Religiosity In Weiland

The novel Weiland by Charles Brockden Brown tells a cautionary tale about how the right combination of religious fanaticism, reliance on sensory perception, and selfishness in individuals can lead to disastrous consequences. Extreme religious views held in the Wieland’s family led him to feel that he had to do murderous actions or else face other horrible consequences. The reliance on sensory perception many character’s held fooled them into believing in Carwin the biloquist and the lies he helped spread. Also, it was the selfishness that Carwin displayed in doing things on a whim simply because he wanted to them that was the source of conflict between the family members of Wieland that helped sow the seeds of distrust that would break down

years of friendship and trust that they all had shared. The demise of the Wieland family helps to show that for any colonial family there can be a perfect firestorm of factors that could ruin them if they are not careful.
Members of the Wieland family can often be seen to have very stringent religious views which is exemplified in the male members of the family somber attitudes, and these views led to disastrous effects for them.

One major catalyst of Theodore Wieland’s religiosity which would help drive him to kill those dear to him was the spontaneous combustion of his father in his temple. When he and his sister saw the body she said His father’s death was marked under mysterious circumstances and may have in Theodore’s mind been a punishment from God, as Clara even remarks that after she saw the body she too wondered “Was this the penalty of disobedience?” (Brown 18). With such thoughts plaguing his sister and himself Wieland’s drive to do whatever he thought God was asking of him, including killing his family. Even though he was reluctant to do as the voice he heard commanding him to murder his wife his extreme religious nature and the memory of what happened pushed him to do so. In his court testimony he even said “The conditions were prescribed; the decree had gone forth, and nothing remained but to execute it” (Brown 126). Perhaps if Theodore Weiland had not been so fanatic in his religiosity and not have been scared of possible fiery punishment from God, he would have been able to resist what the voices had told him to do and questioned whether it was the right course of action to

take.
Characters in the novel put a great deal of weight behind their sensory perceptions, and this reliance would be part of their undoing as they dealt with Carwin the biloquist. Although Carwin denies that he used his biloquism to command Theodore to kill his family, his use of biloquism in earlier moments on Theodore Wieland did help contribute to Theodore’s susceptibility to listening what he thought was the voice of God. While his sister thinks that the voice that he heard that sounded like his wife rejecting the idea of going to Europe must have been a trick, Wieland seems to put more stick in it thinking some sort of supernatural force must have been at work. Even weeks later Clara saw that the incident was significant for him saying “My brother was particularly affected by them. It was easy to perceive that most of his meditations were tinctured from this source” (Brown 40). Also, Pleyel who prides himself on his sensory perception is fooled by Carwin’s biloquism into believing that Clara has been seduced by Carwin; despite knowing Clara for a great deal of time and knowing her character. As he threw accusations he admitted that when he found “Clara” and Carwin it was dark and he did not approach close enough when encountering, “My sight was no use to me” (Brown 104). His complete trust in what he has heard, despite it going against everything else that has come to know about Clara, allowed for him to be tricked by Carwin and leave the country for a time which may have made it easier for Wieland to kill his sister as he was not around to help defend her and his nieces and nephews.
Additionally the selfishness of Carwin and Judith were also contributing factors to the demise of the Wieland family.

While only a minor character in the novel, Judith the servant to Clara helps bring about the distrust between Pleyel and Clara which would result in rifts that would take years to repair. Judith appeared to not be too caring about her employer’s well-being as she simlply gives Carwin, the man she had become to have an affair with, access to Clara’s room and helps supply Carwin with information regarding the family that he would later use against them. These were quite selfish actions of Judith to take as gave a man, basically a stranger, information to use against her employers all because she was attracted to him. In the case of Carwin, his major contribution to the demise came from his lack of regard about the ramifications of what his actions and random trickeries could do to others. He admits to Clara that he was the one to trick Pleyel into thinking that she had been seduced by him and states that it was only done as “To deceive him would be the sweetest triumph I have ever enjoyed” (Brown 156). By only doing something because it seemed enjoyable and fun, Carwin failed to understand how such a stain on the reputation of Clara could do to her in colonial society. The actions of Carwin help to point as a warning that if everyone is out for their own personal pleasure, many will be left worse off for it. When trying to explain himself to Clara towards the

end of the novel, he tries to say that none of what has occurred was his fault and that “my only crime was curiosity” (Brown 153), a sentence that speaks volumes of how he thinks there is nothing wrong if impulsive actions do not have malice intent.