preview

Margaret Fuller Transcendentalism

Decent Essays

Author Margaret Fuller, who is considered one of the Great American authors, wrote during the Transcendentalism period. Particularly, in her work titled “Woman in the Nineteenth Century” written in 1845 we can see evidence of the characteristics, themes and style identified with the Transcendentalism movement which was extant in American letters between 1840-1860. As a representative of such a movement, Margaret Fuller then remains one of the most identifiable and iconic writers of her time.
Being the first feminism to emerge in the United States, Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli was an highly iconic influencer. Margaret Fuller was born on May 23, 1810, in Cambridgeport, Massachusetts. Her father, Timothy Fuller was a lawyer and a representative …show more content…

This Literary Movement is characterized by believing in the dignity of manual labor, proposing self- reliance and self-trust, believing in democracy and individualism, considering man’s relationship with God a personal matter, emphasizing the need for spiritual living, insisting on a complete break with tradition and custom. Particularly her work Woman in the Nineteenth Century, we can see the characteristics. For example, Fuller shows her belief in individualism by commenting “Here, as elsewhere, the gain of creation consists always in the growth of individual minds, which live and aspire, as flowers bloom and birds sing, in the midst of morasses; and in the continual development of that thought, the thought of human destiny, which is given to eternity adequately to express, and which ages of failure only seemingly impede.” Stating that the “gain of creation” depends of the individual minds. Also, She explained that the idea of marriage “has been inculcated on women for centuries, that men not only have stronger passions than they, but of a sort that it would be shameful for them to share of even understand”. She explains that woman is expected to tell their husbands everything on their mind, and when they begin to show signs of “coldness or withdrawal” the wife is then labeled “wicked”. In addition, Fuller asserted her confidence in understanding women and marriage when she explained that the married woman

Get Access