Fidaa Janoudi

Transcendentalism Vs. Romanticism- Final Draft

1/26/2015
Good Meets Evil
Introduction:
All humans are created perfect and flawless. Their thoughts and actions are purely out of
goodness, evil is a misconception. Is that the divine truth, or just a sugar coated lie? Some truly
believe this while others show their indifference towards it. There were two groups that split due
to these difference of beliefs; the Anti-Transcendentalists and the Transcendentalists. The
differences of Transcendentalists and Romantic period writers emphasize the disagreement in the
ideas of God and evil and their opposing writing styles.
Background:
The first of differences start with the Transcendentalists who believe that only good can
come out of humans and the world. Humans can never perform an act of evil because their hearts
are as pure as white gold. There were many Transcendentalist period writers back in the 1830s,
but some of the most important and most remembered writers are Henry David Thoreau and
Ralph Waldo Emerson. One of Thoreaus best works is this moving and political piece called
On the Duty to Civil Disobedience. Emerson also had a beautiful piece called Self Reliance.
The people who disagree with Thoreau and Emerson wrote are called the Romantics
(Anti Transcendentalists). Romanticism is the idea that humans have a spirit of evil within them.
They are not necessarily considered evil, only having an evil side to them. In other words,
goodness covers up for the darkness and evil that lies between human skin. There were also
many Romantics back in the 1830s through the late 1860s, but some well-known and intelligent
Romantics are Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, and Herman Melville. Hawthorne wrote a
story called Young Goodman Brown about a man who goes on a journey and discovers the evil

hiding within the hearts of the people he loves most. Poe also wrote an evil story called The
Black Cat but instead was written in the perspective of a man who is aware of the evil inside of
him. Melvilles more known for his novels. One of his most known novels is Moby Dick or
The Whale. A story about the act of revenge on a white whale. These men were able to write
stories that strongly exemplified evil.
Section 1:
Evil is a term used interchangeably throughout the ideas of both Transcendentalism and
Anti-transcendentalism. The term has a meaning to both of their scholars, even when they have
complete opposite beliefs about it. Transcendentalists dont believe in the existence of evil within
a pure human heart. Even when others may think that a bad action has come out of a person,
Transcendentalists think such actions come out with good intentions.Thoreau believed that
humans are perfect and pure if their actions are inspired by their own sense of understanding.
Their ideas must be coming from their heart within, and not from anyone elses perspective. This
keeps them away from the misconception of evil. Humans are their best if they keep their
individuality. If humans were directed by someone superior to them, their individuality will lead
to corruption.
Emerson, had a merely similar perspective. Corruption of individuality occurs within the
human himself. Even though individuality was a huge virtue for him, his main priority for
humans to transcend was self reliance, which is also the title of his essay. Emerson believed that
humans are perfect the way they are, created evil-less. In his perspective, in order for humans
to stay perfect, they must trust themselves and rely on who they are.There is a time in every
mans when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he
must take himself for better for worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of

good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him through his toil bestowed on that plot of
ground which is given to him to till (Emerson 364). Emerson was really strong about
personality. Emerson believes that not being oneself is the same as committing suicide and it
leaves that person no place in this world since they got rid of their only self. This way, all
humans are themselves and no evil can arise from individuality.
Romantics took a different approach on the way they viewed evil in the world. To the
Romantics, evil exists everywhere. Wherever there is good, there is evil. Poe believed that many
others underestimated the amount of evil that exists in a human heart and soul. In his story, The
Black Cat, he quotes There is something in the unselfish and self sacrificing love of a brute,
which goes indirectly to the heart of him who has had frequent occasion to test the paltry
friendship and gossamer fidelity of mere Man (Poe 3-4). What Poe was hinting at is that evil
eats the goodness of a pure heart. Along the same lines, Hawthorne believed that evil is unseen
and hidden from the human eye. Even if its unseen, it still exists everywhere; and it starts off in
the so-called pure heart. In his story, Young Goodman Brown, he quotes, Far more than this.
It shall be yours to penetrate in every bosom, the deep mystery of sin, the fountain of all wicked
arts, and which inexhaustibly supplies more evil impulses than human power-- than my power at
its utmost-- can make manifest in my deeds (Hawthorne 10). Hawthorne is trying to hint at the
fact that all humans have the power to misuse the evil inside of them, and if all of them agree to
it, evil could overpower the good in humans.

Section 2:
Other than the existence of evil, the views on God is also another debated topic between
the two groups. Thoreau believed that God has created humans in the most perfect form, but he is
still more perfect. Thoreau wrote in his essay On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, about how

God and his relativity to humans who try to be more perfect than they already are. He quotes,
Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the state
chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to
serve the devil, without intending it, as God (Thoreau 1-2). He is trying to defend the idea that
people who try to get on Gods level of superiority are basically serving the devil by promoting
the thought of evil.
The Romantics generally believe that God is more superior and he leads goodness of the
world, but he has created evil as a way to test human abilities with controlling themselves. The
humans misused their dark abilities and made a beautiful world a messed up one. Poe argues
that all the atoms of the material universe derive from the original unity of God, but since the act
of creation the atoms have been caught in a cosmic tension between the tendency to reunite and
the tendency to remain apart (Ladd and Jerry 65). What Poe is trying to visualise is humans
representing the atoms and their indifferences created a darkness in and out of their souls, this
wasnt Gods fault. The transcendentalists would argue that humans differences with each other
are what keep the goodness flowing back and forth, creating a sense of individuality and
blocking all sorts of darkness out.
Section 3:
Even when both groups have entirely different views on the world in general, they also
have different forms of writing styles. Transcendentalists preferred writing in essay form. They
favored formal writing as their form. Many of them believed that proving their points are much
more effective if they are written persuasively. A story plot will not help them prove a point,
instead it will show how ridiculous their ideas are and they did not want that to happen to them.
Romantics took a more casual approach, writing more stories than formal pieces of writing. They

found story plots more effective. Since they focused more on the existence of evil and a form of
darkness hidden within humans souls, stories were much more approachable. Many of their
stories ended up holding a depressing aurora but they held great and soulful meaning.
Conclusion:
Transcendentalists believe that evil can possibly exist if human beings are acting like the
person they are not. This is because God created individuality as a source for humans to maintain
the purity they were born with. Transcendentalists threw their point across in formal pieces of
writing, persuading many people. Romantics also persuaded people but instead by telling
creative story plots. The Romantics believed that everyone holds a dark and evil side within.
Even when the darkness is hidden and sugar coated with goodness, it still exists. They also
believe that God created goodness and evil, and humans are being tested with which road they
choose. This is a succinct connection to the world now because humans have the choice between
two paths; Darkness and goodness. They can either make the best out of themselves in this world
and inspire goodness all around or take their other desired path and do the opposite. This very
decision within the human race determines whether this world will keep going or come to a
tragic end, a huge test all humans have to go through. The result of this test will prove which
road is most favorable, distinguishing beliefs of Transcendentalists and Romanticism.

Works Cited:
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...Ecumerial Philosophy of Nature." Legacy of Transcendentalism: Religion and Philosophy.
...American Transcendentalism. Web, 1999. Web. 3 Dec, 2014.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self Reliance." Essays: First Series. 1841. 12 Dec. 2014.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. The Online-Literature Network, n.d. PDF File.
Ladd, Andrew, and Jerry Phillips. Romanticism and Transcendentalism. (1800-1860). New
..York: DWJ Books, 2006. Print.
"Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Black Cat". ibiblio.org 1843. 12 Dec. 2014.
"Thoreau, Henry David. Walden and On The Duty of Civil Disobedience. Holt Rinehart &
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