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Melody Dillee
Mrs. Martin
Honors Classics in Literature
2 December 2011
The Use of Heart Disease in “The Man of Adamant”
Heart disease is used very symbolically in this whole story. In “The Man of Adamant”,
by Nathaniel Hawthorne, the character of Richard Digby suffers from heart disease. In “The Man
of Adamant” Richard Digby’s heart disease causes him to seclude himself, deny help from
others, and it causes him to be cold-hearted. This seclusion, denial, and cold-heartedness is what
eventually causes his demise.
Heart disease causes people to seclude themselves from the rest of the world, much like
Richard Digby in this story. He left everything to isolate himself, “And here I am put in mind,
that Richard Digby, before he withdrew himself from the world, was supposed by skillful
physicians to have contracted a disease, for which no remedy was written in their medical books”
(Hawthorne). His heart disease symbolizes his broken-heartedness, which is usually only curable
by the one who caused it. He is determined to withdraw himself from happiness also, “Richard
Digby determined to seclude himself to the sole and constant enjoyment of his happy fortune”
(Hawthorne). He not only withdraws himself physically, but he also does so emotionally.
People who are experiencing heartbreak usually seclude themselves and deny the help of
other people. In “The Man of Adamant”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Richard Digby denies help
from Mary Goffe. Mary Goffe is the only person who could heal him, “‘I have come this weary
way, because I heard that a grievous distemper had seized upon thy heart; and a great physician
hath given me the skill to cure it. There is no other remedy than this which I have brought thee.
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Turn me not away, therefore, nor refuse my medicine; for then must this dismal cave be thy
sepulchre’” (Hawthorne). Mary Goffe is the one who caused his heartache; therefore she is the
only person who can fix it. She alone can help him, but he denies her help and remains
heartbroken and lonely.
The character of Richard Digby in “The Man of Adamant” is very cold-hearted. He loses
all his chances of curing his heart disease, “But, the more heavenly she was, the more hateful did
she seem to Richard Digby, who at length raised his hand, and smote down the cup of hallowed
water upon the threshold of the cave, thus rejecting the only medicine that could have cured his
stony heart” (Hawthorne). He throws away the medicine the medicine that Mary brought,
without which he will never be cured and will die. The description of the man as a stone statue
symbolizes that he has a cold, heart of stone, and with it would not accept any help or
compassion.
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Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Man of Adamant, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1837, 1852." Eldritch
Press. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://eldritchpress.org/nh/mana.html>.