English Language and Literature Commons^™

The Woman Of Sorrows: Clara's Self-Destructive Behavior Based On Supernatural Belief In Wieland, Or The Transformation: An American Tale By Charles Brockden Brown, Paden Carlson

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Much has been devoted to the study of causality and ambiguity within Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland, or the Transformation. While there is textual and cultural evidence providing explanations for Clara’s behavior, little has been said about the ramifications of Clara’s actions. This essay seeks to add to the discussion of Wieland by exploring Clara’s transformation from theistic rationalist to someone who is inclined to believe in supernatural explanation concerning seemingly inexplicable events.

In more than one instance, Clara’s supernaturally-charged beliefs endanger her. Brown uses Clara’s increasing reliance on supernatural explanation to suggest that, should the early United States similarly abandon …

Deconstructing The Supernatural In Shakespeare's Macbeth, Britney Marler

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Of all Shakespeare's tragedies, Macbeth is by far the most supernaturally charged. The play opens with three witches who give Macbeth and Banquo a prediction that lays out the plot of the rest of the play. Macbeth sees a phantom dagger, hears voices, and is haunted by the ghost of his murdered comrade. The vast amount of supernatural events comes as no surprise considering that Shakespeare almost certainly wrote the play as a tribute to King James I, the British monarch whose belief in the power of witchcraft ran so deep that he led several witchhunts throughout Britain, in addition …