The Prophetic Pictures — Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Prophetic Pictures is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In "The Prophetic Pictures," the evil soul that the master painter has seen in the happy young bridegroom finally makes its way through the picture and onto the face itself. In story after story the given element, the central and unifying element, is what moves and stirs within us, the mysterious springs of our every action, our "soul.