The Maypole Of Merry Mount

“The Maypole of Merry Mount” is a short story written by Nathaniel Hawthorne that was first published in a gift book in 1832. It was subsequently published in 1837 as part of a collection of Hawthorne’s short stories, Twice-Told Tales. The story is a fictional retelling of the history of the 17th century British colony, Mount Wollaston—also called Merry Mount—which later became Quincy, Massachusetts. Some of the account is true—such as the struggle for existence between the pseudo-pagan Merry Mounters and John Endicott—as depicted in a history mentioned by Hawthorne at the outset of the story; however, Hawthorne also notes that he has reimagined this tale into an allegory of sorts, blending artifice with reality. The short story therefore embodies a work of historical fiction, as Hawthorne has reimagined the history in order to serve his own authorial ends.

A large portion of these authorial ends serve to indicate the false happiness of the Merry Mounters. These colonists, who are described as being overwhelmingly young and beautiful, only seem to pursue the “counterfeit”(Paragraph 4) happiness of vanity: they wear elaborate clothes, participate in festivities they do not seem to care about, and are never serious about anything at all—all in a hedonist pursuit of happiness.