Against Transcendental Philosophy?

The main reason for Nathaniel Hawthorne to be considered a Dark Romantic or against Transcendentalist would probably because of the man his great grandfather. Hawthorne believed that his grandfather, who was a judge during the Salem witch trials, was a bad person because he actually allowed 19 people and 2 dogs to be hanged and 1 person to be stoned to death because he believed that is what God would have wanted. He just knew that his Great Grandfather was very bad man so he believed people weren’t all generally good and people are generally bad.

Herman Mellville was considered a Dark Romantic simply because of what he witnessed as a young child. Mellville was a sailor because his dreams of becoming a writer were slim. He sailed around the world and witnessed many things. While he was young he witnessed cannibals in the South Pacific which made Mellville believe that people were bad and un-pure. Mellville believed if the people in the South Pacific were cannibals there could very well be many other people around the world that were the same way, un-pure.

In Edgar Allen Poe's life there was no such thing as luck, only bad luck came his way. He believed that it was God himself that had made the people that meant the most to him in his life either disown him or die. Poe himself started to act crazy by getting addicted to opium and alcohol. Poe had evil inside of him and he express himself through stories that he had written. Poe had so much taken away from him he probably either hated god or didn’t believe in him at all.

I think I would definitely fall more on the Transcendentalism side because I'm not evil in any kind of way unless someone hurts me significantly then the bad side comes out. I do believe that there are people how contain both good and evil traits. I don't think that there are people who have either all good or all evil traits. I believe that what makes you, whether you are Transcendentalist or Dark Romantic, is because of how you view other people and how you view the actions they wish to take.