Romanticism In The Pit And The Pendulum

Romanticism was a movement in the fine arts that occurred during the early nineteenth century. The movement was mainly focused on feeling intense emotions rather than being real and logical. Romantic writers were trying to make their readers feel the emotions in the writing. People during the romantic era were looking at everything going on in their lives and searching for hidden meaning, like having two white birds fly over you meant you would have peace coming soon. The era of romanticism affected life in things such as art and mainly literature. It is possible to find selections and, through analysis, connect them to the romantic movement and analyze the selection in that view. Three such selections are The Devil and Tom Walker, Thanatopsis, and The Pit and the Pendulum. All of these selections were made during the romantic era and focus more on emotion than logic. Most romantics were quite idealistic in their mindset, ideas, and writing. However, stories like The Pit and the Pendulum were, while still focusing on emotion, much darker. The Devil and Tom Walker is a short story published in 1824 and written by Washington Irving. The story goes that an older man named Tom Walker lives with his wife. They both are extremely greedy, even over

Romanticism focuses on human emotion and this story focuses upon people’s greed. Tom has to face his greed and ends up losing. For example, Tom comes across a “cloven skull with an Indian tomahawk buried deep in it.” The skull is a portrayal of the colonist’s greed for land wealth. They fought against the Native Americans to take their land. The outcome of their greed and battle is shown in the skull, signifying the fact that the greed destroyed them. Another example is how the Devil and his offer is a portrayal of Tom’s battle against his own greed. The Devil gives him the chance to have immense wealth but, in the end, it destroys him. Tom loses the battle and pays the