Comparison of The Literary Works of Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne

Introduction

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe were American literary artists. Presently, the duo’s literary works are popular and continually read since they dug deep into the human subconscious consequently creating psychological literature. Their writings are embedded with themes that majorly point out the social set up, the human nature and morality in the society. The two writers, Nathaniel and Edgar had always had a friendly and occasional uniformity and complemented each other’s work. Additionally, they are inseparable in terms of their writing style. However, there are emergent differences in the nature and presentation of their literary works. Therefore, an analysis of both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe’s writings in terms of style and thematic presentation depicts the similarities and differences between the writers with a keen reflection and illustration from their works.

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American poet and writer. Additionally, Poe was a literary critic and editor that was considered as part of American Romantic Movement. His literary works majorly focused on human suffering and mystery. Works of fiction such as the detective fiction genre are considered to have been brought into existence by Poe. His literary works are gothic and their themes include mysteries such as death, what it insinuates to the society as well as its implication and effects of decomposing. Additionally, his work is part of the dark romanticism, a historical literary movement where literary poets and writers revolted against the classical mode of expression and writing (transcendentalism). The dark romanticism was an age where writers wrote of dark gothic themes such as sin, suspense, evil, guilt and madness (Miller 314).

Nathaniel Hawthorne

An American writer and novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, centered his literary works on New England. His literary compositions were based on themes such as social morality, surreal psychology and symbolic historical romance. Similar to Poe, his stories are embedded in the Romantic Movement under the sub-genre; dark romanticism. Hawthorne’s works focus on sin and evil in the society as natural human qualities. Hawthorne’s stories are based on historical fiction where he describes the past in themes of retribution, ancestral sin and guilt. His literary works have a negative perception of the transcendentalism movement (Sova 170).

Transcendentalism

The two writers Hawthorne and Poe did not agree with the transcendental movement. Hawthorne had a belief that reformers were hazardous. A storyteller questions the reformers to stop looking through windows (Yellin 148). Another instant is when Elizabeth Palmer sent him a pamphlet on anti-slavery. She had written it herself but he never read it distinctly. He responded that it was not any good and it did not convince him (Yellin 149). Similarly, Henry, Poe’s close friend, wrote and published a book denouncing slavery, he responded that he was from the south, Virginia, his family resided in Baltimore, so the book was of use to the old necrophilia ladies in the north (Hutchisson 100). Hence, Poe and Hawthorne refused to be part of the transcendentalists.

Similarities in Themes

Ironically, the transcendentalism criticism by Poe and Hawthorne was perceived differently. Sophia, Hawthorne’s wife and Sarah Helen, Poe’s fiancée were both transcendentalists. Both writers’ literary works opposed the transcendentalism ideals. It should be noted that at one time the transcendentalists belonged in the Romantic Movement. Wordsworth and Coleridge, British Romantics, motivated Concord since they focused on one’s mind and their connection to nature (Packer 27). Likewise, Poe and Hawthorne lay an emphasis on the imagination and individualism of the Romantic writers, in terms of emotions, passions and intuition. On the other hand, the two literary writers never had similar optimism and did not get any beauty of humanity and nature.

Common Themes of Fear and Guilt

Contrastingly, Poe and Hawthorne came up with literary worlds and negative sides flooded with fear, guilt, morbidity and sin. Hawthorne’s ’The Birth-Mark’ and Poe’s ’The Oval Portrait’ are stories that have similar themes (Quinn 331). The Oval Portrait tells of a man that notices his wife’s amazing beauty. He wishes to put it in painting. He ends up neglecting his wife because of the focus he has on the painting. When he is through with the life-like portrait, he gets to know that his wife had passed on. On the other hand, The Birth-Mark is a narrative that tells of a man that wishes to remove a minute blemish from his beautiful young wife. Aimed with in-depth scientific knowledge, the protagonist succeeds in removing the birthmark, though it eventually leads to her death. Consequently, in the pursuit of perfection, in both stories, the men finally destroyed the lives of their wives. According to Aylmer, in Hawthorne’s story, is a reformer just as the transcendentalists. Hawthorne’s prediction, the reforms are eventually ill-fated and hazardous (Yellin 148). It should be noted that in The Birth-Mark, the scientist is trying to act as God. He is a false creator that is doomed to fail, consequently giving proof that an individual’s perfection is impossible, in spite of the transcendental idealism. In Poe’s narrative, the protagonist is an artist that tries to maintain his wife’s beauty, unfortunately, he knows not that he is leading her to her untimely death. Both characters in these stories are obsessive. This is illustrated in Hawthorne’s story The Birth-Mark is engulfed in that obsession (Miller 250).

Differences in Approach

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe’s works have limited differences in that it is not easy for the audience to learn a thing from such as in the story The Cask of Amontillado. In this story, there exists no condemnation of revenge; however, the narrator succeeds in getting away with murder. Otherwise, should have the story been written by Hawthorne, then the audience would have learnt lots of moral lessons. Contrastingly, Poe has a different perception, not that he is immoral, it is because his intentions are not to use his literal works to depict moral lessons to the audience. His story, The Oval Portrait presents a character that is an artist and not a scientist as presented by Hawthorne in his narrative The Birth-Mark. This is important and symbolic since Poe was an Art of champion. According to Poe’s believes, unlike Hawthorne’s writings, just as art, has to stand on its own without imposing a reason beyond evoking emotional responses among his readers. Additionally, Hawthorne’s works are different from those of Poe in that his writings majorly focus on allegory whereas Poe’s literary works do not major on allegory (Hawthorne). Hawthorne’s works use symbolism, not in literal meaning. These symbols convey messages and moral lessons. Contrary to this, Poe’s literary works do not involve allegory in passing the message, instead, his work is brief and focus on the major points and themes.

Conclusion

To conclude, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe’s literary works are similar since they are founded on dark romanticism. They reject the reformed transcendental idealism. Additionally, their writings focus on social issues that impact on people such as death, evil, sin and guilt. Their writings are gothic since supernatural characters and beings are used to pass messages. However, their literary work differs from each other at some point since Hawthorne conveys his messages in his narratives through symbols or rather an allegory, whereas Poe uses a shortened and brief style to focus on major points and themes. He does not use allegory in his works of art. These discussions above herein, among other illustrations, are the similarities and the differences of the literary artists Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe.

Works Cited

Hutchisson, James M. Poe. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, (2005):100.

Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem is My Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991.

Nathaniel Hawthorne. Young Goodman Brown. Booklassic, 2015.

Packer, Barbara. The Transcendentalists. The University of Georgia Press, 2007.

Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998 (Reprint edition).

Sova, Dawn B. Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z. New York: Checkmark Books, 2001.

Yellin, Jean Fagan. “Hawthorne and the Slavery Question” collected in A Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne, Larry J. Reynolds, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001.