The Ambitious Guest

The guest is the central character in “The Ambitious Guest.” Hawthorne utilizes direct characterization when the narrator describes the guest as a “proud, yet gentle spirit” and someone who is often solitary because of the “lofty caution of his nature” (302). He is both haughty and kind, as demonstrated by his grand ambitions and his ability to develop an instant kinship with the family.

The guest catalyzes the plot because he is an external force who comes into the family’s private space and changes the dynamic of the evening. When the guest shares his desire to be remembered after death, he disrupts the family’s usual domestic routine and prompts them to talk about their own ambitions.

By the end of the short story, the guest’s greatest fear, which is to be forgotten after his death, is realized. His craving for “Earthly Immortality” and the irony of his oblivion develop the themes of Ambition Versus Fate and The Desire to Conquer Death (307).

The father is an important supporting character in “The Ambitious Guest.” At the beginning of the story, the narrator establishes that the “faces of the father and mother ha[ve] a sober gladness” (299).