The Marble Faun

The story of Miriam and Donatello parallels that of Adam and Eve in the biblical book of Genesis, as Miriam makes explicit in Pages 315-316. At first, Miriam and Donatello are idyllically happy together in a park full of music, dancing, and nature. Then, upon being “tempted” by Miriam, Donatello commits a murder, and both Donatello and Miriam experience a fall from grace and innocence.

Donatello, overwhelmed with feelings of remorse and guilt, is unable to show love and affection to Miriam or enjoy life as before. Miriam and Donatello become estranged from each other as well as from nature, with Donatello unable to take delight in the country life at Monte Beni. Miriam becomes “ill enough […] to die” and feels that her life has no purpose (205). Miriam fears that she is “an object of horror in Donatello’s sight” (206), and Donatello cannot bear to listen to the sound of Miriam singing. What’s more, the consequences of the murder do not stop with them but, like original sin, radiate outward; Hilda especially feels tainted by her knowledge of the crime and has to seek her own kind of absolution.

Hawthorne depicts the fall as a predicament and challenge that human beings must strive to overcome with mutual help.