The Blithedale Romance is a novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne published in 1852. It is the third major "romance", as he called the form. Its setting is a utopian socialist farming commune based on Brook Farm, of which Hawthorne was a founding member and where he lived in 1841. The novel dramatizes the conflict between the commune's ideals and the members' private desires and romantic rivalries.
Plot summary Before moving to the communist community of Blithedale in mid-1800s Massachusetts, poet Miles Coverdale is approached by Moodie (an apparent beggar) who asks for a favor. Though willing, Moodie eventually decides he will ask an older, more experienced man and departs. Miles leaves for Blithedale without his acquaintance Hollingsworth, who arrives later with Priscilla, a frail girl. They are welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Silas Foster (a gruff, experienced farmer) and Zenobia, a charming woman who enchants Coverdale, Hollingsworth and Priscilla.
Coverdale becomes severely ill and is bedridden. During his sickness, he develops a closeness with Hollingsworth, who cares for him. Meanwhile, Hollingsworth also becomes close with Zenobia, and they plan to build a cottage together. Moodie approaches Coverdale in the fields one day and asks about Priscilla and Zenobia, but declines to see them when he hears they are good friends. During a walk, Coverdale encounters Westervelt, a man whom he immediately dislikes. He asks to see Zenobia, but only in a private way. Coverdale gives him some instruction but wonders about his motives. Coverdale later sees Westervelt walking with Zenobia and assumes them to be arguing about some past encounter.
Later, Zenobia theorizes that Priscilla, whose background is a mystery, may, in fact, be the Veiled Lady: a popular clairvoyant who recently stopped doing public shows. Afterwards, Coverdale, Hollingsworth, Zenobia and Priscilla meet at Eliot's Pulpit, a rock they habitually visit. There they discuss women's rights, and Zenobia sides with Hollingsworth (and against Coverdale) on a misogynistic point of view of women's roles. As they leave the Pulpit, Coverdale witnesses a moment of affection between Zenobia and Hollingsworth.
Coverdale and Hollingsworth's disagreements intensify the next day when they discuss their hopes for the future of Blithedale - Hollingsworth, who devoted himself to criminal rehabilitation and hopes to establish a facility for that purpose on the farm. When Hollingsworth indicates that Coverdale is either "with him or against him" in this effort, Coverdale refuses to assist him and ends their friendship. Coverdale decides to seek respite from the tumultuous relationships at the farm and leaves for the city.
In the city, Coverdale looks out from his hotel window into a boarding house and thinks he sees Priscilla; in another room, he sees Zenobia and Westervelt. They see him, so he goes to visit. Zenobia confirms that Priscilla is there, but Westervelt indicates that they must leave, and take Priscilla with them. Suspicious, Coverdale seeks out Moodie. Moodie explains that his name used to be Fauntleroy, and he was a wealthy man. His first daughter was Zenobia. He fell into financial ruin and left her to be raised by his still-wealthy uncle (who died, leaving her considerable wealth). Later, he remarries a pauper woman, and fathers Priscilla. Her unusual ways gain the attention of a "wizard," who has an odd relationship with her. He gets a message to Zenobia and entreats her to look out for Priscilla, but does not reveal that they are related.
Coverdale is shocked, proceeds to a show of the Veiled Lady, and recognizes Westervelt as the "wizard." Hollingsworth is also in the audience. When Coverdale asks Hollingsworth where Priscilla is, he goes up on stage, removes the veil and takes her away. The three return to Blithedale immediately; Coverdale returns later. Upon his return, he dreads seeing the three and takes a circuitous path through the trees. There he witnesses the community dressed as witches, fairies and other creatures; when he laughs, they chase him and he runs toward Eliot's Pulpit. There he finds his three companions; Zenobia indicates that he missed a "trial" conducted by Hollingsworth. She proceeds to accuse him of selfishness and heartlessness, and he angrily leaves with Priscilla, who follows him. Zenobia begins to weep.
When she recovers, she tells Coverdale that she will eventually get over it but will leave Blithedale. She says she will become a nun and asks Coverdale to tell Hollingsworth he "murdered" her. She leaves and Coverdale falls asleep under the rock. When he awakes at midnight, he proceeds to Hollingsworth's cottage and asks for his help; Silas Foster also wakes up and is asked to help. Leading them to a familiar spot by the river and reflecting on her words, Coverdale reveals he believes Zenobia drowned herself. Hollingsworth hooks her body with a pole; Silas Foster observes that he left a physical wound near her heart.
Years later, Coverdale has become listless in life. He visits Hollingsworth, who is a broken man and has not accomplished anything in the way of his dreams of rehabilitation. Priscilla remains by his side, and Coverdale realizes the weight of Zenobia's death ruined him. Coverdale had fallen in love with Priscilla and feels similarly hopeless.
Major characters Miles Coverdale: The story's protagonist and narrator, Coverdale is a simple observer of the activities of the Blithedale farm. However, his narrative occasionally exaggerates or becomes dreamlike and is not entirely trustworthy. At points in the novel, Coverdale seems to practice mild voyeurism. He is a professed supporter of women's equality, as evidenced in an argument with Hollingsworth, although he also views Zenobia's feminism as a symptom of romantic disillusionment. He is typically mild-mannered, though often strange and illogical. He is consistently curious about his surroundings, leading to his voyeurism and mostly unsupported speculations on his fellow residents. Though he seems to fancy Zenobia and certainly regards her as beautiful, in the last line of the story he confesses that he is truly in love with Priscilla. However, critics often identify a strongly homoerotic relationship between Coverdale and Hollingsworth.
Old Moodie: Though introduced as Old Moodie, he was formerly known as Fauntleroy, a wealthy but immoral man who loses his riches in a financial scandal. He is separated from his beautiful wife and daughter and disowned by the rest of his family. Years later, poorer and wiser, he remarries and has a second daughter. Coverdale uses him to discover the backgrounds of Zenobia and Priscilla, who are his two daughters.
The Veiled Lady: She is a mystical character, first introduced as a public curiosity, who suddenly disappears from the public's eye. Her story is developed in a type of ghost story narrated by Zenobia in a segment titled The Silvery Veil. She is said to have been held captive by the curse of the veil, a symbol that in Hawthorne's literature typically represents secret sin.Sloan, Elizabeth. The Treatment of the Supernatural in Poe and Hawthorne. Ithaca: Cornell, 1930. She is controlled by the magician Westervelt and is eventually revealed to be Priscilla herself when Hollingsworth removes the veil.
Hollingsworth: A philanthropist overly concerned with his own ideals, he comes to the farm with Priscilla having been told she has a place there. He becomes good friends with Coverdale during the other's sickness, but his attempts to recruit the other to his cause eventually cause enough tension for a split in the friendship. He believes in the reform of all sinners and attempts to use Blithedale and its residents to achieve these ends, instead of those supported by the group. He is rumored to have a relationship with Zenobia partway through the novel, and they plan on building a cottage together. However, he falls for Priscilla, saving her from the fate of the Veiled Lady, and breaks up with Zenobia, which causes her to commit suicide.
Silas Foster: Coverdale describes him as "lank, stalwart, uncouth, and grizzly-bearded." He is the only resident who seems to be truly experienced in the art of farming. He is level-headed and sensible and is the first to suggest Priscilla stay upon her arrival. He is one of the three men to search for and find Zenobia's body and, while displaying proper sadness and emotion, also accepts her death with the most ease.
Mrs. Foster: Wife of Silas Foster.
Zenobia: Beautiful and wealthy, she wears a different tropical flower in her hair every day. She is admired by both Hollingsworth and Coverdale, though both eventually fall for her sister Priscilla instead. Priscilla herself is also quite taken with the older woman and follows her around the farm. Zenobia's main vice is pride, and she has an unusual and unexplained prior relationship with Professor Westervelt. By the end of the story, she is revealed to be (presumably) complicit in Westervelt's pseudo-slavery of Priscilla as the Veiled Lady, a scheme she uses to perpetuate her wealthy lifestyle, and a potential reason Hollingsworth leaves her. She is the daughter of Old Moodie's first, prosperous marriage when he was still referred to as Fauntleroy. She often is thought to be analogous to the author Margaret Fuller, who although not a resident of Brook Farm was a frequent visitor there.
Priscilla: A fragile, mysterious girl brought to the farm by Hollingsworth. She makes intricate purses that Coverdale considers a "symbol of her mystery." She is known to frequently pause as if responding to a call, though no other characters hear it. She becomes progressively more open and less frail throughout the novel and develops a strong attachment to Hollingsworth on top of her sisterly affection for Zenobia. She is eventually revealed to be the second daughter of Old Moodie, as well as the alter ego of the Veiled Lady. Hollingsworth frees her from the curse of the veil, and at the book's close, she remains attached to him.
Professor Westervelt: Stumbles into the plot looking for Priscilla and Zenobia. Coverdale takes an immediate distaste for him and describes him with such language as one would describe the devil. In fact, much of the imagery Coverdale uses, such as the flames on Westervelt's pin and the serpent-headed staff he carries are direct references to Satan. He presumably has a former, possibly romantic, relationship with Zenobia. He is revealed to be the magician controlling Priscilla near the end of the book, and his last appearance is at Zenobia's funeral where he criticizes her foolish suicide.
Narrative style The novel is written from a first-person limited point of view and the narrator is Miles Coverdale. Coverdale's narrative style is erratic and dreamlike, bringing a strange form of syntax to the novel that is more Coverdale's than Hawthorne's. In a final chapter added after the original manuscript was completed but before publishing, Coverdale breaks the fourth wall and reveals that the writing takes place significantly after leaving Blithedale. He reveals the fates of the other characters from a still limited viewpoint.
Symbolism Flower: Zenobia wears a new exotic flower every day. It represents vitality, and all the other characters are focused on destroying it. Coverdale is always probing and investigating her life. Hollingsworth uses her in his conspiracy to create an ideal society. Priscilla betrays her when she chooses Hollingsworth over her. Lastly, Westervelt blackmails her. She ultimately destroys herself through suicide. The exotic flower is a symbol of her pride, life and vitality all of which the characters in the Blithedale Romance are set on destroying. Zenobia's main vice is pride; however, it is why she is admired by all. Its physical representation is demonstrated through her exotic flower.