Nathaniel Hawthorne's My Kinsman Major Molineux
Paradigms of Power and Majesty
Sep 28, 2009 Christopher Mansour
The deadliest human obsession is the pursuit of power. Nations and empires have established themselves through bloodshed and murder, have warred for control of resources and populations, and have glorified themselves at the expense of entire peoples. To the megalomaniac, the empire is his chance to indulge delusions of grandeur. Even on the interpersonal level, many crave wealth and social influence. But endemic to these separate yet similar pursuits is the folly and destruction that await the unwise.
The Folly of Empire and Imperial Majesty
Nathaniel Hawthorne's allegorical tale, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux", catalogues the effects of power and dictatorship upon colonized subjects. It begins with a historical preface illustrating the injustices of monarchical rule and imperialism, the despotism, elitism, and abuse of subjects. Autocrats rule by force regardless of the people's will. Britain "assume[s] the right"(Hawthorne 3) to appoint puppet governors to control the American colonies. The narrator’s tone is sympathetic; the Americans do not even have a fellow countryman to advocate before Britain.
An empire or monarchy rarely cares for the subjugated people's feelings. Unsurprisingly, Hawthorne reports that "the measures" of the governors "seldom [meet]"(3) the people's approval. The first governors had met colonial approval because they, like earlier kings, were bound to obey "the original charters"(3). Newer governors and despotic kings flagrantly ignore the great legal charters--in so doing, they incur colonial outrage by denying basic human legal rights. These are the actions of an imperial dictatorship flouting the law.
Some governors recognize the injustice and earn the colonists’ "slender gratitude" for "softening their instructions from beyond the sea"(Hawthorne 3), but it costs them dearly. For defying Britain and commiserating with colonists, such governors incur “reprehension”.
A Condemnation of Imperialism
The preface establishes a colonial perspective on the violent unrest and civil disorder in Massachusetts--a background of British tyranny and the ensuing colonial retaliation. The people "[look] with most jealous scrutiny to the exercise of power which did not emanate from themselves"(Hawthorne 3). They monitor every abuse of power by the governors and resent that only British citizens enjoy rights and privileges. Of "six governors" ruling in a span of "forty years,...two were imprisoned by a popular insurrection; [and] a third...was driven [away]...by a...musket ball"(3). The inklings of civil war and revolution permeate the atmosphere.
Massachusetts, then, becomes one cell of a convulsive whole--the American nation struggling to free itself. It becomes the place where Britain's imperial majesty is thwarted. The wry understatement that "inferior members of the court party, in times of high political excitement, led scarcely a more desirable life"(Hawthorne 3), mocks the royalists' declining power and hints at an unenviable fate awaiting British supporters prior to the revolutionary war.
Use of Literary Devices to Deepen Thematic Impact
Through use of literary devices, Hawthorne's characters and objects generate an atmosphere of imperial grandeur and political unrest. In the preface, "beyond the sea"(3) is a metonymical reference. It dismissively and ironically refers to orders dispatched by ship, as if likening the British to Viking marauders whose tyrannical commands cross what should be a great, impenetrable barrier. "Sea" is a metonym for ocean that refers to saltwater bodies larger than lakes but smaller than oceans. The narrator's wry tone expresses the colony's viewpoint—how small is the ocean that Britain can still exert its hated influence in America.
Symbolism and imagery deepen the feeling of imperial might. Major Molineux, for good or ill, symbolizes imperial elitism, privilege, and grandeur. Looking at the "small and mean wooden buildings"(Hawthorne 4), Robin cannot equate that drab, poor existence with the empire's wealth and glory. To him, Molineux is the empire. He exclaims, "this low hovel cannot be my kinsman's dwelling...nor yonder old house where the moonlight enters...broken casement"(4). To him, power and wealth equal the desirable and good; poverty, the immoral and unclean. He "[sees] none hereabouts...worthy of [Molineux]"(4). Robin's vision of Molineux is oneiric, he assumes that power and privilege embody moral superiority and even majesty.
Molineux's "acquired civil and military rank"(Hawthorne 13) and his visit to Robin's family "in great pomp" establish him as a grandiose benefactor offering to better Robin's "future establishment". Such "generous intentions"(13) and favouritism allude to the master-servant relationship between empire and colony. Molineux and Britain become synonymous; their manipulation of others, undeniable.
Imperialist Exploitation and Outbreak of Violence
The text attests to the overt and blatant discrimination in the empire. Both the tavern and promenade scenes hint at a thriving commerce of little meaning to the poorest citizens. The "embroidered garments, of showy colors...periwigs...and silver-hilted swords"(Hawthorne 7) of the British and American aristocracies evoke a sublime wealth and political majesty far beyond Robin's tiny world. The nightwatchman encounter speaks of any absolutist regime's obsession with control. The guard's abusive treatment of Robin and his "spiked"(9) staff do not stress the rule of law so much as state power and the suppression of many citizens.
Epitomizing Britain's ultimate defeat is the figure of the captured and broken Major Molineux. While trumpets vomit "horrid breath" and torches blaze, the Major sits in an "uncovered cart" in "tar-and-feathery dignity"(Hawthorne 16). It is a grotesque symbol ripe with dramatic irony. The fallen, sinful Major who has so abused the colonists now faces their gruesome revenge. His story recalls Aesop's fable 23, that "when a man loses the prestige that he once had, he becomes in his misfortune the plaything even of cowards". His punishment is the empire's. But now, the colonists possess the capacity to be as evil as the empire.
The thematic point is that British megalomania transforms the Americans into an equally diabolical imperial force. The sword-bearing, grotesque leader in "military dress" also represents war and imperial slogans. The "visionary air" and "feverish" madness of the triumph liken the roiling mob to "fiends that throng in mockery round some dead potentate...trampling all on an old man's heart"(Hawthorne 17). The dictator's fall brings not liberty, but insanity. How appropriate is the tale for this equally irrational age.
Work Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "My Kinsman, Major Molineux." U Virginia Library. 19 Sept. 2009.
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