Scarlet Letter Romanticism

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The Romantic Period was a time in which great pieces of literature were written. The early 1800’s gave way to many of the worlds most famous writers. From the poetic stylings of Edgar Allen Poe in the “The Raven,” to the literary stylings of Nathaniel Hawthorne in “The Scarlet Letter,” the Romantic Period served as a basis of all future literary works. These writers all had one thing in common, the elements around which they wrote. Through the use of the supernatural, Hawthorne and Poe demonstrate that society has strong feelings of hostility towards unknown incidents and that society will then react by attempting to expel them from society by either ignoring their presence or ostracizing them; This may lead to society persecuting incidents…show more content…
Hawthorne uses the romantic element, supernatural, to demonstrate that the Puritan society has strong feelings of disdain towards Dimmesdale’s mark and Pearl and then attempt to ignore the mark’s presence and ostracize Pearl from society . Dimmesdale was the minister of the town in which “The Scarlet Letter” takes place. In the eyes of the townspeople, Dimmesdale was a saint who could do no wrong. However, one day he revealed that he had an illegitimate child named Pearl, with the protagonist, Hester. To prove that he was the father of Pearl, he exposed a mark on his chest that matched the Scarlet Letter that Hester was forced to wear. This was the first time that Dimmesdale had done something that did not fit within his image as minister. The crowd that witnessed the revelation was confused about what had happened to their beloved Dimmesdale: “It is singular, nevertheless, that certain persons, who were spectators of the whole scene, and professed never once to have removed their eyes from the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale, denied that there was any mark whatever on his breast” (Hawthorne…show more content…
One such example is found in “The Raven”, when the narrator ignores the supernatural presence in his home. The poem takes place at night; when the narrator is resting, he hears a tap at the door. Still reminiscing over the loss of his beloved Lenore, he opens the door only to find a raven. At first, the narrator is intrigued by the raven and tries asking it questions, such as its name and its origins. The raven only replies with, “Nevermore”. The narrator was clearly stunned at this point. Not only could the raven talk, but it replied with such an odd answer. Intrigued with its origins, the narrator believes that it may be a message, “‘Wretch,’ I cried, ‘thy God hath lent thee--by these angels he hath sent thee / Respite--respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore’”(Poe 68-69)! The narrator is hoping that “God hath lent thee,” meaning that maybe the raven is a messenger of God. The narrator is clearly distraught that Lenore has left him and is trying to find her in the origins of the raven. Similar to Dimmesdale’s mark, the origins of this raven are nowhere to be seen and the narrator is hoping that the raven may be “thy memories of Lenore.” After asking the raven a flurry of questions about where it came from, to no avail, the narrator's attitude towards the raven quickly changes, “‘Prophet!’ said I, ‘thing of evil! – prophet
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