Literature

An attentive literary critic as well as careful literature student will undoubtedly notice that the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne , Edgar Allan Poe and Herman Melville are similar to some extent . But figuring out these similarities needs much intertextual analysis and scrutiny

Poe , Hawthorne , and Melville are the major figures of pre-Civil War American literature , and especially of the period sometimes referred to as the American Renaissance

Puritan 's spiritual , intellectual and aesthetic influence was significant , but roughly contemporaneous achievements of Melville Hawthorne , and Poe represented a true American Renaissance following the

br earlier , more austere periods of Puritanism and the Enlightenment

All three writers belong to the HYPERLINK "javascript :openWindow /showterm .asp ?IDNo 163 'term " Romantic age of literature , but their styles are significantly different from their European counterparts . British Romanticists was inspired by Gothic , but their characters are not quite as paranoid as those of American writers of that period

Romanticism fancied the individual to be unique and special and saw the universal order as mysterious . Emphasis was placed on the passion of local life , on the burning human passion for art and beauty , and on the unique . The Gothic took this uniqueness one step further into the grotesque , horrible , and terrible

So the first important aspect I would like to speak about is the image of insecure American . The stories of Hawthorne , Poe and Melville to some extent illustrate the syndrome of the insecure American perfectly

The typical protagonist in a Melville , Hawthorne or Poe story is usually a haunted , alienated individual who is pitted against some dark and ambiguous fate he suffers from an anguished state of mind , complete with the suffering of some mysterious sin or guilt . Whether it was paranoia , psychic isolation or secrecy , it all contributed or , was the result of the HYPERLINK "javascript :openWindow /showterm .asp ?IDNo 88 'term " general insecurity

Melville saw a power of blackness ' in Hawthorne . Hawthorne 's are anxious people who derive most of their anxiety from a sense of sin . And while Aylmer and Owen try to do so by creating alternative realities for themselves , Goodman Brown and Mr . Hooper try to escape their realities by isolating themselves from the society . The insecurities contribute to their isolation and escapism and do not reduce the burden of melancholy and sin they carry . Hawthorne 's characters are deep and dark , and death seems to be the only cure for all their troubles

For instance , the title Young Goodman Brown suggests the tale of a common American man . It also suggests the tale of a fairly innocent innately good person , but the actual tale is really a contradiction of what its title means . One more Hawthorne 's important characters HYPERLINK "http /scarlet .nscc .mass .edu /hawthorne /eb .html " Ethan Brand is the victim of his own alienation in the new industrial age , an age which begins the emphasis on the Protestant ethic and outlook . But Hawthorne , almost reclusive , bore the Puritan New England heritage of his ancestors into his works . Yet , he...