Select Party

In his “Select Party” story, Hawthorne intends to clothe virtues and evils with symbolic meaning, much as Elizabethan poet Edmund Spencer did in his epic poem “The Faerie Queen.” The disparity between the two works being that Hawthorne tells his story with tongue in cheek; there’s none of the seriousness of a grave epic.

Spencer, for example, is quite serious in his intention —with his two knights, Redcrosse and Britomart— in examining the two virtues he considers most important to Christian life: Holiness and Chastity. Hawthorne’s approach to his theme —a party attended by human myths, legends, and an odd assortment of mundane characters— is lighthearted, spoofy, almost comical.
The host of the party is The man of fancy. But just who is this character? Is the author’s alter ego? One can only surmise.

The narrator takes his sweet time in describing a mansion that could —with total suspension of disbelief— hang in infinite space, yet have the appearance of a medieval castle; that is, great walls, massive structures, etc. We also get to know that the mansion is a celestial architecture with immense pillars from which meteors are suspended.

In this setting we see the slow, painful interaction of the symbolic personages.