How did Nathaniel Hawthorne influence the writing of Moby-Dick?

The friendship between Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne, which began in 1850 when they became neighbors in the Berkshires, had a profound impact on the creation of Moby-Dick.12

Melville’s exposure to Hawthorne’s work, particularly The Scarlet Letter, provided him with fresh imaginative inspiration and a deeper exploration of good and evil within the human spirit. This relationship reanimated Melville’s creative energies, leading him to delay the completion of his manuscript to explore the new vistas opened by Hawthorne’s influence.23

As a result of this intellectual connection, Melville dramatically revised the narrative of Moby-Dick to make it more complex and richly symbolic. Recognizing this significant impact, Melville dedicated the novel to Hawthorne. While Melville viewed their bond as an intense "infinite fraternity of feeling," the relationship eventually cooled, as the more withdrawn Hawthorne found the depth of Melville's declared affection to be uncongenial.4312