Religion as a Gothic Element
in American Romanticism

American Romanticism can be strongly defined through its use of Gothic elements. Webster’s defines gothic as "of or relating to a style of fiction characterized by the use of desolate or remote settings and macabre, mysterious, or violent incidents" (529). Pre-American Romantic writers, such as Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, do not tend towards the gothic in their writings of religion and religious elements. Although God is mysterious to both writers, they maintain certain characteristics and aspects expected of them and their religion. They keep their texts true to their beliefs. However, Mary Rowlandson begins a transition phase for the writers of this period. She begins to view God and religion in a darker and /more mysterious manner. By the time James Fenimore Cooper is writing, he blurs religion between two different religions. The Christian and the Indian God becomes mixed, along with their heaven. Whereas the earlier writers tend to understand and accept their God, the writers in the American Romantic period re-create their God adding a gothic twist to their religion and beliefs.

Anne Bradstreet believes if she lives her life the way God meant her to live it, things will work out fine for her. She writes, "About 16, the Lord laid His hand sore upon me and smote me with the smallpox. When I was in my affliction, I besought the Lord and confessed my pride and vanity, and He was entreated of me and again restored me" (145). Bradstreet has a traditional view about God. She believes if she lives her life as a good person, she will be rewarded for it. If she lives her life full of pride and vanity, then she will pay the consequences. The good and just are rewarded and the bad are punished. She does not have any unusual beliefs and seems to believe that God is just and good.

Jonathan Edwards appears to believe in the same God. He approaches his views on God in a different manner and begins to exhibit more gothic ideas than those of Bradstreet. Edwards’s concentration on God is more towards the dark, angry God. He focuses on the individual as sinner and on the dark, sinister things that will happen to the sinner if he does not repent. The sinner becomes more associated with the fall and slippery places that reek of dark places and pits (200). Edwards is beginning to make a transition towards the gothic. He views religion and the God of his religion as angry and powerful. He will cast all of the sinners down into a hell of blackness and shadow, devoid of light. They become God’s enemies and Edwards conveys an image of a dark army of people down in the bowels of the earth.

Edwards continues with his transition towards the gothic when he writes about the souls of the doomed men. He writes:

The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God’s restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace and brimstone. (202)

Man’s soul becomes consumed with fire and heat. The soul becomes hell, as the doomed sinner journeys into hell. The soul and hell represent dark isolation and remote setting. There are also elements of the macabre and violence that bring into question some of the gothic ideas that will become more prevalent in the authors to come.

Rowlandson views God and religion in a different way than Bradstreet and Edwards. She believes that the Indian attack was done by God in order to make the people acknowledge him and to seek help in him. The Christians in the story are compared to sheep that have been slaughtered. The Christians are seen to be good and pure, like their God. The Indians are viewed as savage and heathen (150). They are everything evil and dark. They are compared to hell, as the Christians are compared to goodness and purity. A dichotomy exists between the evil and darkness of the Indians and the purity and light of the Christians. Rowlandson incorporates gothic elements in the portrayal of the Christian religion and the Indians. The Christians represent everything good, while the Indians are everything evil. She views them to be heathens, savages, Satan himself. Although she keeps certain Christian ideas in her view of religion, she blends gothic elements to describe the enemy. The Indians, who are the enemies, begin to represent the darkness of Satan.

The complete blending of gothic elements in regards to religion occur in the writings of James Fenimore Cooper. He blurs the lines of religion between the Indians and the Christians until it is difficult to see where one religion begins and the other religion ends. The elements converge and make The Last of the Mohicans an example of a classic American Romantic. The first element of the gothic used in regards to religion in the text is the setting of the book. The story takes place in the woods, away from civilized society. This makes religion unimportant to Cora and Uncas. They are two human beings struggling to survive.

Gothic elements in the use of religion continues with the use of water and animal imagery. At one point in the book Magua says, "The healing waters will never bring the dead Hurons to life!". . . "the tumbling river washes their bones! their men are squaws; their women owls" (249). Magua may be referring to baptism with the imagery of water, but he is saying that the water will not heal or soothe the dead. He is not buying into the Christian beliefs of baptism, but saying that the water will simply wash the bones of the Indian people. He is also comparing the men warriors to women, and the women to owls. The owl is the bird that flies at night. It becomes a symbol of death. Magua is condemning the men for acting like women, but he is attributing death to the women by giving them the symbol of the owl. Religion begins to mix in this statement by Magua. He does not believe in the purifying water of baptism, but believes the water will simply clean the bones of the dead warriors. He continues with the religion of the Indians by giving certain animal attributes to women and attributing them with dark characteristics.

The death of Cora and Uncas brings the blending of two religions. The Indian and Christian religions blend, becoming one universe in which Cora and Uncas can be together. Cora is described as being wrapped in simple wrappers (340). Her dress partly mimics the Christian dress of a funeral. She is dressed simply and conservatively. Uncas is dressed differently. He is not lying, but sitting. He is dressed in elaborate costume, whereas, Cora is dressed plainly. He is dressed in colorful plumes, with bracelets and medals. His appearance gives a false depiction of life. There is no doubt that Cora is dead because of her subdued appearance, but Uncas in his position and all of his finery could pass for the living (340). The preparation for the burials still seem separate in appearance. Cora is prepared as a Christian burial, while Uncas is prepared for an Indian burial.

As the burial for Cora and Uncas continues, however, the religions get blurred. The heaven of the whites and the heaven of the Indians get intertwined, just as the lives of Cora and Uncas. The maiden speaks at the burial of Cora and Uncas and says, "They cautioned her against unavailing regrets for the friends of her youth, and the scenes where her fathers had dwelt; assuring her that the "blessed hunting grounds of the Lenape" contained vales as pleasant, streams as pure, and flowers as sweet, as the "Heaven of the pale-faces" (343). Both religions are blended into one. Cora and Uncas can be together in this blended Heaven because it is not a Heaven of one race. The remote setting of the woods becomes the remote setting of a perfect blended Heaven where two individuals who can not coexist together on earth, can coexist peacefully together in Heaven.

Gothic elements emerge early in American Romanticism with Jonathan Edwards. Anne Bradstreet takes her views on Christianity and shows what it is to be a good Christian. Jonathan Edwards has similar ideas, but conveys them in a different way. He uses dark elements and the macabre to show why a person should not be a sinner. Mary Rowlandson continues with the use of gothic elements in her text. She compares the Indians to demons and believes that they are from Hell. They are in a different place than the Christians. By the time American Romanticism is in full development with Cooper, so is the use of gothic elements with regards to religion. Cooper blends setting as romantic and gothic. It takes place in the wilderness, allowing for a possible relationship to develop between Cora and Uncas. By the time the novel ends, the gothic and romantic elements blend. The Christian and Indian Heaven becomes one and somewhat mysterious. Cora and Uncas end up together. There is the traditional romantic ending of riding off into the sunset, but into a Heaven which accepts both Indians and whites equally, adding elements of the gothic.

Works Cited

Bradstreet, Anne. "To My Dear Children." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 144-147.

Cooper, James Fenimore. The Last of the Mohicans. New York: Viking Penguin Inc, 1986.

Edwards, Jonathan. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 200-211.

"Gothic." Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary. 1991 ed.

Rowlandson, Mary. "A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson." The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: Norton & Company, 1999. 148-164.