Cruelty In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

A character arc is essential in any story, showing what the character has gone through and learned. Usually, this process involves the growth and gained knowledge of the character throughout the story, in a good way. However, in the case of ‘Young Goodman Brown”, the character arc is almost backwards in a sense. He does gain knowledge about the society in a bad way and this affects his perception of the town throughout the story. It is evident that in the text, Goodman Brown is mentally toyed with by the devil and the townspeople so much to the point of breaking down near the completion of the story and is not able to tell what is real anymore. This is evident by his relationship with the devil throughout the story, his motivations for following him into the dangers of the forest, and his changed perspective of the townspeople and clergymen concluding the text. The battle between Brown’s id and his ego and superego, relating to Freudian psychology, greatly affects the outcome of the text.

This contrast is easily revealed in the following sentence: "the wind tolled like a distant church-bell, and sometimes gave a broad roar around the traveler, as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn" (Hawthorne 1204). Whereas the wind affectionately "plays" with Faith's pink ribbons, it noisily taunts Young Goodman Brown. Also, as Nina Baym suggests, both the wind and the pink ribbons may, in fact, provide "concrete symbols that link the saving power of the woman with her body and through her body to Nature" (138). Hawthorne visually enhances the ambiguity surrounding Faith's dual role in nature through his repetitive and symbolic use of the pink ribbons. There is deceit and uncertainty in the very color pink that exists somewhere between the extremes of white, representing grace and purity, and red, symbolizing fiery passion and sin. However, Young Goodman Brown, in his naïve belief of moral absolutes, is unable to decide upon the essentially complex double meaning that may be behind the very being of Faith's character. As a result, he sees Faith gracefully adorned with her pink ribbons, as the essence of angelic purity.

Hawthorn’s use of dramatic irony in Young Goodman Brown succoring suspense build up, divulging the sanctimonious comportment of Puritans.(1) For instance, when Young Goodman Brown did not recognize the old man traveler, the devil in disguise when clear demonstrations stood in front of him.(2) As the pious old women passed the traveller he touches her with his staff and she she she cried out, “The devil"(pg.5).(3) Knowing the denouement of the story, Young Goodman Brown unknowingly encounters the devil and goes farther into the "unholy" forest.(4) In addition, Young Goodman Brown ponders over the fearful possibility the devil watches him.(5) Goodman Brown half-heartedly questions, "What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow"(pg.2).(6)

A central theme in Hawthorne's novel is that everyone is corruptible, and many of the things like the pink ribbon that once represented goodness to Young Goodman Brown were illusory. The next clue in the decryption of these ribbons comes when the devil is trying to convince Mr. Brown to come to the ceremony and he sees something fall from the sky. “The young man seized it, and beheld a pink ribbon. ‘My Faith is gone!’ cried he, after one stupefied moment,” (320). This perfectly signifies how Goodman Brown interprets the loss of the ribbons as the same as the loss of his virtue. Goodman Brown loses his idealistic Faith when he becomes certain she has been tempted by the devil. The falling of the ribbon from the sky is a symbol of the falling of Lucifer from heaven or Adam and Eve’s fall from Eden. The once representation of purity, Faith, falls from grace in Goodman Brown’s eyes similarly to how Lucifer the angel did when he challenged God. The final quote needed to cement the pink ribbons as symbolism in the chronology of the story is found on the last page. “Turning the corner by the meeting-house, he spied the head of Faith, with the pink ribbons, gazing anxiously forth, and bursting into such joy at sight of him”(323). This final mention of this pink ribbon gives some insight into the resolution of this ambiguous

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, Young Goodman Brown loses his innocence as he enters the gloomy forest. In the beginning of the story, he is a confident, faithful man who has a strong relationship with his wife, Faith. His wife is his precious gem who is figuratively his source of faith. According to the passage, “Amen! cried Goodman Brown. Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee” (Hawthorne 255).

As Young Goodman Brown continues down the dark path, he is continually searching for his lost Faith. His Faith would not allow him to enter such a dark forest where the Devil reigns as king. He screams for Faith in agony and desperation, but the echoes of the forest mock him, and something flutters "lightly down through the air and caught on the branch of a tree" (p. 107). It is a pink ribbon; the last remnant of Young Goodman Brown's lost Faith.

“Young Goodman Brown”, like most Nathaniel Hawthorne stories, is littered with themes from beginning to end. These themes aim to show the troubles of our society and in human nature. The particular tale of “Young Goodman Brown” had multiple themes such as the inevitable loss of innocence, symbolism, and weakness in public morality. The inevitable loss of innocence is constant throughout the story.

Faith is an allegorical figure in the story because her pink ribbon represents the innocence of Goodman’s faith in the beginning of the story. 5.

One is able to view the powerful faith through the existing description of Faith his wife: "And Faith, as the wife was aptly named, thrust her own pretty head into the street, letting the wind play with the pink ribbons of her cap.” With the quote an individual is able to view that the author is trying to suggest that Faith is unadulterated and sinless just like Goodman Brown’s personal faith. The color pink itself has a similar meaning with the word innocence. In addition, the cheered up responses Goodman Brown gives to Faith shows that his faith cannot be enfeebled: “Say thy prayers, dear Faith, and go to bed at dusk, and no harm will come to thee.” He sets off on his excursion with a strong desire and an "excellent resolve for the future.”

Human nature consists of the unavoidable tendencies of all humans in spite of the society surrounding them. As a reaction to the Enlightenment, Romanticist texts focus on evoking emotion, spirituality, and intuition that all humans possess. These texts express the ideas that there is more to life than reason and rationality because people do not always make reasonable decisions but rely on their emotions. In majority of the Romanticist texts, the concept of human nature is challenged through the minds of the audience, as they attempt to understand human nature in its true form. In Young Goodman Brown, Nathanial Hawthorne explains his ideas of human nature by leaving the audience to decide what really happened at the meeting in the woods, which shows human nature’s ambiguousness along with the natural conformity of all humans.

My journey, as thou callest it, forth and back again, must needs be done ‘twixt now and sunrise. What, my sweet, pretty wife, dost thou dout me already, and we but three months married?” “Then God bless you!” said Faith, with the pink ribbons, “and may you find all well when you come back.” (1) Brown, who was determined to meet the devil, lied to his wife about the purpose of his departure.

“The Path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men,” (Tarantino). In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown”, Brown is the righteous man following a path beset on all sides by evil. Hawthorne utilizes the fictional elements of symbolism, characterization, and setting to discuss the story’s theme of temptation of the wrong choices over the right. This story is based in Hawthorne’s home town Salem. The story is about a man’s journey through a forest where he is intercepted by the devil on his way to a black mass. Goodman Brown is torn between continuing on this path of evil alongside the devil or returning to his wife faith. Throughout his journey Brown is faced with

One evening Young Goodman Brown says goodbye to his love, Faith, as he embarks on a mystic journey. Hawthorne uses “Faith”, meaning a strong belief in something or someone, as his young wife’s name. Hawthorne also makes use of the Pink Ribbons in Faith’s hair as a symbol for their meaning of purity and innocence. Goodman Brown seems to know the adventure he will be taking is unenlightened. Goodman Brown may have to make a decision between staying holy or giving in to corrupt humanly tendencies, urges and multiple sins. Because of his love for Faith and fear of the unknown, he voices to her “say thy prayers dear Faith and go

Though Martha is a strong example of an anti-feminist character, Faith Brown is possibly an even stronger example. Faith has no life; she just waits for her husband to come home. A wife being dependent on her husband is a very common theme in literature, as it was the norm in prior times. However, Faith’s character took that even farther. Her entire life was changed because of her husband’s actions. She was dragged into the Satan ritual solely because her husband was being forced to go there. This is a direct parallel to Young Goodman Brown’s father and mother. His father is enthusiastic about being at the black mass, while his mother is not. As the novel describes, “He could have well nigh sworn, that the shape of his own dead father beckoned him to advance, looking downward from a smoke-wreath, while a woman, with dim features of despair, threw out her hand to warn him back. Was it his mother?”(Hawthorne 8). The patriarchal situations in Hawthorne’s writing shows that this is how he feels the world should work; the men should make the decisions. Additionally, Faith is known for wearing pink ribbons in her hair, the

Faiths pink ribbons are a symbol of her virtue, innocence, and purity. The image of the pink ribbons falling from the sky marks the start of the radical transformation of Brown’s feelings towards his wife Faith and his former self towards his society. When Brown returns from his night (dream) in the forest his reaction towards Faith is as if she was a repulsive stranger and is no longer the loving wife he held with high respect and in a pedestal. The story ends with Faith and Brown’s children following Brown’s funeral procession.