Religion as a Gothic Element in American Romanticism

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Religion as a Gothic Element in American Romanticism American Romanticism can be strongly defined through its use of Gothic elements. Webster’s defines gothic as "of or relating to a style of fiction characterized by the use of desolate or remote settings and macabre, mysterious, or violent incidents" (529). Pre-American Romantic writers, such as Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, do not tend towards the gothic in their writings of religion and religious elements. Although God is mysterious to both writers, they maintain certain characteristics and aspects expected of them and their religion. They keep their texts true to their beliefs. However, Mary Rowlandson begins a transition phase for the writers of this period. She begins to view God and religion in a darker and /more mysterious manner. By the time James Fenimore Cooper is writing, he blurs religion between two different religions. The Christian and the Indian God becomes mixed, along with their heaven. Whereas the earlier writers tend to understand and accept their God, the writers in the American Romantic period re-create their God adding a gothic twist to their religion and beliefs. Anne Bradstreet believes if she lives her life the way God meant her to live it, things will work out fine for her. She writes, "About 16, the Lord laid His hand sore upon me and smote me with the smallpox. When I was in my affliction, I besought the Lord and confessed my pride and vanity, and He was entreated of me and again restored me" (145). Bradstreet has a traditional view about God. She believes if she lives her life as a good person, she will be rewarded for it. If she lives her life full of pride and vanity, then she will pay the consequences. The good and just are rewarded ... ... middle of paper ... ...us. Cora and Uncas end up together. There is the traditional romantic ending of riding off into the sunset, but into a Heaven which accepts both Indians and whites equally, adding elements of the gothic. Works Cited Bradstreet, Anne. "To My Dear Children." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 144-147. Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans. New York: Viking Penguin Inc, 1986. Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 200-211. "Gothic." Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. 1991 ed. Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 148-164.

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