Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Man of Adamant" the Term Paper

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Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Man of Adamant" the character of Richard Digby is a religious zealot whose ideas are clearly anti-Christian. Digby disowns the brotherhood of man, and feels that he alone has earned favor in the eyes of God. He is so certain of his own piety, that his plan of salvation "could avail no sinner but himself." In his self-absorbed beliefs, Digby rejects some of the clearest beliefs of Christianity, including the principles of kindness, charity, and non-judgement. Ultimately, Digby rejects the mercy and light of Christ himself.

The Man of Adamant is the story of a man named Richard Digby. Digby was a man who was the "gloomiest and most intolerant" of all those who lived during "the old times of religious gloom and intolerance."

Digby's self-absorption and intolerance led him to venture into the wilderness, in search of a sanctuary from the heathens in the village where he had lived. After a journey of three days, Digby found himself at the mouth of a gloomy and dismal cave. Digby rejoiced at finding the cave, saying, "Here my soul will be at peace; for the wicked shall not find me." Digby is pleased at his solitude, and feels that his worship will not be contaminated by "the sinful supplications of the multitude."

Prior to entering the cave, Digby had been diagnosed with a disease of the heart. This diseased caused calculous particles to deposit in his heart, caused by a blockage of circulation. If untreated, the disease could turn Digby's entire heart to stone. The slow calcification of Digby's heart is clearly a symbol of the closing of his heart to Christian kindness and charity. As Digby became more and more gloomy and intolerant, his heart continued to harden, both in a literal and figurative sense.

At the end of his third day in the cave, Digby is confronted by the form of a graceful and lovely young woman at the mouth of the cave. The woman, Mary Goffe had been a convert to Digby's preaching when Digby lived in England.

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Digby immediately rejects her presence "Off', cried he, 'I am sanctified, and thou art sinful! Away'." Mary offers Richard a cure for the calcification of his heart, but he rejects her repeated offers. As Digby knocks the medicine from her hand, and curses her. his damaged heart finally stops beating.

Mary is revealed as an angel, who returns to heaven. She had died months before in England, and her form may have been either a ghost, or "a dreamlike spirit, typifying pure religion." century later, two small children find the entrance to the cave, and the stone-like form of Richard Digby. The figure of Digby so terrifies the children's father, that he, his wife, and their children pile stones on top of the mouth of the cave. The cave becomes hidden from man, and the shape of Richard Digby sits eternally vigilant "repelling the whole race of mortals - not from Heaven - but from the horrible loneliness of his dark, cold sepulchre."

Hawthorne portrays Richard Digby as a religious zealot. Digby is consumed by his faith and belief, and he turns away from ideas that challenge his beliefs. He is entirely self-absorbed in his own beliefs and actions. He curses the village meetinghouse, seeing it as "a temple of heathen idolatry." He is disappointed that God does no rain down fire and brimstone upon his fellow villagers, and retreats deep into the forest.

The ferocity of Digby's religious beliefs are revealed as he discovers the entrance to the cave, "the only way to heaven leadeth through the narrow entrance of this cave,-and I alone have found it!" Here, he shows that he feels that he, alone, among all men is righteous. He sits among the darkness of his cave, and reads his Bible to himself, " because no other ear could profit by it, and reading it amiss, because the rays of the setting sun did not penetrate the dismal depth of shadow roundabout him, nor fall upon the sacred page." Here,….....

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