The Success Of Puritanism Over Transcendentalism

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), a famous romance writer in the late 19^th century, is influenced by two main streams of thoughts during his whole life, one is Puritanism, and the other is Transcendentalism. On the one hand, deeply affected by such Puritan tenets as "original sin" and "inner fall", many of his works are probing into the themes of morality and sin. He insists that people can be redeemed through confession and performing good deeds; on the other hand, he is filled with suspicion and perplexity because of the fact that puritans reject and get rid of the dissidents and that the Puritan canons constrain and ruin the human nature. All these account for the very existence of the complex religious beliefs of Nathaniel Hawthorne in his works. He hopes to transcend it, and as a result, he begins to quest for the human situation and their fate which Transcendentalist are also seeking after. Hawthorne shows agreement to some of the points, such as self-reliance, compensation etc. However, Hawthorne distinguishes himself from other transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau, for he is not as optimistic as others and dwells much on the dark side of human beings. Death is a very common method applied by the writer to deal with complicated conflicts.As one of the four great romances of Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance has been neglected by the critics for years. However, recent years witnesses a rising interest in this romance because of its controversial figures as well as themes. My paper mainly dwells on one of the controversial figures in the novel, Zenobia and her final tragic death. Specifically speaking, the whole paper includes the causes and the influences of Zenobia's death. Through the textual analysis and the comparison of some principles of Puritanism and Transcendentalism, which have exerted influences on Hawthorne and his works, the paper finally concludes that Zenobia's final death at the end of the novel is the success of Puritanism over Transcendentalism.The whole paper includes five parts. The first part is the introduction, in which two concepts Puritanism and Transcendentalism are explained in detail, including their origins, beliefs and influences on literature, especially on Hawthorne. The second chapter is literature review. In Chapter Three, some background information about Hawthorne and his experience in Brook Farm is presented and this part also introduces the main theme of the paper "death", and its source in other works written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The fourth part is the most important, including the causes of Zenobia's death, partly through historical approach to the reviews on a historical figure called Fuller. Besides, a small part is devoted to the influence of Zenobia's death and some philosophical thinking on this issue, as far as death is concerned. The last part is the conclusion.