members be blind to the falsity of their lives; any dissenter finds no home within the community. Frivolity is demonstrated as being as unyielding as Puritanism.

“Many had been maddened by their previous troubles into a gay despair; others were as madly gay in the flush of youth […] old and young were gay at Merry Mount. The young deemed themselves happy. The elder spirits, if they knew that mirth was but the counterfeit of happiness, yet followed the false shadow willfully, because at least her garment glittered brightest.” 

The author uses juxtaposition in order to show the false nature of the community. The sharp contrast here between the words, such as the pairing of gay and despair as well as happiness with madness, reiterates the conflict felt by Edith and Edgar concerning the forced happiness they feel they must show as members of Merry Mount. Similarly, the author repeats the word “gay” several times throughout this brief passage, as though forcefully asserting how happy these community members are. However, the amount that the author uses this word engenders disbelief on the part of the audience, akin to that which would be felt if a person were to reiterate over and over how happy one is. The happiness of the community members seems as forced as this passage, demonstrating the inherent flaws within the community which reflect those of human nature. 

“Their festivals were fast days, and their chief pastime the singing of psalms. Woe to the youth or maiden who did but dream of a dance […] or if he danced, it was round the whipping post, which might be termed the Puritan Maypole.”

The author describes the Puritan traditions, juxtaposing their beliefs against those of the Merry Mounters. This contrast foretells the conflict that is to come between the two groups; however, it also shows the similarities between the Puritans and the Merry Mounters. Although their traditions seem to be polar opposites from one another, there is a sense of balance that seems to render the groups as two sides of the same coin. There is a kind of balance between the two traditions as they both indicate the inherent flaws of humanity. 

“The future complexion of New England was involved in this important quarrel. Should the grisly saints establish their jurisdiction over the gay sinners, then would their spirits darken all the clime and make it a land of clouded visages, of hard toil, of sermon and psalm forever; but should the banner-staff of Merry Mount be fortunate, sunshine would break upon the hills, and flowers would beautify the forest and late posterity do homage to the Maypole.”

The author demonstrates how integral this conflict between the Puritans and the Merry Mounters was in shaping the history of New England. The juxtaposition between the Merry Mounters and the Puritans serves to identify the conflict that is to arise between them, wherein the Puritans ultimately triumph over the Merry Mounters. Again, the juxtaposition serves to identify a kind of natural balance between the two opposing forces, one that mimics the balance found in Nature itself. The author is perhaps indicating that this conflict is natural, especially through his usage of natural imagery in order to convey the opposing forces of dark Puritans and light Merry Mounters. However, in Nature it is important to note that dark and light coexist with one another, whereas the sins of humanity dictate that the two exist in competition with one another wherein the darkness always wins against the light. Thus, Hawthorne references the flaws of humanity.

“And with his keen sword Endicott assaulted the hallowed Maypole […] It groaned with a dismal sound, it showered leaves and rosebuds upon the remorseless enthusiast, and finally, with all its green boughs and ribbons and flowers, symbolic of departed pleasures, down felt the banner-staff of Merry Mount.” 

The nature of the Puritans is that of violence, especially violence against Nature, as personified here by the Maypole. The Maypole symbolizes Nature in its greenery and potential; although it represents a part of the Merry Mounters’ traditions, it is not itself false. Rather, as integrated with nature, it represents the only true happiness that humans might be able to obtain: proximity to Nature. This is not to say that the Merry Mounters are better than the Puritans in any regards; as noted by Hawthorne on multiple occasions, each community shares in humanity’s flaws. However, the nature of humanity is such that it eradicates—often violently, as is the case here—any goodness that it might find. Hawthorne identifies that it is humanity’s own flaws that prevent us from being happy. 

“‘I thought not to repent me of cutting down a Maypole,’ replied Endicott, ‘yet now I could find in my heart to plant it again and give each of these bestial pagans one other dance round their idol. It would have served rarely for a whipping-post.’”

Although the allegory that Hawthorne attempts to impart upon his readers has a certain heaviness, the author does attempt levity at a few points throughout the short story—although whether he is successful lies in the eyes of the readers. Endicott laments cutting down the Maypole primarily because he thinks it would have been a fitting place to whip the Merry Mounters into penitence. The irony of using the revered symbol of Nature for such violence in order to elicit penitence from the revelers is not without a certain dark humor; as Endicott appears an utterly humorless man, we can only believe that this humor stems from Hawthorne himself. 

“‘For such as violate our civil order it may be permitted us to show mercy, but woe to the wretch that troubleth our religion.”’ 

As Endicott casts his judgement on the priest, he demonstrates the dogmatic nature of religion. Although violations of civil order can be tolerated, Endicott suggests that there can be no mercy in religion. This assertion is, of course, counterintuitive to anyone’s knowledge of religion—especially Christianity, in which mercy is valued as a virtue. Endicott demonstrates the hypocrisy of his own Puritanism, which demands such rigidity in terms of conformity that it makes no allowance for one of the ultimate tenets of Christianity: mercy.

“There was an air of mutual support and of pure affection […] that showed them to be man and wife […] The youth in the peril of the moment, had […] thrown his arm about the Lady of the May, who leaned against his breast too lightly to burden him […] their destinies were linked together for good or evil.” 

Although Hawthorne is fairly cynical about the nature of humanity, this cynicism does not seem to extend to his thoughts on love, which he views as a kind of panacea for the fallibility of human nature. Through the characters of Edith and Edgar, Hawthorne demonstrates the unbreakable bond of love, reiterating the old adage that love conquers all. Edith and Edgar believe that they will be punished for their celebrations as Merry Mounters, so they physically lean against one another for support. This physical proximity represents the emotional bond between them, as Hawthorne suggests they are not only a couple; they are partners, sharing their destinies with one another. 

“Never had their youthful beauty seemed so pure and high as when its glow was chastened by adversity.”

Hawthorne argues that it is adversity which demonstrates the strength of the bond between Edith and Edgar. Hawthorne demonstrates love’s power by juxtaposing beauty and adversity, suggesting that the three are inextricably linked. It is possible that Hawthorne suggests that true love can only exist when faced with adversity, as there is the suggestion that if Edith and Edgar were left forcibly happy within the sanctuary of Merry Mount, they might never have experienced the depth of this attachment to one another. 

“Yet the deepening twilight could not altogether conceal that the iron man was softened. He smiled at the fair spectacle of early love; he almost sighed for the inevitable blight of early hopes.” 

After Endicott sees the bond between Edith and Edgar, he softens his stance on their punishment, seeing the positive relationship between the two as something that should be nourished, not punished. Here, the audience witnesses the power of love to soften iron, as though love itself possessed magical properties that could manifest in physical ways. Hawthorne conflates the physical with the psychological in order to demonstrate both the strength of love as well as the interconnectedness of our worlds. Love yields a reaction that not even the darkness can obscure, implicitly linking love with light and again suggesting that love might serve as a palliative to the evils of humanity.