Hawthorne's science fiction stories, such as "The Birthmark" and "Rapaccini's Daughter," are set in the 17th century. His novels, however, The House of Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance, are set in the nineteenth century, his era. The progression of science from alchemy to psychological and social sciences occurs in reality and is evident as a change in Hawthorne's narrative. In the nineteenth century, science was no longer simple physical chemistry, but evolved into psychology, a science based on the human mind and its behavior. With the onset of the American Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, this scientific advancement occurred rapidly; therefore, much of it still resides in the experimental stages of 19th century science. Experimentation is a key component in Hawthorne's 17th-century stories, and the fear of alchemy is still present in later contexts. Yet Hawthorne's nineteenth-century narrative also shows a rationalization of science, as experiments progress from using people as physical reagents, to using social subjects. This transition towards a rationalized modernity is also reflected in the genre. Gothic motifs in "Rapaccini's Daughter" and "The Birthmark" such as the "mad scientist" become less important. Hawthorne's narrative instead evolves in a utopian tradition, where the social sciences exist as a method of reform. However, this gender transition does not happen easily. Motifs from the Gothic tradition, such as the decadent setting and the virginal maiden, are still present in Hawthorne's novels. Therefore, progress within Hawthorne's narrative, particularly scientific progress, is difficult to achieve without the past acting as an inhibitor. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The House of the Seven Gables is a novel that focuses on how the past influences future action and intent. Hawthorne's symbolism goes beyond the inanimate to exist in people, Hepzibah and Clifford Pyncheon. Hepzibah's reaction to Mr. Holgrave, the lodger, and his art of the daguerreotype, an early form of photography, suggests that the difficulty with progression comes not just from the procedure, but from the people. This suspicion of Holgrave is specific to the older generation. Hepzibah “had reason to believe that he studied animal magnetism and […] the black [arts].” Hepzibah's "reason" is based on past fears. Just as Brown is suspicious of the intentions of his seemingly innocent citizens in "Young Goodman Brown," Hepzibah, in her skepticism, also belongs to a seventeenth-century context. For older people, the practice of science is still synonymous with alchemy, the devil and the "Black Arts". This belief suggests that science continues to be associated with the dangers of uncertainty in the nineteenth century, despite the growing amount of knowledge gathered in the field. Hepzibah's "reason to believe" in Holgrave's witchcraft is based entirely on suspicion. His position is underlined by Phoebe, the Pyncheons' young, hopeful cousin, who trusts, and ultimately loves, Holgrave with only a few questions. Hawthorne thus presents a self-conscious transition beyond the "mad scientist" motif. In this novel, Holgrave may be aligned with the stereotype through his unknown practice. As beliefs change, science is accepted as progressive and the daguerreotype is presented as harmless. Instead, Hepzibah is aligned with the hysterical figure in her suspicions, as a person who has inadvertently beenstruck by a seventeenth-century version of the "mad scientist", Matthew Maule. The focus is therefore on "belief" and not "reason". Hepzibah's suspicion originates in her mind and is not based in fact. Charles Poyen suggests that many in the nineteenth century found it easier to believe in the authority of witchcraft than in pseudoscience. Hawthorne reverses this concept. With the introduction of Phoebe and Holgrave as a rationalized new generation, witchcraft becomes the absurd suspicions of an old one. Hepzibah is a necessary and standard character in this novel, representative of a generation struggling to progress as the new generation can. The inability to progress from the past in The House of the Seven Gables is based on the inability to gain the necessary knowledge on how to break the curse of times gone by. The Pyncheons, especially Clifford, cannot escape their family's "curse" due to their ignorance of Jaffrey Pyncheon's true nature. Holgrave uses his daguerreotypes to psychoanalyze people, suggesting that the Pyncheon must seek truth even in living people, in contrast to their ancient ancestral history. Holgrave's daguerreotype allows for the recognition of Judge Pyncheon's false benevolence, a key aspect in the rest of the plot: "Would you like to be at his mercy?" To that mouth? Could he ever smile?' The daguerreotype, as the first form of photography, should replicate the subject. However, Holgrave instead constructs a physical appearance that reflects the true character of the judge, the character who framed Clifford for his uncle's murder. Social science therefore extends to physiognomy, to the ability to attribute temperament to external appearance. By identifying the "mouth" as incapable of smiling, Hawthorne implies that the judge's internal character is also incapable of doing good. Perhaps Hawthorne consciously uses the daguerreotype in "The Birthmark" also to show the scientific progress made. The image attempted by Aylmer is "blurred and indefinable", suggesting an inability to perceive and therefore imitate Georgiana's true character, which is something more than merely external. Although Holgrave's image is more accurate, his psychoanalysis is still evidently primitive. However, he cannot be identified as the “mad scientist” since his procedure is accurate, moderate and does not sacrifice human life. Furthermore, his appearance refuses to fit into expected conventions. Both scientists in "Rapaccini's Daughter" and "The Birthmark" physically embody their evil nature. As Hawthorne's narrative shifts to a nineteenth-century setting, scientists cannot and should not be identified by appearance alone, as their science is less threatening. Seventeenth- and nineteenth-century science is extremely different in procedures. However, they are aligned in their insistence on progress. Aylmer and Rappaccini put lives in danger to "find a perfect future in the present." The social science of reform evokes the same tenacity, an impatience that Hawthorne believes will lead to inevitable failure. From a scientific and social perspective, progress towards this “perfect future” requires patience and time, and without these qualities it is harmful. In the nineteenth century, reform movements swept through New England to encourage the “restoration of a human unity.” In The Blithedale Romance, the characters look beyond this restoration to a complete reform towards a "Paradise System". However, as a skeptical protagonist, Miles Coverdale refers to the system as "arcadian". The importance of this concept is highlighted by Hawthorne's consideration of the title The Arcadian Summer for the novel. This conceptdiffers from that of "paradise" in that it infers a lack of sustainability in their planned utopia, or perhaps an entirely imaginary aspect. The Blithedale Project aims to "restore" human solidarity by abolishing the artificial social boundaries that limit it. In striving for this "paradise," this entails the ultimate restoration of humanity's origins in the Garden of Eden, an incredibly high standard for reformers to reach. Taylor Stoehr argues that it is dangerous to completely abandon social boundaries, as one loses contact with traditional laws of social conduct, such as gender relations. This idea is established in the novel. Without the introduction of revised rules for a better society, the original boundaries of the social hierarchy could easily be re-established. However, it is this complete abolition of boundaries that allows the characters to make human errors and from this comes individual reform. For reform to occur on a larger social scale, Blithedale residents need a more structured and specific idea of ​​the conditions they want. As previously established, scientific progress has encountered resistance, especially in light of the introduction of new procedures. Although Hawthorne was skeptical that people were capable of immediate social reform, he was also skeptical of mesmerism as a process capable of spiritual uplift and reform. Benjamin Storey presents mesmerism as the reduction of "the passions we most deeply experience as our own" to "reverberations of underlying magnetic forces." This suggests that any emotion you feel is not original, caused by an external source, and not based on emotional idiosyncrasies. Hawthorne inverts this measured nineteenth-century concept – in 1845, a Boston mesmerist, Dr. Robert H. Collyer, claimed to have discovered phrenomagnetism, the ability to excite the brain by magnetic action – through a flashback in the chapter 'Alice Pyncheon' . Regressing to an earlier era where mesmerism was considered a spiritual phenomenon, he reintroduces fear as a reaction. It also reaffirms the action as a sin that infiltrates “your holy of holies,” and not just as a scientific process. Alice Pyncheon, Colonel Pyncheon's great-granddaughter, has "a power hardly dreamed of [...] [takes] hold of her girlish soul." The mesmerist, Matthew Maule, is once again aligned with the "mad scientist". Hawthorne's use of the motif outside of his science fiction suggests that the categorization does not depend on a specific scientific procedure, but on an intrinsic greed for power. Matthew Maule asserts patriarchal dominance in placing his "hold" on Alice's "soul." As a "maiden" and supposedly virgin, Alice is vulnerable due to her naivety. Maule's "will" is assumed to extend to sex and his purity is tarnished. Psychological manipulation is therefore arguably more repugnant than physical slavery. Since psychological control was considered achievable only through witchcraft, it is suggested that the average mortal cannot be freed from such bondage through traditional methods. In pointing to abuses of this power, Hawthorne suggests an authority behind fears of scientific progress. The stereotype of the "mad scientist", therefore, still exists beyond the Gothic tradition. However, in the nineteenth century, the abilities of these scientists are more threatening, as they extend to the manipulation of the psychological sphere. Most of the concepts explored in The House of the Seven Gables and The Blithedale Romance center on progress. Despite containing Gothic concepts, both novels partially exist in the utopian genre in this element of evolution., 1978)