Transcendentalism and The Gothic

At the heart of transcendentalism lies the idea that God infuses all things in the universe with some degree of divinity. It places a great importance on the connection between the individual and the world around him. Therefore it is common for works from this period to involve some sort of quest for fellowship.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," Robin, a boy of 18 years, visits a foreign land to search for his uncle. He asks several strangers for any clues about the location of his kinsman and his quest takes a very long time. At its end the country boy has grown "weary of a town life" and asks to be shown to the ferry so that he may return home. So Hawthorne's character is an example of one who goes off to a strange land to find something, but quickly longs to return to his place of comfort.

Henry David Thoreau gives a very different account of a quest in Walden. He tells the story of how he lived in the woods for an extended time--2 years, 2 months, and 2 days--in order to commune with nature. His morning ritual here involves bathing in the pond; this activity represents a type of spiritual purification. By separating himself from the duties of society, he is able to appreciate the things God created and to achieve a higher level of spirituality. However, Thoreau eventually leaves the woods because he feels that he has other lives to lead.

There are also a few Gothic works from this week's assignment which critique the stereotype of outer beauty. Hawthorne's "The Birthmark" tells the story of Georgiana, a beautiful woman whose countenance is rendered "hideous" by a birthmark. The spot is considered a flaw and becomes a symbol of her "liability to sin, sorrow, decay, and death"--foreshadowing to the end of the story. Her lover, Aylmer, begins to be troubled by this mark and desires to remove it from Georgiana. However, he is careless with the procedure and his crazed passion to rid the spot at all costs leads to the loss of his love. The lesson here seems to be to look beyond outward beauty and to see the part that truly counts--the inside.

Edgar Allan Poe comments on stereotypical beauty in "The Fall of the House of Usher." The story cites the poem "The Haunted Palace," which compares a house to a woman. Certain stanzas address specific body parts. For example, the house is said to have "two luminous windows" which stand to represent eyes. There are also golden banners which float on the roof (hair) and a ruby door with shiny pearl border (mouth and teeth). This poem's inclusion also serves the purpose of personifying the house as a vampire and fortifies the Gothic elements of the story.

Next week class is cancelled due to Mardi Gras break, so there will be no post until the week of February 12. In the meantime I will be reading Herman Melville's The Confidence Man. Until then, take care.