The Ambitious Guest

E225216

short story

"The Ambitious Guest" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne that explores themes of aspiration, anonymity, and sudden mortality through the encounter between a traveling stranger and a mountain family.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
The Ambitious Guest canonical	3
the ambitious guest	1
“The Ambitious Guest”	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2021530 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Ambitious Guest
Context triple: [Twice-Told Tales, containsWork, The Ambitious Guest]

A. The Pleasure of His Company
The Pleasure of His Company is a 1961 romantic comedy film featuring Fred Astaire as a charming, sophisticated playboy who returns to reconnect with his estranged daughter on the eve of her wedding.
B. The Blue Hotel
The Blue Hotel is a short story by American author Stephen Crane that explores themes of fear, alienation, and violence in a small Nebraska town.
C. The Gift
The Gift is a 2000 supernatural thriller film directed by Sam Raimi, centered on a Southern clairvoyant whose psychic visions entangle her in a murder investigation.
D. The Gala
The Gala is a flagship opening-night showcase of top local and international comedians, staged as a major televised charity event during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
E. The Woman in the Room
"The Woman in the Room" is a dark, emotionally charged short story by Stephen King that explores a son's anguish and moral dilemma as he contemplates ending his terminally ill mother's suffering.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Ambitious Guest
Target entity description: "The Ambitious Guest" is a short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne that explores themes of aspiration, anonymity, and sudden mortality through the encounter between a traveling stranger and a mountain family.

A. The Pleasure of His Company
The Pleasure of His Company is a 1961 romantic comedy film featuring Fred Astaire as a charming, sophisticated playboy who returns to reconnect with his estranged daughter on the eve of her wedding.
B. The Blue Hotel
The Blue Hotel is a short story by American author Stephen Crane that explores themes of fear, alienation, and violence in a small Nebraska town.
C. The Gift
The Gift is a 2000 supernatural thriller film directed by Sam Raimi, centered on a Southern clairvoyant whose psychic visions entangle her in a murder investigation.
D. The Gala
The Gala is a flagship opening-night showcase of top local and international comedians, staged as a major televised charity event during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.
E. The Woman in the Room
"The Woman in the Room" is a dark, emotionally charged short story by Stephen King that explores a son's anguish and moral dilemma as he contemplates ending his terminally ill mother's suffering.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (46)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	short story ⓘ
author	Nathaniel Hawthorne ⓘ
centralConflict	tension between human ambition and uncontrollable fate ⓘ
containsEvent	a fatal landslide ⓘ arrival of a stranger at a mountain cottage ⓘ conversation about hopes and ambitions ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
depicts	a mountain family ⓘ a traveling stranger ⓘ
explores	the contrast between safety and danger ⓘ the desire for posthumous fame ⓘ the unpredictability of death ⓘ
featuresCharacter	the ambitious guest ⓘ linked to: The Ambitious Guest the mountain children ⓘ the mountain father ⓘ the mountain mother ⓘ linked to: the mountain father
focusesOn	the contrast between ordinary domestic life and grand ambition ⓘ
genre	short story ⓘ
hasClimax	the destruction of the family by the landslide ⓘ
hasImagery	mountain wilderness ⓘ nighttime hearth scene ⓘ
hasMoral	fame and anonymity may be equally fragile before death ⓘ human plans are vulnerable to sudden catastrophe ⓘ
hasTitle	The Ambitious Guest ⓘ
includedIn	Nathaniel Hawthorne short fiction canon ⓘ
literaryForm	prose fiction ⓘ
literaryMovement	American Romanticism ⓘ
motif	dreams of future recognition ⓘ obscurity and remembrance ⓘ
narrativePerspective	third-person narration ⓘ
originalLanguage	English ⓘ
partOf	American short story tradition ⓘ linked to: American literature
periodOfPublication	19th century ⓘ
setting	New England ⓘ a cottage in the White Mountains ⓘ
symbol	the family hearth ⓘ the landslide ⓘ the mountain ⓘ
theme	anonymity ⓘ aspiration ⓘ death ⓘ family ⓘ sudden mortality ⓘ the fragility of human plans ⓘ
tone	reflective ⓘ somber ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Twice-Told Tales → containsWork → The Ambitious Guest ⓘ

Mosses from an Old Manse → hasPart → The Ambitious Guest ⓘ

The Ambitious Guest → featuresCharacter → the ambitious guest ⓘ

linked to: The Ambitious Guest

The Ambitious Guest → hasTitle → The Ambitious Guest ⓘ

The New-England Magazine → hasNotableWorkPublished → “The Ambitious Guest” ⓘ