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Midterm Essay

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Midterm Essay
Madness: As Seen in Dark Romanticism and Realism
Madness can be defined as the state of being severely
mentally ill and appears as a theme in both the Dark
Romantic and Realistic American literary movements.
Dark Romanticism took place from 1840 to 1860 and is
characterized by horrific symbols, heavy 1, dark
themes, and the psychological effects of guilt and sin.
In contrast, American Realism, beginning in 1865 and
continuing to 1910, is a style of writing in which writers
sought to portray life as it is in reality through the use
of regionalism, with a heavy focus on the
characterization of middle-class Americans. Nathaniel
Hawthorne and Charlotte Perkins Gilman utilize the
main characters of The Scarlet Letter and "The Yellow
Wallpaper" to present different perceptions of
madness, in association with their corresponding
literary movements.
In Nathaniel Hawthorne's, The Scarlet Letter, the
main character, the Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale,
contributes to the theme of madness as he
experiences extreme insanity. Arthur Dimmesdale
represents an important 2 element of Dark
Romanticism through his suffering of the intense pain
and guilt of committing adultery, a severe sin of his
time. As an idolized 3 minister with an outstanding
reputation in his town, Dimmesdale feels that he has a
responsibility to his fellow citizens to be an honorable
man, but has failed to do so. While keeping this secret
sin for seven years, "His inward trouble drove him to
practices, more in accordance with the old, corrupted
faith of Rome... [and] In Mr. Dimmesdale's secret
closet, under lock and key, there was a bloody

Overused word: heavy

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scourge 4" (Hawthorne 120). Dimmesdale's struggle of

guilt drove him to perform acts of insanity by harming
himself without a valid reason, as this was not a
religious practice at the time. He feels that he needs to
purify his soul, but does not find that his vigils aid in
his purpose. The Reverend approaches near death as
he continues to struggle with his remorse. Hawthorne
describes Dimmesdale as "suffering under bodily
disease, and gnawed 5 and tortured by some black
trouble of the soul, and given over to the machinations
of his deadliest enemy" (117). In addition to his mental
instability, the sinner battles with physical
deterioration, as he believes his soul is permanently
tarnished 6 with sin and guilt, and he does not have the
motivation and energy to live. Hawthorne plainly uses
the Dark Romantic element of psychological effects of

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guilt and sin to demonstrate Dimmesdale's madness,

as he faces the severe effects 7 of the guilt he feels as a
result of committing adultery.
In the "Yellow Wallpaper," the narrator, who is also
the main 8 character of the story, studies the intricate
pattern of the wallpaper in her room until she
becomes obsessed with trying to figure it out. The
woman has a mental illness before she comes in
contact with the paper, as she is suffering from postpartum depression from her newborn child and her
obsession does not assist in ridding her of the
sickness. As her fixation is growing stronger, the
narrator states, "The faint figure behind [the
wallpaper] seemed to shake the pattern, just as if she
wanted to get out" (Gilman 6). The sick woman begins
imagining women trapped inside the wall as she goes
mad and her hallucinations 9 are only progressively
worse towards the end of the story. She describes the
"creeping" women that wander around the outside of

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her house during the day while she watches them

through the window (Gilman 9). At the climax, the
woman writes in a hurried 10 fashion, jumping from
one idea to another while she explains the chaos that
is taking place in her room. At one point she writes, "I

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am getting angry enough to do something desperate.

To jump out of the window would be admirable 11
exercise," but quickly disregards the idea of taking her
own life saying, "a step like that is improper and might
be misconstrued 12" (Gilman 10). Charlotte Perkins
Gilman's use of the irony of the woman stating that
something is unreasonable or crazy as she is going
utterly insane herself enhances the madness that she
is demonstrating. In using an average woman
suffering from a common mental illness, Gilman
demonstrates a realistic, yet engaging story,
highlighting madness.
The Scarlet Letter, a Dark Romantic text, and "The
Yellow Wallpaper," written during the Realism
movement, portray madness as it relates to their
respective literary movements. Dark Romanticism is a
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unique literary movement that constantly asks, why,

rather than the more common, how, that is seen in
countless other literary works. In doing this, Nathaniel
Hawthorne goes deeper into Reverend Dimmesdale's
madness to give readers a view of what he is thinking
and why he is acting in such a peculiar way.
Dimmesdale experiences the sight of a meteor that
paints a scarlet "A" 13 in the sky, which is near to
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impossible in the natural world, as well as other

supernatural events, which illustrate a gory 14, horrific
version of madness. Realism sought to portray the
average life of middle-class citizens, through
regionalism, to depict the lives of Americans in the
19th and 20th centuries and generate works of

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literature that were applicable to 15 their audience.

Charlotte Gilman uses postpartum depression, a
common effect of childbirth in the 19th century, to
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exemplify the insanity women faced and how they

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were treated 16 as a result. With the depression as a

starting point, the madness that the narrator
experiences is one that is more realistic as she has
common symptoms, such as not eating and insomnia.
Additionally, the story does not delve into the why and

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how of the narrator's decisions and actions, but

simply 17 states them as they happen, a trend found in
realistic writing. Though there are differences in the
techniques used and images created, madness
appears as a theme in both The Scarlet Letter and
"The Yellow Wallpaper."
Throughout both The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel
Hawthorne and "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte
Perkins Gilman, the theme of madness, a state of
being mentally ill, is found. In the Dark Romantic
writing of Hawthorne, this theme 18 is portrayed as
gory 19 and horrific from Dimmesdale's supernatural
experiences. In contrast, "The Yellow Wallpaper"
creates a realistic and relatable depiction of madness
as the narrator suffers from post-partum depression
and an obsession with the wallpaper in her room.
Though the two works portray different versions of
madness 20, they are similar in that they use the main
characters and their suffering to exemplify the theme.

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10

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12

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13

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Repetitive word: theme

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Repetitive word: madness