"Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent" is a

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

published in 1843 in ''

The United States Magazine and Democratic Review ''The United States Magazine and Democratic Review'' was a periodical published from 1837 to 1859 by John L. O'Sullivan. Its motto, "The best government is that which governs least", was famously paraphrased by Henry David Thoreau in "Resistance ...

'' in New York.

Plot synopsis

George Herkimer visits his old acquaintance, Roderick Elliston, who is rumored to have a snake residing in his bosom. Herkimer says he brings Elliston a message from Elliston's wife Rosina, but Elliston retreats into his house before receiving it. Elliston and Rosina had separated four years earlier. Soon, people noticed a green tint to his skin and often heard a hissing sound coming from his bosom. Elliston sought the attention of others and pointed out the snakes they possessed within their own bosoms. His relatives placed him in an asylum, but his doctors decided his affliction did not demand confinement. After learning this, Herkimer returns to Elliston, who says his self-contemplation has nurtured the serpent. Rosina appears and suggests that he "forget imselfin the idea of another". They touch and Roderick is healed.

Composition and publication history

Nathaniel Hawthorne by Eastman Johnson, 1846 (0ea4733d-be8a-4274-bf80-052f09d6cdbc)

In the 1840s, Hawthorne was planning a project of interrelated stories to be collected under the banner ''Allegories of the Heart''; instead, several of those stories were published in the '' Democratic Review'', including "Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent" in the March 1843 issue. It was republished in ''The Pathfinder'' that same month and later appeared in ''

Mosses from an Old Manse ''Mosses from an Old Manse'' is a short story collection by Nathaniel Hawthorne, first published in 1846. Background and publication history The collection includes several previously published short stories, and was named in honor of The Old Mans ...

'', a collection of short stories by Hawthorne published in 1846. Another tale, "The Christmas Banquet", is a sequel which again features the character of Roderick; both stories also carried a subtitle indicating they were part of the unpublished ''Allegories of the Heart''.Levin, Harry. ''The Power of Blackness: Hawthorne, Poe, Melville''. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1958: 57. .

Analysis

In 1850,

Herman Melville Herman Melville ( born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are ''Moby-Dick'' (1851); ''Typee'' (1846), a rom ...

referred to "Egotism; or, The Bosom-Serpent" as a tale deserving of "curious and elaborate analysis, touching the conjectural parts of the mind that produced them." Though author

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

in 1879 said the story was "stiff and mechanical, slightly incongruous", it influenced his tale " The Jolly Corner".Wright, Sarah Bird. ''Critical Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work''. New York: Facts on File, 2007: 76. . Scholar Erich S. Rupprecht insisted it was one of Hawthorne's lesser works, claiming the "symbolic burden of the story clearly overwhelms the literal" and that the story "never manages to achieve much power or emotional resonance". Hawthorne himself seemingly later questioned his own allegorical works, as he wrote to publisher James T. Fields in 1854: "Upon my honor, I am not quite sure that I entirely comprehend my own meaning in some of these blasted allegories." 20th century literary critic

Frederick Crews Frederick Campbell Crews (born 20 February 1933) is an American essayist and literary critic. Professor emeritus of English at the University of California, Berkeley, Crews is the author of numerous books, including ''The Tragedy of Manners: M ...

noted that the story, similar to other Hawthorne tales like "

The Birth-Mark "The Birth-Mark" is a short story by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. The tale examines obsession with human perfection. It was first published in the March 1843 edition of ''The Pioneer'' and later appeared in ''Mosses from an Old Manse'', a ...

", is one of many in which a character avoids or fears marriage or features an inexplicably absent female lover/wife. Hawthorne biographer

Brenda Wineapple Brenda Wineapple is an American nonfiction writer, literary critic, and essayist who has written several books on nineteenth-century American writers. Biography Born in Boston, Massachusetts, she graduated from Brandeis University. In 2014, ...

calls the character of Roderick Elliston " Poe-like". Further, like Roger Chillingworth in ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, ...

'', that character has a poisoned human nature, distant from human affection.Mellow, James R. ''Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1980: 304. . Though the snake in the bosom is presented both literally and symbolically, critic

Harry Levin Harry Tuchman Levin (July 18, 1912 – May 29, 1994) was an American literary critic and scholar of both modernism and comparative literature. Life and career Levin was born in Minneapolis, the son of Beatrice Hirshler (née Tuchman) and Isado ...

notes that it is unclear if the snake is "a physical ailment, a mental delusion, or a token of demonic possession." Elliston is only "cured" when he is able to "Forget yourself in the idea of another." Hawthorne had similarly done the same when he married Sophia Peabody in 1842.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Egotism or, The Bosom-Serpent Short stories by Nathaniel Hawthorne 1843 short stories Works originally published in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review