Theme Of Gothic Romanticism In Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'Thanatopsis'

5. Nathaniel Hawthorne--"Young Goodman Brown." Discuss the story as an example of Gothic Romanticism.

“Young Goodman Brown,” one of the stories in The Norton Anthology of American literature, fits into a sub-genre of American Romanticism. While similar to the fantasy and emotional side of American Romanticism it adds a dark twist to both emotion and nature, while still sticking true to the roots of a fantasy realm merging with reality. This genre is referred to as Gothic Romanticism, this story exemplifies and this with vivid descriptions of morbid, gloomy events, entangled with deep emotional and psychological torment. Oddly, enough the emphasis on emotion and dark boding it keeps its sensibility, and a desire of hope. Firstly, the story

Discuss this view.

"Thanatopsis was written by William Cullen Bryant in 1811 and is presented in the book The Norton Anthology of American literature. The themes in "Thanatopsis” is centered on death, however, Mr. Bryant is not portraying death as something to fear. Instead he presents a view of dying as natural, inescapable, and a unifying moment on earth (Krupat and Levine 124-125).

Predominantly the poem offers a sense of comfort and wisdom, against the fear and pain associated with death. Bryant shows readers not to agonize over dying, in fact, he writes, "When thoughts of the last bitter hour come like a blight over thy spirit, and sad images of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall, and breathless darkness, and the narrow house, make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart -- go forth under the open sky, and list to Nature 's teachings." With this it eludes each person face their own death, without fright, to feel isolated and alone in death but to find peace in knowing that every person before had died and all those after will join in death (Krupat and Levine

Bryant offers a view of life everlasting, “Thine individual being, shalt thou go to mix forever with the elements” (Krupat and Levine 124). This offers a sense of each person’s life living on, through the earth, and the comfort of knowing that no one is alone in death even if someone is alone in life. For the reason that, death is the one occurrence in nature that ultimately unites us all. As it is all part of the unending circle of life.

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Reply Sarah Freels: 4. Nathaniel Hawthorne--"Young Goodman Brown." Do you think that Brown 's experience was real, a dream, or a product of his psychological imagination? Support the response with analysis and use specific examples from the text. While dream-like is a reasonable term to use in this story, it appeared more as a split in the mind. As though poor young Goodman Brown, suddenly saw the world for what it truly was, a ripple of each person, each event of his life, being nothing more than a lie. So, he coped with this new reality and truth through a manifestation of visions in an attempt to cope with this very harsh reality. The association of the time and place of the story, Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trails and Puritan reign on the US, it seems that he finally saw the evils that laid beneath the surface of those who claimed to be godly, chief among them Cloyse, his father, and his darling wife (Krupat and Levine