It’s been known that, “Hawthorne was influenced chiefly by authors in the great tradition – Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, and Bunyan…” ( Baym.16). Critics praised Hawthorne for his works and he even got a reward for one of his biography pieces. After living in Italy for a little with his wife, Sophia Amelia Peabody, they moved back to the United States. In 1863, Hawthorne published his last book called Our Old Home before passing away in 1864.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Artist of the Beautiful,” the main character Owen Warland struggles with the reality that beauty is an unattainable possession which can only be possessed

An unpleasant visit from Peter Hovenden, the old watchmaker, is enough “to torture Owen’s soul with the bitterness of worldly criticism” (Hawthorne.272). This heavy weight upon his spirit prevented Owen from working on his dream. Owen, however, is in love with the old watchmaker’s daughter, Annie. He believes that she is beautiful, the only person in the world who understands him, “and what a help and strength would it be to him in his lonely toil if he could gain the sympathy of the only being whom he loved” (Hawthorne.275)! She is open to his ideas and is to be trusted with his secret.

Once again this creature of the sunshine re-inspired him to begin again in his pursuit of the beautiful with a strength he had never felt, “It was his fortune, good or ill, to achieve the purpose of his life” (Hawthorne.283). His dream finally realized, Owen got up the courage to give the butterfly as a present to Annie for a bridal gift.

Owen allows Annie to see his creation. Annie reached out to touch it and even though no damage was done to the butterfly Owen over reacts and believes it is ruined. The narrator points out that, “Even Annie Hovenden, possibly might not have disappointed him had she been enlightened by the deep intelligence of love” (Hawthorne.276). Every time there was a mistake in his mind or something happened to the butterfly, Owen would stop working on his project. There was no room in his mind or in his spirit for anything less than perfection.

Owen knew he had achieved perfection because his soul and spirit were finally at peace and “when the artist rose high enough to achieve the beautiful, the symbol by which he made it perceptible to mortal senses became of little value in his eyes while his spirit possessed itself in the enjoyment of reality” (Hawthorne.290). It seems, “only a writer as painfully aware as Hawthorne was of the dangers by which the artist is beset could have been so scrupulously fair in his presentation of the opposing forces in this story” (Wagenknecht.191).

The butterfly flew from the old watchmaker to Roger Danforth and during that time the bright spots of gold grew dim, the glowing purple was dulled an

Some topics in this essay:
Roger Danforth, Owen Warland, Kaul99 Owen, Annie Hovenden, Peter Hovenden, Hawthorne278 Owen, Annie Owen, Hawthorne278 Butterflies, Hawthorne285 Owen, Writing Hawthorne, butterfly owen, faith owen, hawthorne289 butterfly, peter hovenden, owen warland, unattainable possession, beauty unattainable, beauty unattainable possession,