The double of freedom : the evolution of compensation and self-reliance in the sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson

Abstract

The sermons of Ralph Waldo Emerson form a narrative which tells the story of a protagonist who would become a "genuine man." Tracing Emerson's personal and philosophical development for the years 1826-1832, the sermons show his initial vision of man's weakness and God's powers of retribution, dramatize the crisis of the middle years which was accentuated by his wife's illness and early death from tuberculosis, and indicate his recovery from grief by extending the meaning of compensation to include the vision which beholds the unity between the physical and spiritual realms and by creating a self-reliant hero, the flag bearer of Emerson's new religion which relocates God within the self. Turning the myth of the self-made man upside down, Emerson invents a man-made self, the genuine man who finds authority within himself rather than in society or tradition. Created from Emerson's own need to empower himself, this hero is both the example of self-reliance and the hero with whom Emerson identifies and attempts to emulate in his own life. By sublimating the demands of the physical realm, Emerson remakes himself into a man of the mind and finds compensation for his own self-doubts and grief. By emphasizing the divinity that resides within the self and the authority of the intuitive oracle that speaks to the individual, Emerson further empowers the self. But there is a double edge in Emerson's thought, for while he strives to make man self-reliant, he remains to an extent God-reliant. And while he gives man freedom to form his own character, that character is bound by the responsibility for the choices he makes. And while Emerson created a self-reliant hero whom he could emulate, his doubts about his own ability to become "genuine" play behind the finished texts of his sermons. Moreover, with the freedom to choose one's own destiny comes the possibility of failure. Indeed, there is a tradition in American literature which sees the underside of freedom and portrays heroes whose attempts to remake themselves ended in failure and tragedy.