Castle 1
The Dual (Good and Evil) Sides of Human Nature
ENGL 102: Composition and Literature
Spring B 2017
Teresa Castle, L26467226
APA
Castle 2
Outline
THESIS: In their individual short stories "Young Goodman Brown,” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and "The Rocking-Horse Winner" by D. H. Lawrence are more different than similar but “Young
Goodman Brown” and “The Rocking Horse Winner” use the setting, characterization, and symbolism to depict the reasoning of acting morally or immorally.
I. The settings of “Young Goodman Brown” and “The Rocking-Horse Winner” portray two different scenes for the presence of evil.
A. The setting of “Young Goodman Brown” is of forests and darkness which is a part of portraying evil.
B. The setting of “The
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H. Lawrence they are more different than similar but “Young
Goodman Brown” and “The Rocking Horse Winner” use the setting, characterization, and symbolism to depict the reasoning of acting morally or immorally.
In “Young Goodman Brown,” the setting is based on the historic background and takes place during the Puritan Time Period. The story takes place in the Salem Village near the forest which makes the reader associate this story with witchcraft and evil. Many people believed that the forest was the devil’s home. The story starts out with Goodman and Faith in their home with
Goodman saying his goodbyes to Faith and tells her to go on to bed and to say her prayers. “Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee” (Hawthorne 91).
Goodman sets off walking into the forest and it quickly turns dark and the deeper he goes into the woods the darker it becomes. Hawthorne depicts that evil is not present until the dark of the night. In “The Rocking-Horse Winner,” the setting is nothing as dark as in “Young Goodman
Brown.” The setting is a nice house suitable for a young boy such as Paul to live. One can assume that the story may take place somewhere in England. The darkness appears when Paul tells of the house talking to him saying “There must be more money! There must be more money!” (Lawrence 234). The house becomes eerie after it soaks up the mother’s self-pity and greed. Lawrence depicts in this story that evil can be
he will be the downfall of evil and that he is strong enough to overcome it all.
Young Goodman Brown takes a look at the life of man after venturing into the woods in order to complete some unknown errand in the middle of the night. He encounters an
Due to his naivety, Goodman Brown continues on his journey with the stranger, to spite what Faith and his instincts tell him, which ultimately turns him into a corrupted man. When the reader first meets Goodman Brown he is departing from his young wife, Faith. Faith urges young Goodman Brown to stay with her and not go on his journey but he refuses, assuring her that his journey is one of no real danger: "'A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts, that she's afeared of herself, sometimes.' […] 'My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done 'twixt now and sunrise'" (620). Faith tells Goodman Brown about nightmares she has been having and how she wishes that he will stay beside her. Goodman Brown ignores her warnings and continues on his journey as if it is just a trip to the grocery store. After meeting the stranger, Goodman Brown inquires about turning back but the stranger has other ideas in mind: "' Let us walk on, nevertheless, reasoning as we go, and if I convince thee not thou shalt turn back, We are but a little way in the forest yet.' 'Too far, too far!’ exclaimed the Goodman, unconsciously resuming his walk" (621). The stranger wants Goodman Brown to continue on his path, and even though young Goodman Brown desires to turn back towards Faith, he is easily swayed to keep walking with the stranger. Hawthorn says he "unconsciously" resumes his walk,
The dialogue, action and motivation revolve about the characters in the story (Abrams 32-33). It is the purpose of this essay to demonstrate the types of characters present in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown,” whether static or dynamic, whether flat or round, and whether protrayed through showing or telling.
The woods are also an important symbol in the tale of Young Goodman Brown. The story is written in times past, when the woods were thought of as evil places where witchcraft often took place. This is reinforced when Goodman Brown sees the townspeople amongst him in the woods, and is appalled to see them, his wife and the preacher included. Also, it is mentioned that
Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown illustrates vividly how society and culture can very much influence a person's sense of identity and belonging, or in the case of Young Goodman Brown the lack thereof. Being a Puritan man in a society that scorned the ways of witches and the devil, Young Goodman Brown grew up with a very pious outlook on life. Yet when it occurs to him to look at life a little bit differently, Young Goodman Brown receives more than he has bargained for. The journey he embarks on sheds a whole new light on his society that not only creates a struggle between himself and his fellow men but also one within himself.
Goodman Brown, a young man who was only married for three months, left his home and his wife, Faith, to go into the forest and spend the night on some mission that he will not explain. Even though Faith has strong feelings about his journey and begs him not to leave, Brown has made his decision and leaves everything behind.
In the short story “Young Goodman Brown,” the author Nathaniel Hawthorne shows the fragility of humans when it comes to their morality. Goodman Brown goes on a journey through the forest with the devil to watch the witches’ ritual and observes the evil in the Puritan society. He loses his faith as he sees the people he respects the most participating in the sinful ritual. Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes setting, and symbolism in his short story “Young Goodman Brown,” to show how a person’s perspective can change by showing the hypocritical nature of the Puritan society
This loneliness comes only after he is far away from his Faith and God and traveling deeper into the darkness of the forest, only “assisted by the [evil], uncertain [false] light” (2187). Young Goodman Brown overcomes his loneliness when he meets an older traveler who tells him that even Brown’s own family has come to the woods and shows him other supposed Christians who are in the woods on this night, too. Deception, something that evil uses to try to lure all people into its darkness, begins to slowly take hold of Goodman Brown when he sees other people he admires and looks up to in the woods, such as Goody Cloyse, towns-people (both good and evil), and even Deacon Gookin and the minister. Goodman Brown wants to fight against the evil images that he is enclosing him in the woods and he even calls out to his Faith, which represents not only his wife but his own faith in goodness and God, but his cries are “drowned immediately in a louder murmur of voices, fading into far-off laughter, as the dark cloud swept away” (2191). Finally, evil wins over Goodman Brown when he cries that his “Faith is gone,” meaning his relationship with his pure, good wife and his relationship with his pure, good God, when he sees Faith’s pink
The story is set in the forest of Salem, Massachusetts, around the time of the witch trials. Goodman Brown is a Puritan, and Salem is a Puritan village
Hawthorns pessimistic view on the world and people is expressed in “Young Goodman Brown” by the symbol of faiths pink ribbon. Goodman Brown ventures into the forest by himself and
Throughout these two stories, the forest serves to represent evil and the unknown; however, it also represents truth, as it is the place where secrets come out and people express their true selves. In the very beginning of Young Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown’s wife Faith, advises him to wait until sunrise of the next morning to start his journey into the forest instead of leaving at night time, suggesting that Brown is traveling towards, and into the ominous darkness. This darkness represents everything evil, or the devil’s abode, so by having Faith urge her husband not to travel during the dark nighttime, it can be inferred that she is attempting to help him avoid the devil. However, Brown does not listen to the advice of Faith, and ventures deep into the path of sin, eventually coming to a terrifying realization
Later that day, he went in the gloomy forest to be in the ceremony in which he wanted no parts of. As he travels deeper into the forest, he meets with a man who so happens to be the devil. The old man shows Goodman the truth about his family, some of the villages, and his wife. Goodman Brown now sees how they are not true Christian as they swear to be, instead they preach the evil. Young Goodman Brown goes back to the village with fear. Although, he does not know if it was a dream, he no longer looks at anyone the
Then comes the second impending question of whether or not the story even happened; whether or not the tale was a dream, or an actual occurrence in the life of Goodman Brown. Entering the text, there is no conclusive evidence of a dream state. It states, "Young Goodman Brown came forth at sunset, into the street at Salem village. (375)" Simply speaking, Goodman Brown sets forth upon a journey complete with a clearly stated beginning and an end. However, the middle is left for one to question. Once in the forest, the story begins to offer characteristics that would not relate to a truthful tale in the conscious state by Goodman Brown. This mostly due to Goodman Brown encountering
In addition, the literature uses imagery in that the name Young Goodman Brown is used to indicate the innocence and naivety. On the other hand, the name Goodman is used to illustrate the company of a simple