Like many of Hawthorne’s characters, Owen Warland functions as a metaphor. He is the Artist of the title and is obsessive, ambitious, single-minded, even self-involved. Some critics have called him “bratty.” He is also frail, especially compared to the blacksmith. He is gifted, striving for an ideal, and creates a world for himself that is separate from the people around him.

Owen’s name, “Warland,” evokes a conflict, and Owen is perpetually in conflict with societal expectations. Owen is isolated and yet also sympathetic. He has a “delicate ingenuity” (7). At its core, this is a story of Owen’s development as an artist, which comes in fits and starts. At times, his faith waivers, and at other times, external obstacles inhibit his work. His metamorphosis somewhat resembles the life cycle of a butterfly.

While Peter accuses him of “foolery,” Owen understands where it is that he has transgressed societal notions of pragmatism and usefulness. Despite his faults, Owen is a figure of hope, struggling against present-day prejudices and rational confinements. He eschews his boring day job, which is all about regularity and order, in order to enter a world full of fantasy and beauty—which have no value in his society.