Wieland Analysis
Wieland Analysis
Throughout this course, we have read many selections that were directly related to Puritanism. Just as well, they have often come in the form of a captivity narrative or gothic novel. In this case, “Wieland” by Charles Brockden Brown, is written in the format of a gothic novel, and similarly seems to reject Puritan ideals. It is a gothic novel in the sense that it follows the typical storyline of a young, honorable woman having her virtue threatened. It involves many supernatural events and is also thought to be ultimately resolved by a supernatural event. Most importantly, it brings about the threat of religion. Brown aims to expose the dangers of believing to strictly in Puritanism, and furthermore any religion for that matter. It’s the idea that any religion can lead to religious frenzy and that no human virtue is safe from corruption. One can witness these concepts by simply examining the _________ of characters Henry Pleyel, Clara Wieland, and Theodore Wieland also known as Wieland.
Henry Pleyel intro. Hears voices telling him that lover is dead but more importantly “hears” things that cause him to question clara’s virtue. “In vain you dwelt upon incidents of which you only could be conscious; incidents that occurred on occasions on which none beside your own family were witnesses. In vain was your discourse characterized by peculiarities inimitable of sentiment and language. My conviction was effected only by an accumulation of the same tokens. I yielded not but to evidence which took away the power to withhold my faith” (Brown 154). In this part, Henry recounts an event in where he supposedly heard Clara submit to Carwin. He argues that he knows it couldn’t of been anyone other than Clara because she spoke only of things that only she or one close to her family could know, and that her discourse was particularly her own, down to the language used. It was clearly her. No other being could know how to sound like her or know the things
Throughout this course, we have read many selections that were directly related to Puritanism. Just as well, they have often come in the form of a captivity narrative or gothic novel. In this case, “Wieland” by Charles Brockden Brown, is written in the format of a gothic novel, and similarly seems to reject Puritan ideals. It is a gothic novel in the sense that it follows the typical storyline of a young, honorable woman having her virtue threatened. It involves many supernatural events and is also thought to be ultimately resolved by a supernatural event. Most importantly, it brings about the threat of religion. Brown aims to expose the dangers of believing to strictly in Puritanism, and furthermore any religion for that matter. It’s the idea that any religion can lead to religious frenzy and that no human virtue is safe from corruption. One can witness these concepts by simply examining the _________ of characters Henry Pleyel, Clara Wieland, and Theodore Wieland also known as Wieland.
Henry Pleyel intro. Hears voices telling him that lover is dead but more importantly “hears” things that cause him to question clara’s virtue. “In vain you dwelt upon incidents of which you only could be conscious; incidents that occurred on occasions on which none beside your own family were witnesses. In vain was your discourse characterized by peculiarities inimitable of sentiment and language. My conviction was effected only by an accumulation of the same tokens. I yielded not but to evidence which took away the power to withhold my faith” (Brown 154). In this part, Henry recounts an event in where he supposedly heard Clara submit to Carwin. He argues that he knows it couldn’t of been anyone other than Clara because she spoke only of things that only she or one close to her family could know, and that her discourse was particularly her own, down to the language used. It was clearly her. No other being could know how to sound like her or know the things