Theme Of Romanticism In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

Register to read the introduction… Dark Romantics focus on themes of sin and evil, and believe that pain and temptations are great forces, which are meant to be dealt with and experienced. Dark Romantics are drawn to the strong images of the picturesque past through symbolism and tend to write with an ambiguity of manner on the complexities and ironies of life, qualities which Hawthorne successfully incorporated in “Young Goodman Brown”. Notwithstanding Hawthorne’s Dark Romantic qualities, he does appear to embody some of the ideals and principals Transcendentalists, such as Emerson, abide by. Emerson, bearing an optimistic view of life and human nature, believed in promoting peace in the world by encouraging people to get in touch with their true self and tended to see things in either black or …show more content…
The reason for this is possibly because his family’s history stretches back to the early days of the Salem Witch Trials where he became well acquainted with Puritan society. Being a master of symbolism, Hawthorne successfully conveys his message of acknowledgement of human faults and that there is as much evil in the world as there is good. Although the theme of good and evil that Hawthorne believes in does not coincide with Emerson’s belief that people are purely good, the theme of trust and faith in “Young Goodman Brown” seems to relate to both of the authors’ theories. Emerson’s support of the idea that people should believe in themselves directly opposes Hawthorne’s idea, as portrayed by Goodman Brown, which questions whether people are truly fit to make decisions for themselves. Emerson espouses the ideology of “Self-Reliance” whereas Hawthorne takes on a conformist view. It would probably be safe to say that our own personalities are made up of a combination of both schools of thought rather than strictly one or the