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Romanticism and Rationalism in Modern Society

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Romanticism and Rationalism In Our Modern Society In the modern world today there are two types of perspectives, Romanticism and
Rationalism. Rationalism is the belief or theory that states that opinions and actions should surround reason and knowledge rather than emotion or religion. Romanticism is based on art and literature that originated in the late 18th century emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the individual. There have been many questions about whether or not our society is based on
Romanticism or Rationalism, but both play a key role in the balance of our society. Both of these perspectives are prevalent worldwide, but the three main areas where these views are the most important are in careers in the 20th century, the role of women, and religion.
The primary subject that revolves around Romanticism and Rationalism are careers in modern society. Careers usually are more Rationalistic, but some represent the Romantic view as well. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2010 there were 139,415,000 different Romantic or Rationalistic careers to choose from. These careers included different activities such as working with children, painting, or performing an intricate surgery.
Rationalism is based primarily on the science industry and education, which includes mechanics, the medical field, and school. Romanticism is found more commonly in the arts such as dancing, painting, or writing a novel. Performing a surgery and performing a dance routine both are

important to our society, because our society craves, needs, and should acknowledge both education and freedom of expression. If our modern society did not recognize both perspectives, then it would quickly fall apart. An example of the failure of society without both Rationalism and Romanticism is presented in the short story “The Birthmark” by Hawthorne. In “The
Birthmark” the protagonist, Aylmer, tried exceedingly hard to perfect his flawed wife. He eventually became obsessed trying to perfect his projects, including the removal of the birthmark. If he did not focus solely on perfecting his science career by what he thought perfection consisted of, then he would have succeeded in his experiment. Georgiana’s death abruptly occurred due to the fact that he only saw his wife as a project, and could not see the beauty in her imperfections. The imperfections in mankind make mankind perfect, which is represented in Romanticism. The only path that Aylmer did not take during his experiment was opening his arms to the world of creativity and unconformity, which proves that the world needs to follow the path of creativity and acceptance of both views in order to survive and thrive. The second subject that is relevant to Rationalism and Romanticism is the role of women in modern society and in the late 18th century.
Today women are viewed as strong, independent, and worthy of praise, but in the late
18th century women were viewed as the complete opposite. The negative, and occasionally positive, outlook of women around the world is presented mainly in Hawthorne and Irvings written works. Besides “The Birthmark”, Hawthorne has written other stories that are prevalent to women in our society today. In “The Scarlet Letter”, which was also written by Hawthorne,
Hester Prynne acquired the requirement to wear the letter A on her shirt. Without hesitation, she presented herself in front of the bewildered town with the letter A on her chest that appeared as if

it were meant to demonstrate an outstanding deed she was being rewarded for. She shaped the letter A into a beautiful accessory, which made the town realize how proud she was of her child and her womanhood. This significant scene in the story “The Scarlet Letter” represents women today in the modern world who, without a doubt, are confident with their femininity, and have a voice. In contrast to this story, Irving’s “ The Devil and Tom Walker” present a negative outlook towards women. There are many examples of Irvings antipathy towards women throughout the story. The first example is when Tom Walkers wifes’ name is never presented to the audience, which represents womens’ irrelevance in society. The second example of Irvings antipathy towards women is when Tom Walkers wife dies a violent death. Irving portrayed his wife as a greedy character who attempted to make a deal with the devil and failed. These two examples in
“The Devil and Tom Walker” represent Irvings distaste towards women, and suggests that women, in his mind, were evil and irrelevant. The last topic that relates to Romanticism and
Rationalism is a topic that is known and practiced worldwide. Religion.
Religion is mostly a Romantic concept, but Rationalism plays an important role as well.
Rationalism involves facts and theories, but Romanticism is simply what one person believes or has faith in. In any religion there is a “spiritual guidebook” such as the Bible, Quran, and the
Torah. These books are societies guidelines and provide “facts” or “rules” on how to live life, and fulfil their duties on this earth. These books, and theories inside them, show the Rationalistic side of religion. However, the faith itself, and belief in these theories represent the Romantic side of religion. Without both perspectives would Religion really exist? Without the Rationalistic part of religion there would be nothing to belief in because, facts, rules, and guidelines on how to fulfil their destinies or please their God would not exist, and without Romanticism the Bible,

Quran, and Torah would all be worthless, because nobody would have any faith or emotion towards their religion. Religion ultimately would not be relevant today without both Rationalism and Romanticism being present.
In order for our society to be balanced, both Romanticism and Rationalism need to be present. Both perspectives are involved mainly in careers, the role of women, and religion, but are not limited to those three topics. Without Rationalism our society would not move forward with science or any type of education, and without Romanticism our world would be boring, uniform, and obsessed with a skewed perception of perfection. If a perfect balance of both
Romanticism and Rationalism worked hand in hand in our modern society, our world would become Utopia.

Works Cited
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “The Birthmark.” The Short­story. Ed. William Atkinson. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1916. Project Gutenberg. 28 Mar. 2010. Web."How Many Jobs in America?" Yahoo!

Answers
. Yahoo! Web. 3 Nov. 2014.
"Romanticism."
: Definition of in Oxford Dictionary (British & World English). Web. 3 Nov. 2014.


Irving, Washington. "Rip Van Winkle." The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon. Project Gutenberg.
28 Mar. 2010. Web.

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