The Maypole Of Merry Mount

“The Maypole of Merry Mount” exists as an allegory, wherein the abstract moral themes are conveyed through the story itself. Hawthorne admits that the story is an allegory in the very first paragraph: “In the slight sketch here attempted the facts recorded on the grave pages of our New England annalists have wrought themselves almost spontaneously into a sort of allegory” (Paragraph 1). Hawthorne speaks to the readers, letting them know that he intends the short story to have a moral basis.

Although the moral might be somewhat left up to the interpretation of the readers, Hawthorne’s usage of other literary devices and symbolism lends the audience to believe that this is a tale of human fallibility. None of the characters within the story are without flaws. The only so-called character within the story that represents true happiness is the personified Nature herself. Hawthorne cements his allegory within the Romantic movement, focusing on the inherent nature of humanity to sin. Even the Puritans themselves are not without their flaws, as they seem exclusively focused on the appearance and not the implementation of piety and spirituality. Hawthorne uses to the historical facts surrounding the community of Merry Mount to weave an allegory that demonstrates the inherent flaws of humanity. 

Throughout the short story, Hawthorne makes several mythological references that his readers would have understood. For example, the narrator associates the Merry Mounters with Comus, the Grecian god of festive revelry and son to Dionysus. The priest himself is compared to Comus: “By the riot of his rolling eye and the pagan decorations of his holy garb, he seemed the wildest monster there, the very Comus of the crew” (Paragraph 6). Although he is referred to as a priest and therefore related to Christianity, the narrator asserts the pagan nature of the Merry Mounters. There is the indication that the priest once served the Christian God, although as Comus, he now serves Dionysus. This allusion to Grecian mythology could be the result of Romanticism’s backlash against the Enlightenment. During the Enlightenment, scholars once again valued Greco-Roman works that had been previously discarded as heresy by the Church.

However, Hawthorne does not hold the same high opinion of Greco-Roman mythology. He asserts that because this mythology was man-made, it too constitutes a false sense of happiness. Hawthorne references the Grecian deity of Comus in order to assert the predominance of Christianity. Although Hawthorne does believe that humans are inherently fallible, he does not seem to believe that Christianity is wrong; rather, he believes its implementation is wrong as the spirituality cannot be separated from the sin of humanity. Hawthorne calls to mind the ancient deity of Comus in order to demonstrate this inherent aspect of humanity.

Similarly, Hawthorne also alludes to the Christian Bible as well as to history itself within a singular paragraph in order to lend validity to the Christian notion of humanity’s fallibility while also lending an element of fantasy to the history itself. In order for the allegory to work, the short story must blend both history and fantasy, which Hawthorne accomplishes by referencing a historical figure in the same breath as he alludes to Christian mythology. Before assaulting the Maypole, Endicott screams at the Merry Mounters’ priest: “Stand off, priest of Baal […] I know thee, Blackstone” (Paragraph 20). In Christianity, Baal is associated with Satan; however, during the English Reformation it was also used as a slur against Catholics who idolized the saints. Hawthorne calls to mind the variances of opinion in regard to religion to demonstrate that Man’s thoughts on spirituality are not without contest.

Hawthorne also alludes to Rev. Blackstone as the priest of the Merry Mounters; however, in the endnotes, Hawthorne admits that the priest was probably not Blackstone himself. Rev. Blackstone was an eccentric and contemporary of Endicott, but Hawthorne acknowledges that there is no historical indication that he was one of the Merry Mounters. Rather, he was known to be friendly to the Puritans. This also gives even the historical documentation of the story an aura of falsehood, as Hawthorne perhaps suggests that history itself cannot be trusted. After all, history was recorded by men who are known to be fallible. Therefore, it would make sense that as one cannot trust a person to correctly remember the past, one cannot also expect history to be without falsehoods as well. This assertion then solidifies the nature of the story not as a historical anecdote, but as an allegory through which Hawthorne can inject his own moral observations.