The Maypole Of Merry Mount

Hair is important throughout the short story to indicate the relative ideologies of the characters. For example, at the beginning of the story, Edgar has the same long flowing youthful locks of his bride-to-be, Edith, symbolizing his youthful beauty. However, at the end of the story, Edgar is forced to cut his hair into the Puritan “pumpkin-shell fashion” (Paragraph 42). This act is symbolic in nature, as it demonstrates how Edgar is forced to sacrifice his previous life in order to be integrated into the Puritan community. The cutting of Edgar’s hair is similar to the Biblical story of Samson, who loses his strength and power when Delilah cuts off his hair in the night as Samson sleeps. Therefore, the cutting of Edgar’s hair also represents Edgar shedding off the previous ease and happiness with which he had lived his life in order to conform to the rigidity of Puritan culture.

It is important to note that just as the counterfeit happiness of the Merry Mounters is shallow in nature, so too are the traditions of the Puritans. The requisite “pumpkin-shell” Puritan hairstyle demonstrates the shallowness of Puritan tradition, as it requires conformity mostly in terms of appearance. Endicott’s requirement that Edgar cut his hair denigrates the nature of Puritan spirituality, as it becomes clear that the Puritans care more about conformity than they do Christian virtues. As such, hair also shows the Puritans for who they really are: religious hypocrites who inherently embody the flaws innate to humanity. 

Throughout the story, the Puritans are described as being associated with darkness while the Merry mounters are constantly found standing in the light. When the audience first meets the Puritans, they are standing in the shadows, watching the merrymaking of the Merry Mounters. When Endicott cuts down the Maypole, “the evening sky grew darker and the woods threw forth a more somber shadow” (Paragraph 21). As a Romantic, Hawthorne laments the cutting down of the Maypole, a symbol of Nature.

However, the lightness of the Merry Mounters also indicates the lack of seriousness with which they approach their lives. By rendering one side as light and one as dark, Hawthorne suggests that the world needs the balance between the two sides and laments when the darkness wins over the light. It is this balance that is important; however, human nature prevents this balance and part of its natural evil stems from the fact that one side always wins out against the other. Hawthorne demonstrates that the panacea for human nature can be represented in this balance, just as it can be represented in the balance between sorrow and joy rendered by love.