Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne: A Comparison Essay

Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne were two of the Statess finest Ro existencetic writers. These two writers have stood the test of term and atomic number 18 read as much today if non more than they were in their own epoch. The major reason that both authors were as popular as they are is because of the fact that they delved into the hu soldiery judicial decision to force their mental literature. Edgar Allan Poes life spanned from eighteen nine until nineteen forty-nine, the eld that were the beginning of the Romantic Movement. Poe was considered an educated man for his time. He attended the University of Virginia and atomic number 74 Point.Since West Point is a military school, he no disbelieve studied psychology because integrity who would be a commander in the army would need to know about the way the enemy thinks. Poe did not use this knowledge as a military officer, merely employ it to create excellent psychological alarm in literature. During a time when the arts focused on the supernatural, Poe looked to the characters own brainiac to provide terror. The narrator of The Tell-Tale Heart is so terrified by his offense that he reveals the murder he has committed to the authorities, as does the narrator of The lightlessness Cat.In the famous short story The Cask of Amontillado, the reader experienced the terror of ones condemnation to be w tout ensembleed up in a small cellar room to die and to have the time to think about what is to happen in total darkness and isolation. The make out of the House of Usher withal leaves the narrator completely terrified, not because of his safety, but because of the information that his mind essential process and the knowledge that he may begin to suffer from the same madness that Roderick Usher is doomed to endure.Nathaniel Hawthorne was also an expert in delving into the deepest regions of a characters mind. The Scarlet Letter, one of Hawthornes best works is about a woman who must wear a scarlet A because she is an adulterer. The town minister is the man who is also responsible for the sin. However, because he is a male and cannot get pregnant, the familiarity does not know of his guilt. Instead he punishes himself much more than his female counterpart until the sin takes on a supernatural quality.It does so whole through the guilt that he must endure. The Ministers barren Veil is about another minister who physically punishes himself for a psychological sin that he has committed. This penance has bothered the congregation to the signalise that they attach the minister. Again, it is their psychological fear and guilt that is their terror. Hawthorne, in his attempt to prove that all are sinners and that all wrestle with good and evil in their minds, proves his point in youthfulness Goodman Brown.In this short story, a young man must decide whether to sell his soul to become a prospered man or to remain free. The resolution of the story is that the horrid motion pic ture the young man had witness the night before was only a dream, yet he is not sure that it took place in his mind or if it was real. Reality and what one perceived as reality was something that Hawthorne was a master. Both Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne made use of the human mind as an cats-paw a persons demise rather than actions.They understood the office of the human mind even though they did not know what we do today. They are shining examples of psychological literature as an instrument of terror and guilt.Works CitedHawthorne, Nathaniel. The Ministers Black Veil. 1836 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter. New York Pocket. 2004. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. Young Goodman Brown. 1835 Poe, Edgar Allan. The Black Cat. 1843. Poe, Edgar Allan. The Cask of Amontillado. 1846 Poe, Edgar Allan. The Fall of the House of Usher. 1839 Poe, Edgar Allan. The Tell-Tale Heart. 1843