42 THE FAITHFUL READER The Dark Road of Sin and Doubt Did Ethan Brand find the Unpardonable Sin? Hawthorne includes passages that cause the reader to doubt whether Brand truly completed his quest. The first seed of doubt is taken from the mind of Brand himself when he meets the three characters from the village and is repulsed by their vulgarity. Brand is disgusted that these men have squandered whatever potential they had by making themselves slaves to liquor. The question occurs to him whether through his own profound intellectual development he has found any greater sin than these men who have lowered themselves to the level of beasts. The next indication that Ethan Brand may not have accomplished his mission comes from the one hint of remorse in the story. Brand has previously embraced and reveled in his guilt, but when the old man Humphrey asks Brand for news of his daughter, Esther, Brand does not trumpet his evil deeds; rather, he fears to face the father of the woman he destroyed: “Ethan Brand’s eye quailed beneath the old man’s.” He then turns away expressing something very like regret: “‘Yes,’ murmured he, turning away from the hoary wanderer; ‘it is no delusion. There is an Unpardonable Sin!’” Does Brand no longer exist in a state of unrepentant sinfulness? If he can feel remorse, is there a chance he could be pardoned by God, if not by Esther’s father? Brand also notes a similarity between his quest and the old dog’s vain pursuit of his own tail. Hawthorne does not allow his readers to draw straight lines of correspondence, as he calls it a “remote analogy,” but the comment invites speculation. The analogy could be explained by reference to the circular nature of both Brand’s spiritual and physical journeys, but might not the futility of the dog’s desire be the point of comparison? We note that the dog has a short tail that could never be caught no matter how maniacal and determined the inexplicable chase; yet the animal exhibits “headlong eagerness in pursuit of an object that could not possibly be attained” until, exhausted, he ceases the pursuit “as far from his goal as ever.” Is Brand engaged in a similar futile quest? If so, is this the analogy that Brand perceives? We see that Brand’s confidence about having com-
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