Allegory: The Artist Of The Beautiful By Nathaniel Hawthorne
818 Words4 Pages
Marygrace Graves
ENG 210-Sec.11
Professor Lebron
Draft; The Artist of the Beautiful
13 September 2014
Word Count: 800
The Metamorphosis of Owen Warland
Owen Warland is struggling as an artist to create something beautiful. As an artist, Hawthorne identifies with his struggling creation, just as Owen’s butterfly-like spirit seeks to fly. Throughout the story, his faith is shaken by the practical, daunting voices surrounding him. Over the course of The Artist of the Beautiful Nathaniel Hawthorne draws the reader in using symbolism and character. Hawthorne uses these specific literary elements in various ways beginning with the allegory of the characters. Hawthorne then portrays symbolism in the metaphor of the metamorphosis of a butterfly.
To clearly display Owen along with the other various characters, Hawthorne uses a literary term known as…show more content… The most prominent symbol throughout the story being Owen’s butterfly. Hawthorne uses the symbol of a butterfly to show what kind of a character owen is. Through the butterfly, the reader is able to follow Owen’s spirit overtime and how he differs from other characters within the story. “ The butterfly still rested, the insect drooped its wings and seemed on the point of falling to the floor…….’It has been delicately wrought’ said the artist calmly” (Hawthorne 216) This paragraph displays how Owen’s spirit, which is normally high and bright, grows dim and cold whenever Peter is around. The butterfly directly exhibits Owen’s spirit at that moment in time. “As if the butterfly, like the artist, were conscious of something not entirely congenial in the child’s nature, it alternately sparkled and grew dim.” (Hawthorne 217) Similar to the passage displayed above, this quote specifically displays the connection between Owen’s spirit and the butterfly along with the child’s idea of materialism or societal influence on the child’s