Antitranscendentalists Do you know anyone who is destroying themselves and others by their actions? If so this person is an anti transcendentalist. Anti transcendentalism is a literary term to describe a character’s potential to do harm to themselves. Along with bringing harm to himself or killing himself, he usually brings harm to others in one form or another. Another characteristic of an anti transcendentalist character is that there is usually signs or clues that tell the character that he is destroying himself, but the character chooses the ignore the signs or clues. Abigail Williams from “The Crucible”, Captain Ahab from Moby Dick, and Roger Chillingworth from The Scarlet Letter are all anti transcendentalists. They all harmed themselves and others in one way or another.
Abigail Williams is an anti transcendentalist for many reasons. She brought harm to herself, the other girls in Salem, and innocent townspeople. Every time she accused someone of witchcraft or persuaded the other girls to so the same, she was hurting herself as well as the innocent person. Little did she know, that in the end everything would go against her and she would be the one in trouble with the law.
Also she was putting her friends in harms way by threatening them if they didn’t keep their secret. When the girls didn’t tell the truth about them being frauds, it was getting them in even more trouble. Every time Abigail aided in the prosecution of an innocent towns person, that person was being harmed because they were most likely to be hung. Abigail knew that what she was doing was wrong, but she continued to do it. She ignored the signs and clues telling her that she was harming herself and others, which is a characteristic of an anti transcendentalist.
The Essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne Anti Transcendentalist
Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of the greatest Anti-Transcendentalist writers of all time. He utilized his writings to express his dark, gloomy outlook on life. Hawthorne, a descendant of a puritan family, was born in Salem, Massachusetts. Some of his ancestors included a judge known for the harsh persecution of Quakers, and another judge who played an important role in the Salem witchcraft trials. ...
Not only did Abigail ignore these signs and clues but Captain Ahab from Moby Dick also did. Captain Ahab ended up dying and killing his crew at the end of the story. Captain Ahab had been obsessed with killing a white whale named Moby Dick. He spent almost his whole life trying to kill this whale and it was taking over his mind. He was destroying himself inside by obsessing over Moby Dick and in the end he practically killed himself. He also killed most of his crew from his ship.
He persuaded them into helping him kill Moby Dick and the men went to extremes for Ahab. The crew also ended up dying and failed to capture the giant, white whale Moby Dick. Ahab knew subconsciously that what he was doing was going to kill him one day but he kept on doing it until it finally happened. Ahab didn’t purposely bring harm to his shipmates but Roger Chillingworth from “The Scarlet Letter” did to Reverend Dimmesdale. Chillingworth was out to get revenge right from the very start. He befriended Dimmesdale posing as a doctor trying to help him, but he did quite the opposite.
Chillingworth knew that Dimmesdale was the father of Hester Prynne’s daughter Pearl. He knew that he had been Heater’s adult er. Chillingworth was Hester’s long lost husband and did not like this at all. He did his best to ruin Dimmesdale’s life and make him feel as guilty as he could, and it worked. Dimmesdale eventually died because he was hiding his sins and Chillingworth had made him feel so bad. Not only did he ruin Dimmesdale’s life, but his ruined his own.
Chillingworth called himself a demon. He said he has turned himself into a demon by getting pleasure out of harming someone else, Dimmesdale. This brought Chillingworth down, made him feel horrible, and he also eventually died. He saw what he was doing to Dimmesdale and he knew he had changed himself as a person, but he still went on. He is the perfect example of an anti transcendentalist.
The Essay on Captain Ahab Moby Dick
By: Adrienne Delaney Captain Ahab If you ever saw Captain Ahab in a dark alley, you'd probably turn and run the other way. His scarred body and wooden leg are just a couple of characteristics that show who he is. Ahab is the captain of the whaling ship Pequod, and their mission is to go on a trip and bring back as many whales as possible. Ahab has a different mission plan set in his mind. The ...
Abigail Williams, Captain Ahab, and Roger Chillingworth all had potential to do harm to themselves and others in one way or another. Abigail was a strong leader that was getting herself into trouble as well as her followers, the other girls. Captain Ahab had spent most of his life destroying himself trying to catch Moby Dick. As soon as he had a crew to go along with him, he got then killed in the end also. Roger Chillingworth was all about revenge. He knew he was harming himself as well as Dimmesdale, but he kept on torturing his and Dimmesdale’s soul until they both died.
Antitranscendentalists know what they do to themselves but don’t find the strength to stop destroying themselves and others. Being an anti transcendentalist character is harsh, painful, and you are potentially deadly to yourself.
