Analysis Of The Novel ' Young Goodman Brown '

During the early 1700s, a traveler met a man in the Massachusetts forest. However, this was no mortal man, but the devil. “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Devil and Tom Walker,” two short stories, both start out in this way. Washington Irving wrote the latter in 1824, which tells how Tom Walker profited through working for the devil. In 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “Young Goodman Brown,” which describes Goodman Brown’s woodland encounter with the Devil. The two stories share specific ideas regarding the devil, overpowering minor deviations between each other.

In “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne’s uses imagery to gets the reader attention. In the parable of “Young Goodman Brown,” the reader is set into a twist of good versus evil. Hawthorne depict evil in terms that describe the forest and the old man with the staff. The reader believe Goodman Brown is walking into evil when the woods was mention. Puritans believe woods to be the territory of the devil. In “young Goodman Brown” the forest is a symbol of the devil's home. “He had taken a dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest, which barely stood aside to let the narrow path creep through, and closed immediately behind. It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be

However the devil overpowers his sense to go back and he continues on into the forest. The devil gives Brown a lot of information about his family and ancestors, and how they did terrible things such as worship the devil and practice black art. In the forest Brown also witnesses many people from his town; people that he thought were good and would never do evil things. He sees his childhood Sunday school teacher, the minister, and the deacon all on their way to worship the devil.

Though Nathaniel Hawthorne is an author of many great works, his short story “Young Goodman Brown” still stays relevant because it has themes and subjects that are relatable in today 's world. In the story “Young Goodman Brown,” Goodman Brown leaves his wife Faith, to go into the woods near Salem to have a meeting with the devil. Appearance vs. reality is shown in “Young Goodman Brown” through the plot, the character of Goody Cloyse, and the symbol of the maple staff.

The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathanial Hawthorne is a story in which the main character, Goodman Brown goes into the forest with an evil purpose and later finds out that it appears to be a meeting with the devil. In “The Man in the Black Suit” by Stephen King, the story is an autobiography about a young boy named Gary who has a frightening encounter with the devil while going on a fishing trip. In both short stories the main character are religious, but a significant difference between them is the way they handle their encounter with the devil. In “The Man in the Black Suit” family plays an important role in Gary’s live and is a big part of his motivation, and in “Young Goodman Brown” his family name, the way the people of Salem look at him and his wife Faith play the most important roles in his lives. Both short stories are very interesting to read and immediately grab your attention. In the short story “Young Goodman Brown”, the story takes place in Salem, which is known for it’s which trials. The short story “The Man in the Black Suit” takes place in the year 1914, in the town of Motton, not long before the First World War. In “young Goodman Brown”, the devil appears to be the figure of a normal old man, but in “The Man in the Black Suit” for example the reader can tell right away that this is not a human being. The main characters both have a different way of dealing with their encounter believes, and that may have been a difference in the outcome of the

to save him, so it won?t matter if he leaves his own at home because it will be waiting for him. Brown meets the devil along a crooked path, and the devil asks why he is late; Brown replies, ?Faith kept me back awhile?(311). The ?faith? Brown has left behind is not just his wife, but also his literal faith to satisfy his burning human curiosity. Brown shows his desire to break loose from his normal life by meeting Satan, the spawn of all rebellion, in the forest. Brown tries to fight the evil inside of him to tell the devil he must go back to his faith, and the devil convinces him that they will walk the crooked path and reason as they go. The devil says, ?and if I convince thee not thou shalt turn back. We are but little in the forest yet?(312). As they venture further into the forest the devil tries to strip Brown of his faith, but he realizes this and stops to exclaim, ?Too far! Too far!?(312). Brown argues the good Christian background of his father and grandfather would never walk upon this crooked path with the devil by their side. The path that Brown is on causes him to gamble with his soul under the promptings of the devil, and he knows he must choose to either roll the dice or turn around and go home. The devil is prepared for such resistance and refutes Brown?s declaration of his ancestors by saying, ?They were my good friends, both; and many a pleasant walk have we had along this path, and returned merrily after

Written in 1835, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown” was first published in the April issue of ‘New England Magazine” and it was later included in Hawthorne’s collection of short stories entitled ‘Mosses from an Old Manse’ in 1846. Brown is a pious, young man with strong religious convictions who embarks on a journey through a deep, menacing forest in Salem, Massachusetts amidst seventeenth century Puritan society; which forever alters his self-perception and his view of all mankind in an adverse manner. Hawthorne uses descriptive imagery and symbols to create an environment of foreboding and eeriness which helps to show Brown’s emotional and spiritual struggle on his expedition.

Young Goodman Brown then finds himself alone in the forest, wondering whether he has awakened from a dream or if he really did attend the witches’ sabbath. Brown chooses to believe that his dream is true, and that everyone around him is involved in witchcraft. “The next morning, young Goodman Brown came slowly into the street of Salem village staring around him like a bewildered man.” (Paragraph 70) Because of this, Brown spends the remainder of his life being, "A stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man” (Paragraph 75). Goodman Brown now looks for the devil behind every bush and in the hearts of all those around him, never recognizing that his own soul is now hopelessly corrupt and blind to the light and goodness of God. The forest, the devil and his staff, and Faith and her pink ribbons are the main points to prove young Goodman Brown of a story full of symbolism. There is no doubt that the traveler meeting Brown is the devil and the devils staff is clearly the symbol of a serpent. Faith is both Brown’s wife and religion. The pink ribbons discussed are symbolized as innocence because his faith in God is the right thing to do. Unlike following the devil, which led Brown to sin and guilt. “Ha! ha! ha!” roared Goodman Brown, when the wind laughed at him. “Let us hear which will laugh loudest! Think not to frighten me

Being a faithful person in today’s society can prove to be very difficult. There are a lot of temptations that can negatively impact your religious beliefs whether it be completely internal conflict or an external temptation. By internal conflict I mean just your own desires and inner demons trying to reveal themselves. External temptation comes from the people around you trying to convince you to do things that are not right by your beliefs. They can do this directly or indirectly but its up to you to combat these desires and refuse the temptations but that is far from easy. With the many different people that inhabit our world comes a lot of different religions and faiths. This can easily cause confusion and unintentional misdirection while coexisting with many different diversities. In the short story “Young Goodman Brown” Hawthorn uses symbolism to show the struggle of keeping faith in the face of sin with the character’s names, the path through the woods, and the final ritual.

In the story of Young Goodman Brown, as a reader we see many circumstances where Hawthorne uses irony in straightforward situations. I have learned from reading several of the author’s works that it is up to the reader to decide the meaning behind his stories. In this paper, I will be discussing the significance of the title, Young Goodman Brown and how I believe there is more to the story than what Hawthorne writes. Young Goodman Browns journey within the forest revealed truths not only within him, but within human nature and society. On page, 1103 Goodman Brown states “there may be a devilish Indian behind every tree.”

He enters the woods one evening, even though Puritans believed that the woods harbored the Devil, with "evil purpose." The Devil plays with Young Goodman Brown’s mind by appearing as an old man—who looks a great deal like Brown. Throughout the whole errand, the old man kept urging Goodman Brown to take his snake-like staff to use as a walking stick, “‘...here is my staff, if you will’” (Hawthorne 4). The staff is symbolic for an evil guide because the Devil wants Goodman Brown to obtain and sacrifice himself to sin. After multiple rejections, the wicked one tried throwing the staff to Goodman Brown, hoping his reflexes would automatically catch the staff. As they walk and talk, Brown realizes that his ancestors were in league with the Devil for generations. Brown is surprised because this shows that his family has worked with the evil one before. Then, the Devil tells Brown that many people know and associate with him assuming that in a broad sense, these people sin—that is their association with the Devil. The last temptation thrown at Goodman Brown was that the Devil decided to use Faith against him. As Richard L. Fogle goes on to explain, “A pink ribbon, which he remembers having seen in his wife’s hair, comes fluttering down into his grasp” (451). At this exact moment, Young Goodman Brown realizes that his Faith is gone. Maddened with despair, he laughs loud and long and then, Goodman Brown grasp the staff and set forth again, at such a rate that he seemed to fly along the forest path rather than to walk or run. His swift movements imply that he is flying like a witch on a broom. Young Goodman Brown’s soul is taken and left him sinful and

But his weak mind begins to suspect that all men are evil, even if they are respected members of the community, as were his father and grandfather, according to the story. Doubts about his ancestors spread, until Goody Cloyse, Deacon Gookin, the parson, and finally Faith herself fall victims to his corrupt state of mind. The symbolic representation of such increasing doubts is given in the sequence with the devil. The devil is Brown; Faith the exact counterpart, representing Brown's heavenly side. The devil is Brown's darker side, which believes that evil is the nature of man. In the forest, the dark side of Brown overpowers the good side.

In the story of “Young Goodman Brown” the setting of Salem village is characterized as a place of evil and darkness. Salem is a place known for witchcraft, especially during the Salem witch trials, were women who were accused of being witches were killed. Most of the story takes place in the forest at night. While on his journey into the forest, the narrator comes a across a mystery man. While on his trip the narrator comes to the realization that he does not truly know the people from the village. The overall moral that the author attempts to illustrate in “Young Goodman Brown” through the use of symbols is that nobody truly is what they say they are.

“Young Goodman Brown,” a classic tale of the never-ending battle between good and evil, is a story of many themes, motifs, and symbols. Of the many recurring themes throughout “Young Goodman Brown,” a few common concepts, such as temptation and loss of innocence, prove to be prevalent in 1600’s Puritan England and in the modern world today. Fear, being one of those common concepts, is portrayed through the setting of the wilderness, the devil, and (most importantly) the fear of corruption. The theme of fear is evident in the wilderness Young Goodman Brown encounters by the dark atmosphere surrounding the woods.

“Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a story about a normal man that ventures into the forest to meet an old man who attempts to tempt him into going deeper into the woods to worship the devil. After the old man convinces him that everyone that he loves and respects is going to the devil’s ceremony he gives in. In “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne effectively uses symbolism to portray the theme that putting one 's faith in others leads to weakness and the role his psychological developed plays in his morality.