The Marble Faun

Reflecting on the positive change in Donatello’s character, Miriam speculates about the nature of good and evil, leading to one of the most philosophical discussions in the novel. Miriam observes that Donatello “has traveled in a circle […] and now comes back to his original self, with an inestimable treasure of improvement won from an experience of pain” (315). Donatello’s remorse has deepened his perceptions, awareness, and intelligence. This leads Miriam to conjecture that their crime may have been “a blessing, in that strange disguise” and “a means of education” (315).

Miriam’s discussion notably leaves Brother Antonio out of the picture, implying he existed merely for the sake of dying for Donatello’s and Miriam’s spiritual benefit. Kenyon, understandably, expresses reservations about the theological path Miriam is treading. Yet Miriam pushes further on, applying her theory to human sin generally: In God’s larger design, original sin was perhaps the means by which, through repentance and moral improvement, humanity could “attain a higher, brighter, and profounder happiness, than our lost birthright gave” (316). As Kenyon later puts it, “Did Adam fall, that we might ultimately rise to a far loftier paradise than his?” (334).

In their own way, Miriam and Kenyon have hit upon the classical theological idea that sin and suffering purify and ennoble the soul; God draws a greater good out of human evil. Hilda, however, is shocked and offended by this theory. For her, evil is purely and simply bad. It has no right to exist and no possible overlap with the good: “Do you not perceive what a mockery your creed makes, not only of all religious sentiments, but of moral law!” (334). The objection could perhaps be resolved by observing that evil remains evil, but that God can and does turn evil to good; thus, everything that happens, whether good or evil, serves a purpose, teaching us a lesson or making us spiritually better. Ultimately, Hawthorne suggests that the kind of paradise Donatello embodies at the beginning of the novel is incomplete. As a “faun,” Donatello is not fully human—the implication being that the happiness humanity enjoyed before the fall was in part animalistic and that a truly human paradise can only arise out of suffering.