Horror Short Story: "The Old Maid in the Winding Sheet" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Tweet

In true gothic fashion, the opening scene of this ghost story portrays the corpse of a recently deceased young man laid out for burial in a bedroom. What appear to be flickers of life are merely the moonbeam-shadows of the fringed curtains hanging around the bedframe playing across his features. Two young girls enter the chamber one at a time. They had apparently been rivals for the young man’s affections. One, proud, is unnamed. The other, named Patience, is overcome with emotion. She kisses the lips of the dead young man and lays her head on the pillow next to his. (Uh, just a bit much?) “Wilt thou betray me?” the proud girl asks. “Till the dead bid me speak, I will be silent,” Patience responds. She tells the other girl to leave her alone with the dead. “Go, and live many years, and then return and tell me of thy life. He, too, will be here! Then, if thou tellest of sufferings more than death, we will both forgive thee!” The girls agree to meet in the same chamber years in the future. Patience hands the other girl cuts a lock of hair from the corpse. They part. I don’t know how many of you suffered through The Scarlet Letter in high school, but Nathaniel Hawthorne’s hand hasn’t gotten any less heavy. There’s a comet here, but no hypocritical young clergyman going through an emotional breakdown. The story is drips gothic. It plods along, tugging at heart strings. Had I read it when I was younger, I might have been moved to more pity, but at this point, I’m torn. On the on hand, I want to give vent to my inner Marxist and let her rant about the repressive New England mores and worship of wealth. On the other hand, I’d like to give Patience a good swift kick in the gluteus maximus. This short story is available from Project Gutenberg at the link below. ______ Title: “The Old Maid in the Winding Sheet” (also “The White Old Maid”) Author: Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) First published: New England Magazine July 1835 Source: book