Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel HawthorneRalph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne are similar in their styles of writing. Emerson is 100% Transcendentalist, while Hawthorne is only half-n-half. Nathaniel Hawthorne is haunted by his ancestral past because his ancestors were involved in prosecuting the “witches” in Salem Massachusetts, in the 1690s. He took shame upon himself in order to dispel the family curse. Hawthorne spent several months at Brook Farm, a Utopian community founded by the Transcendentalists. There he met and married one of the biggest advocates of the Transcendental philosophy, Sophia Peabody. Ralph Emerson, on the other hand, was one of the founders of the Transcendental philosophy. He advocated self-reliance, self-trust, and individualism, which formed the basis of the philosophy. While he wrote, he also took up special causes, like the abolition of slavery and reforms in education, labor, suffrage, and women’s rights. Many people doubted his philosophy, because it failed to account for the presence of evil in the world. The 2 authors were similar in some cases, and far apart in others. Three main points compared and contrasted are the themes of the works, both authors Transcendental philosophies, and the setting of each work.
There are many themes in Emerson and Hawthorne’s stories. One common theme that they both share is the theme of individualism. “Insist on yourself; never imitate. (“Maxims of Emerson”, 205)”. This means that you should never put the needs of society over your own needs, because everyone is looking out for only 1 person. A similar but different quote is in Young Goodman Brown.
“On Sabbath Day when the congregation were singing a holy psalm, he could not listen because an anthem of sin rushed loudly upon his eat and drowned all the blessed strain (“Goodman Brown”, 244)”
This is not as concrete as Emerson’s writing, but it has a deeper meaning almost the same. Goodman Brown is the only man who feels guilty for having sinned, but everyone in the church had sinned. Goodman Brown was the only one who could not bring himself to go to church because of his own guilt. He was the only one who stood out from the crowd of sinners and acknowledged that he was a sinner. Another theme in both authors’ works is the struggle between good and evil. Both authors talk about the good and the bad of society. “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of it’s members. (“Maxims of Emerson”, 205).” This quote focuses on the evils of society, and the hatred of some members towards the others. It goes back to everyone looking out for themselves, and no one else. Society today is exactly like that. No one looks out for anyone besides themselves. They will stab you in the back for 1 dollar.
“And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap while she called to Goodman Brown (“Goodman Brown”, 240)”
Faith symbolizes innocence and all that is good in Brown’s life. She has not been corrupted by society, yet. It is the exact opposite of Emerson’s work. Emerson is saying what is wrong with society, and Faith in Goodman Brown is the kind of thing that is right about society.
The major philosophy of the time was Transcendentalism. Emerson was a full-blooded Transcendentalist, if there is such a thing. Hawthorne was married to one of the biggest advocates of Transcendentalism, but he never did fully adopt the philosophy. One part of transcendentalism was the goodness of humanity. “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind (“Maxims”, 205).” Emerson is saying that people think everything is replaceable, except your integrity. For example, if you went to the highest building you could find and dumped a bucket of feathers off of it and go back a day later to try to find them all, it would be next to impossible. Your reputation and integrity are irreplaceable. It is not like they are concrete objects that you can glue back together. They are just understood, they are not written down anywhere, they are not in a glass case, they are just there. Hawthorne also focuses on the negatives instead of the positives. “What if the devil himself should be at my elbow! (“Goodman Brown”, 205).”
Setting is a big part of most works. Except for ‘The Snowstorm’, none of Emerson’s works have a concrete setting. He doesn’t go into detail about the setting, because most of his works were just his views on society in general. Hawthorne goes into graphic detail about the setting in “Young Goodman Brown”.
“He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomy trees of the forest, which barely stood a side to let the narrow path creep through and closed immediately behind. (“Goodman Brown”, 205).”
The setting difference between Emerson and Hawthorne is large. This is one of the biggest differences between their works.
As you can see, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne are similar in some cases, and very far apart in others. Although Hawthorne was not a Transcendentalist, he still had similar philosophies. The three main points of comparison and contrast are the themes of their works, their feelings on the Transcendental philosophy, and the use of setting in their works.