〈영어로 읽는 고전 _ 나다니엘 호손의 셰이커 신부〉
“THE SHAKER BRIDAL”은 Nathaniel Hawthorne의 또 다른 단편 소설로, 1835년 그의 컬렉션 "Twice-Told Tales"에도 출판되었다.
아담 콜번과 마사 피어슨은 젊었을 때부터 사랑하는 사이였지만, 인생의 역경으로 결혼하지 못하게된다. 그들은 세상을 등지고 셰이커 공동체에 가입한다. 셰이커 마을의 지도자인 아버지 에프라임이 노쇠해지자, 아담과 마사에게 마을의 새로운 지도자 역할을 맡기려 한다. 의식 중 마사는 과거의 연정을 떠올리며 극심한 고통을 겪다가 결국 실신하게 된다.
이 작품은 세속적인 사랑과 종교적 금욕주의 사이의 갈등을 보여주며, 개인의 감정과 신념 체계 사이의 투쟁을 그리고 있다. 마사가 견딜 수 없는 아픔을 겪는 것은 그녀의 인간적인 연정이 셰이커 공동체의 엄격한 규율과 충돌하기 때문이다.
〈A classic read in English_ THE SHAKER BRIDAL by Nathaniel Hawthorne 〉
“THE SHAKER BRIDAL” is another short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, also published in his collection “Twice-Told Tales” in 1835.
Adam Colburn and Martha Pearson have been in love since they were young, but due to hardships in their lives, they are unable to marry. They turn away from the world and join the Shaker community. As his father, Ephraim, the leader of the Shaker village, grows old, he tries to entrust Adam and Martha as new leaders of the village. During her ritual, Martha experiences extreme pain while recalling her past love affairs, and eventually faints.
The work presents the conflict between worldly love and religious asceticism, and depicts the struggle between an individual's emotions and belief systems. The reason Martha experiences unbearable pain is because her humane love clashes with the strict discipline of the Shaker community.
Summary
One day, in the sick-chamber of Father Ephraim, who had been forty years the presiding elder over the Shaker settlement at Goshen, there was an assemblage of several of the chief men of the sect. Individuals had come from the rich establishment at Lebanon, from Canterbury, Harvard and Alfred, and from all the other localities where this strange people have fertilized the rugged hills of New England by their systematic industry. An elder was likewise there who had made a pilgrimage of a thousand miles from a village of the faithful in Kentucky to visit his spiritual kindred the children of the sainted Mother Ann.
