Transcendental Critic of the Puritans Essay -- Analysis, Hawthorne

There is no hard definition for transcendentalism it varies depending on which group of Transcendentalist one talks to. Webster defines its purpose is to discover the temperament of reality by investigating the thought process instead of the objects of sense. The Oxford vocabulary implies that divinity can be found in each(prenominal) character and humanity. Almost all definitions include a search for truth, reputationual goodness, and the temperament of reality by studying nature by communing with the human mind or an analysis of the human souls interaction with the spirit of God. Also, according to Raziel Abelson, Transcendentalism opposed the strict ritualism and dogmatic theology of all established religious institutions (qtd. in Brook make). In 1841, a group of Transcendentalists established the Brook Farm formally known as the Brook Farm Institute of Agriculture and Education among that group were American literary and religious leaders such as Amos Bronson Alcott , William Ellery Channing, Charles Anderson Dana, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Theodore Parker, and Orestes Augustus Brownson (Brook Farm). It is because of the influence of the Transcendental movement that Hawthorne wrote Young Goodman Brown and The Ministers Black Veil where he attempts to demonstrate (perhaps to the prude Church, certainly to all who read the stories) that the Puritan Churchs strict and unforgiving orthodoxy was not its greatest strength but its greatest weakness.In Young Goodman Brown, Hawthornes overt use of spiritual/metaphysical allegory and symbolism is use to display the sinful nature of man and the possibly tragic consequences of the Puritan Churchs ridged and unwavering demand of sinless ingenuousness from its m... ...v. 2011.Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Ministers Black Veil, A Parable. Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Web. 25 November 2011.---. Young Goodman Brown. books Reading, Reacting, Writi ng.Compact 7th Ed. Kirszner and Mandell. Boston Wadsworth, 2010. Print.King James Version Bible. Philadelphia The interior(a) Bible Press, 1958. Print.Transcendentalism. (n.d.) Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia. Web. 24 Nov. 2011.Transcendentalism n. The laconic Oxford English Dictionary, Twelfth edition . Ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson. Oxford University Press, 2008. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Amarillo College. Web. 27 November 2011 Transcendentalism. Websters new World Dictionary of the American Language. Second College Edition. New York Simon and Shuster, 1984. Print.