# Blithedale Pasture explained — The Blithedale Romance > Chapter companion for The Blithedale Romance by Nathaniel Hawthorne. ## What happens Zenobia is buried in a simple ceremony on the hillside where she and Hollingsworth had planned to build their cottage. Coverdale confronts Westervelt, who coldly dismisses Zenobia's suicide as unnecessary and reflects on her wasted potential. Later, Coverdale visits Hollingsworth and Priscilla, finding Hollingsworth a broken man haunted by guilt, while Priscilla serves as his devoted guardian. Coverdale reflects on the dangers of obsessive philanthropy and the moral that even from heaven's gate there is a byway to the pit. ## Themes in this chapter ### Idealism vs. Reality The Blithedale colonists' idealistic plans for a symbolic funeral give way to the simple, traditional reality of burial. ### Obsession and Philanthropy Hollingsworth's exclusive philanthropic obsession is shown to have ruined his heart, leading to a life of guilt and melancholy. ### Gender Roles and Women's Rights Coverdale critiques the masculine egotism that makes woman's success depend solely on love, while man has many other chances. ### Secrecy and Identity Westervelt's mysterious influence over Zenobia and the hidden burden she carried are discussed but not fully revealed. ## Character check-ins ### Zenobia Buried in the Blithedale pasture; her death is mourned and debated by Coverdale and Westervelt. ### Mr. Hollingsworth Shows a depressed and melancholy look, presses close to Priscilla, and admits he has been busy with a single murderer (himself). ### Priscilla Protective and watchful of Hollingsworth; her one possible misfortune was his unkindness, which never befell her. ### Miles Coverdale Narrates the burial and later visits Hollingsworth; reflects on the moral dangers of philanthropy. ### Professor Westervelt Appears at the grave, coldly comments on Zenobia's suicide, and argues she had many brilliant possibilities ahead. ### Old Moodie Walks nearest the dead in deep mourning, his face mostly concealed, with Priscilla leaning on his arm. ## Key lines > It is nonsense, and a miserable wrong—the result, like so many others, of masculine egotism—that the success or failure of woman's existence should be made to depend wholly on the affections, and on one species of affection, while man has such a multitude of other chances, that this seems but an incident. Coverdale argues that it is a foolish and unjust consequence of male selfishness that a woman's entire life is judged by romantic love, whereas men have many other opportunities. _Coverdale's reflection on gender inequality and the narrow definition of women's worth._ > The moral which presents itself to my reflections, as drawn from Hollingsworth's character and errors, is simply this—that, admitting what is called philanthropy, when adopted as a profession, to be often useful by its energetic impulse to society at large, it is perilous to the individual whose ruling passion, in one exclusive channel, it thus becomes. Coverdale concludes that while philanthropy can benefit society, it becomes dangerous when it turns into an all-consuming obsession that ruins the individual's heart. _The central moral lesson Coverdale draws from Hollingsworth's tragic trajectory._ > I see in Hollingsworth an exemplification of the most awful truth in Bunyan's book of such—from the very gate of heaven there is a byway to the pit! Coverdale sees Hollingsworth as proof that even from the threshold of salvation, a path can lead to damnation. _Coverdale's allusion to John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress to describe Hollingsworth's moral downfall._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_blithedale_romance_se/chapters/xxviii-blithedale-pasture - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_blithedale_romance_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_blithedale_romance_se/chapters