wylie.p5.t6.romantic

Janelle Li

Nancy Lai

Zachary Lindecamp

Kelsey Nakamura

Period 5

Romantic Era Synthesis Question

In the Romantic era, people found that they had the ability to create a better life for themselves, realizing that they didn’t have to abide by a social hierarchy. They could, in fact, start life anew, and work their way up to the top. Similarly, people in this era were able to freely express their opinions, and could believe in what they wanted to. Artists, writers, and musicians alike all were able to express their emotions and feelings as they pleased, not having to worry so much about the punishment of their actions.

Though the Renaissance era focused mostly on religious aspects, the people in the Romantic era focused on other aspects, such as nature, mysteries, and the supernatural. For example, in Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, she deals with a whole different type of imagination, the idea of the supernatural. Here, she creates a story about something that wouldn’t actually happen in real life, and is able to embed a new idea into the minds of the reader. Though the reader realizes that Shelley’s words are untrue, the mystery and uniqueness of it all makes them ponder about the topic, and Shelly is able to express her thoughts of the supernatural in this way.

Similarly, in Emily Bronte’s, Wuthering Heights, she emphasizes the beauty of nature as well as the idea behind the supernatural. Bronte has several scenes in which nature is important, as one of the main characters talks to the trees and to the skies as if it were something natural. In addition, ghosts are involved in the story, as another one of the main characters dies and her ghost roams about the earth. Here, there is not so much a religious aspect to this, as the ghost is merely stuck between life and death.

With the Romantic era, there were numerous opportunities for people to expand upon their ideas and thoughts. Having this in mind, authors such as Shelley and Bronte were able to exercise their thoughts on things that seemed impossible, but could be embedded into real life in some way.