Sentimentalism in Charlotte Temple Essay examples

Many might argue that sentimentalism is an act of weakness or that it’s an emotion that should only be expressed by the female sex. However, that is not true; the act of sentimentalism actually helps to prove the moral quality of a character or person. This is eminent in the story Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson in which the reader comes across many characters being sensible or acting sentimentally towards others. In the story Charlotte Temple, sentimentality is practiced amongst those characters that are benevolent; benevolent meaning a person that expresses good will, generosity, and that has the desire to help others in other words charitable. So how could this possibly be something negative or an act of weakness? The answer lies†¦show more content†¦When she sees that it is her friend Charlotte in this heart breaking situation, she says: â€Å"gracious heaven is this possible? And bursting into tears, she reclined the burning head of Charlotte on her own bosom ; and folding her arms about her, wept over in silence† [125]. In this passage, Mrs. Beauchamp proves how sentimental and good she could be because not only does she have a sick child at home, but she finds the time to actually care about others and because she actually cries for Charlotte, a person who is not even her relative. She is a sentimental person because she is the only one that in the beginning offered Charlotte her friendship and because thanks to her, Charlotte’s father is able to see Charlotte one last time and forgive her. In many cases, this might be confused with weakness but it is not weakness. It is the ability to feel others pain as your own, it is the ability to care for others as you would your own relative; it is being a moral person and only through the act of sensibility can this be shown. In a situation like this, an immoral person might have only thought about their own problems and not the problems of others. A great example of an immoral p erson is Mademoiselle La Rue. She is immoral because she doesn’t care about others suffering. She only cares about herself and she doesn’t show any type of sensibility towards others’ fate. The greatest example in which she acts immorality is when in theShow MoreRelated Gender in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Essays4425 Words   |  18 Pagesthe idea that Stowe had in mind, and in the language that envelops his death we find not only a mirror held up to the death of Evangeline, but a mirror held up to the common sentimental death of a heroine in women’s fiction, such as Charlotte Temple, or Mary Oakley from Catherine Maria Sedgwick’s A New-England Tale. Lang states, looking back on St. Clare, â€Å"the very shape of his life is characteristically female† (43). This is very interesting to consider, because although