30 pages • 1 hour read
Nathaniel HawthorneThe Artist of the Beautiful
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1844A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Butterfly
The nature of the mechanistic butterfly in this story remains ambiguous. It could be technology, with tiny mechanisms that control its movements, an effort to integrate art with 19th century industrialism. Yet, the butterfly is meant to defy conceptualization while transcending definitions. It is an unnatural object, an imitation of nature made by man, and the result of three failed prototypes. It looks and acts like a butterfly, except that it seems react to those who disparage art.
The butterfly, as “the artist’s” creation, represents art. Hawthorne uses the butterfly to make statements about the nature of art; like the butterfly, art thrives when met with appreciation, but falters in the face of criticism. Peter points out that the butterfly isn’t useful, suggesting that those on the outside of the creative process see art as impractical. The butterfly carries the soul of Owen, suggesting that the artist puts his soul into his art.
Owen creates this ultimate work of art, but the child crushes it. This metaphorical and physical death happens because humans were trying to rationally grasp the meaning of its existence and were failing to do so. For Owen, the butterfly as a physical manifestation of an artistic product is not as important as its symbolism, which continues to exist even when the butterfly is destroyed. The death of the butterfly at the baby’s hands proves that practical society cannot understand beauty—and what’s more, there’s no hope that future generations will be able to transcend those boundaries, either.
In Greek mythology, the word “butterfly” evokes Psyche. In the tale of Cupid and Psyche, her dangerous curiosity and pride led to punishment. The butterfly, then, may also be an ominous symbol. Owen too is prideful, insisting that his work is like a spiritual calling, and his peers are not enlightened enough to understand him.
Watches and Clocks
In this story, watches represent regularity, regulation, civilization, practicality, and utility. All these traits go against Owen’s concept of art. Owen’s occupation as a watchmaker, then, is one example in this story of literary irony. Throughout the tale, he proves that he can fix watches. He fixes the church steeple as well, which symbolizes the melding of the spiritual and practical–a recognition that Owen, the spiritual, could mix with society, the practical, if he wished.
Watches and clocks, too, evoke Peter Hovenden, one of Owen’s worst critics; as a personification of Father Time, a figure who respects order, Owen’s old master is brought to mind whenever Owen picks up a watch: the man believes that “life should be regulated, like clockwork, with leaden weights” (11).
Iron and Gold
One of the dualities at work in this story is the relationship of iron and gold. Iron and gold function as symbols for Robert and Owen respectively. Robert works daily with iron, while Owen works with gold. Iron has classically stood for ideas such as human strength, fortitude, and courage, along with confidence, power, practicality and determination. In the text, it also functions as a weight or burden on Owen. Gold, a much softer metal, is historically synonymous with passion, purity, illumination, enlightenment and beauty. It is more ornamental, more delicate and less useful; it is flashy, sparkly, and easily bendable or broken. Peter hints at the theme when he says, “I know what it is to work in gold; but give me the worker in iron after all is said and done. He spends his labor upon a reality” (6).
Nature
A hallmark of Transcendentalism is rendering the natural world, and Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes nature within this story to further develop his main character’s spiritual essence. Nature does not just refer to greenery and the outdoors, however, but also the duality of nature when contrasted with the unnatural. In much of the story, Owen works diligently in a shop, using man-made lighting implements to illuminate his work, with the end design of imitating the movement of nature. When he encounters nature and sunshine, it is while he is “wasting” his time, wandering through woods, and chasing insects. Connecting with nature reinvigorates and inspires Owen.
Likewise, Owen’s work follows the patterns of nature. During the winter, he’s often despondent or drunk, as though in hibernation. When summer arrives, he feels inspired again and sets to work. In one instance, after spending a winter in his wine cups, he awakens with nature when a butterfly flies about his head; he says, “Then it is time for me to be at work!” (16). It is following this season that he is able to complete his project, a completely unnatural mechanism that imitates nature.
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By Nathaniel Hawthorne
