Dark Romanticism in “The Devil and Tom Walker” Essay

During the nineteen century in America, profane Romanticism was very popular. Dark Romanticism is a literary subgenre that emerges from Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism believed that to discover honor nation must see beyond the physical world, also believed that people can find God directly on disposition. Dark love affair explores the infringe between good and evil and the psychological effect of offend and guilt in the human mind. One of the famous Dark amorous writers is Washington Irving. He is salubrious known for his short stories and his unrealistic characters and his small description of nature. Irving develops the characteristic themes of dark romanticism through symbolism in The Devil and Tom footnote. Many Dark romantics writer idea that nature had a spiritual influence over people, as a mysterious being. One of the main themes of the Dark Romanticism is nature. Irving describes with detail the nature setting around the characters.In this report Irving sa ys The swamp was thickly braggy with enceinte gloomy pines and hemlocks, some of them ninety feet high, which made it dark at noonday and a retreat for all the owls of the neighborhood. In this excoriate he is describing the setting described as dark, decaying and mystifying. An other theme presented in this figment is the presence of the devil. Irving gives the devil human qualities and describes him as a groovy black man, neither Negro nor Indian, with a couple of great red eyes and with an ax in his shoulder. The devil is express to have various names among the countries and he claims to have witness great battles and conflicts in America. Dark Romantics used images of evil in form of vampires, devils, ghosts and other human-characterized figures. In this case Irving uses the devil as a symbol of evil. Dark Romantics presents human beings as susceptible to sin. The author presents different sins in this story for example, avarice.This sin was present in Tom Walker and also in his married woman. In the story it said that the husband was continually prying approximately to detect her secret hoards and there were conflicts about what ought to have been common station. This says that the woman hid things to her husband, in order to save it from herself. Dark Romantics explore the conflict between good and evil. In this case the devil cherished to prevail an agreement with Walker. At first Walker refused because he knew that when devil disposed(p) favors, there was one condition he had to be at his service. The wanted him to become a slave trader, but he refused his proposal because he was against slavery. He instead became a usurer.When Tom Walker committed sins, he went to church to feel better about it. These visits to church are a symbol used to present guilt. He tried to focus in reading the Bible, but he kept censuring his neighbors and scamming his clients. He thought that all sin his neighbors committed became a credit in his own sins. Also, Walker tried to hide his guilt in his ostentation by grammatical construction a great and incomplete support, just as Captain Kidd hid his nurture between the big trees in the forest. Washington Irving uses many symbols in this story to present the themes of Dark Romanticism. The forest is a symbol of the nature, and the devil is phonation of the evil influence over the human being. Walkers house represents a place to hide guilt and Walkers wife is a symbol of greed. The Devil and Tom Walker describes very well the themes of Dark Romanticism.