Final Paper Proposal

For my paper I will be focusing on Bernice and William Wilson both by Poe, as well as The Birthmark by Hawthorne. I intend to discuss the use of monomania that is prevalent in both Bernice and The Birthmark.  I find it particularly interesting how Poe in Bernice uses monomania to focus on the one thing that his wife Bernice contains that he finds beauty and perfection in - her teeth.  While in The Birthmark, Hawthorne’s character focus’ on the one thing he finds imperfect about his wife- her birthmark. I plan to incorporate William Wilson by arguing that this story is not only about the figure of the doppelganger, but that the doppelganger is a fixation caused by monomania which I will argue is related to William Wilson’s extreme narcissism. I will touch on the fact that William Wilson is a short story focusing on the psychological self-splitting which results from Wilson’s inability to body and mind. Wilson’s inability to escape his own demons perpetually draws his thoughts in to focus on him self as the text goes on.  It is his deep attachment and focus on himself that I believe can be related to monomania. These texts will be linked together through the genre of the short story and the themes of the gothic, and dark romanticism. I have not completely worked out my argument but so far these were some of my favorite reading from this course. I have been doing some researching today but it is proving to be more difficult than expected. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Works cited

Moldenenhauer, J.J. “From Murder as a Fine Art: Connections between Poe’s Aesthetics, Psychology, and Moral Vision.” The selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, 2004. 829-844. Print.

Kennedy, G.J. “ From Phantasms of Death in Poe’s Fiction.” The selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, 2004. 896-904. Print.

Armstrong, L. “The Shadow’s Shadow: The Motif of the Double in Edgar Allan Poe’s “ The Purloined Letter”.” The selected Writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Ed. G.R. Thompson. New York, 2004. 863-873. Print.

Crews, C.F. “The Logic of Compulsion.” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York. 1987. 380-389.

McWilliams, JR.P.J. “Hawthorne and the Puritan Revolution of 1776.” Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Tales. Ed. James McIntosh. New York. 1987. 371-379.

Incompatibility

Eva St. Clare is the idealized character to represent the incompatibility of slavery and Christianity. She is a completely moral being, devout Christian and laments the existence of slavery. Although her family owns slaves she does the best she can to make the slaves feel that they are valuable human beings and are loved. Eva sprouts a friendship with Tom and asks that her father buy him in order to look out for him. Eva’s father is not a Christian, and although he is a fairly decent master as far as slavery goes he is not the moral being that she is. Eva assists Tom in writing letters because he is illiterate; this is an example of Eva’s moralistic value. By helping Tom have a voice she is using her voice/love as an agent for change. Although Eva is surrounded by racist individuals (ie. St. Clare, Marie and Ophelia) her purity and anti-slavery stance eventually trickle down and seep I to their own beliefs. Although it takes Eva’s eventual death for racist Ophelia’s transformation, her death is what initially sparks her father’s realization that slavery is wrong as well. On her death bed she requests her father release all of their slaves and by the time he comes to understand that this is the right thing to do, it is too late and her father passes away as well. However, even though her father may have been too late to have the slaves released he did manage to find religion. Eva’s character is used to display that true, pure, devout Christians and slavery do not mix. It is either you are a Christian or you do not believe in religion but you do believe in owning and selling slaves. Stow uses Eva to be at the farthest end of the spectrum away form slavery.