Examples Of Allegory In Young Goodman Brown

In “Young Goodman Brown”, after his journey into the forest, Brown changes his entire outlook on life. He has lost his faith and has taken on a life of darkness and unrest because he is never sure whether the events of what happened in the forest were reality or imagined. From that point on he is never at peace because he is always expecting evil. And he is then depicted as a man who never has happiness with his beloved “Faith”, that is his wife and his actual faith in God, or in any other thing in his life. Brown becomes a victim to the nature of evil and the effects that it can play on the

The story “Young Goodman Brown,” in its entirety is an allegory, a literary device used to teach a religious lesson. The reader is lead to wonder if the story’s events truly took place or if it was simply a bad dream. The story leaves readers wondering why Goodman Brown feels compelled to journey into the forest. “Young Goodman Brown” begins with Faith’s plea for Brown to not leave her on that night. He chooses to go out into the woods and ends up taking a “walk with the devil.” On his journey, Brown struggles with his decision and at times wants to turn back. His conscious tugs at him, much like the devil tempts individuals to do things that are wrong and evil. Brown seems to be concerned with what others will think if they see him in the woods. When “Goodman Brown recognized

Goodman Brown stated in the story that he came from a line of good Christian men, so he most likely knows the difference from wrong and right. In the eyes of the Puritans, his first shortfall is when he decides to take the journey in the woods. On this journey, he falls more and more into temptation. Every time he said he was going to turn back to go home, the older man always convinced him to keep going deeper into the woods. Humans have the freewill to decide what they want. Goodman Brown could have easily resisted temptation and went back home but the temptation to go deeper into the woods kept him from doing so. As the good Christian man, he is presented to be, Goodman Brown knows should not have be taking a journey into the wood. Even Faith, his wife warned him not to go into the woods because she knew something was not right about it. We as human being imperfect, we sin daily even the righteous make mistakes that cause them to fall short of their religious beliefs.

Many events led up to him losing his faith and being consumed with self-doubt, but the one that finally pushed Goodman Brown over the edge to call onto the devil was when he could not find his wife Faith. The line “‘But where is Faith?’ thought Goodman Brown; and, as hope came into his heart, he trembled.” shows

That is done through the use of “symbolic figures, imagery, and events which are condensed together to paint a specific moral, spiritual or political meaning in the story” (Jaynes, 2006). The story “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory and it is correct to state that the names of each character hold a particular meaning and characteristics of the owner. The main character Goodman Brown gets portrayed as a lover of adventure in a journey to satisfy his curiosity about the dark side of his Puritan town. The central idea in this story is the conflict faced by the main character as he tries to decide whether to join the devil or stay clean and maintain his faith. First of all, the main purpose of this story is to show that anyone can sin. In the beginning, Young Goodman Brown decides to set off on a journey of self-scrutiny despite his wife Faith begging him not to do that. In the beginning, Young Goodman wants to become the evil one. He then passes that stage “and holds onto his faith as the adventure in the woods unravel” (Hawthorne, 277). His name is symbolic and showcases his character in the story. The first name “Young” represents innocence, naivety, lack of experience and lastly a little immaturity. The second name “Goodman” represents his excellent character and strong faith as well as a clean heart. The name Faith portrays a person who wouldn’t sin, but in the setting, the character’s name does not fit her personality. At first, she seems worthy of her name and Goodman thinks she is innocent as portrayed by the pink ribbons. We see that Brown loses his faith in her as she ends up associating with devious activities despite promising him that she

When a writer wants to convey an idea or opinion on certain matters, especially for religion and other philosophical beliefs, he/she will tend to include a significant amount of symbolism in an allegorical story or another piece of written work. Because these writers are trying to put forth these ideas, they need to make a convincing, relatable, and entertaining story for these ideas to come to fruition. Allegory and symbolism work as part of the creative writing algorithm to add depth and make these stories as convincing, relatable, and entertaining as possible. In the given story of “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorn, the author is putting forth his belief that the religious people of America are inherently fallible in their faith. Due to the natural curiosity and selfishness of the human being, one can be pushed over the edge when tempted with the “fruits” of knowledge.

The story of Young Goodman Brown is one that works on two very different levels. On it 's surface, the story is nothing more than about a man who experiences a quite literally hellish event. When looked at deeper, the story is a much deeper meaning of the importance of faith, and how easily a person can be made or broken by it.

Young Goodman Brown, as a staunch Calvinist, is seen at the beginning of this allegory to be quite confident that he is going to heaven. The errand on which he is going is presented mysteriously and is usually interpreted to be a deliberate quest of sin. This may or may not be true; what is important is that he is going out to meet the devil by prearrangement. We are told by the narrator that his purpose in going is evil. At the end of his journey, Young Goodman Brown did not lose his faith (we are even told that his Faith survived him); he learned its full and terrible significance. This story is Hawthorne's criticism of the teachings of Puritanic-Calvinism. His implication is that the doctrine of the elect and damned is not a faith

The first literary device that is most noticeable while reading Young Goodman Brown is the allusions. There is a historical reference to the Salem Witch Trials many times throughout the story. While Goodman Brown is in the forest he then realizes that Goody Cloyse is a witch, which is the first allusion to the Salem Witch Trials. Also Hawthorne uses three characters that were actually real life people accused of witchcraft in his story. Another allusion is to the Bible (Genesis and Exodus 7:11).

Firstly, we see the journey of young, newly wedded Goodman Brown, and his wife Faith. A Puritan believed couple, who’s in the mindset of being set for life all because of Faith being an Elite, thus leading to Goodman Brown going into the woods and fighting evil to be recognized as one of the Elites as well (1). He is convinced to leave Faith alone for the night as his attempt was to be with her even after death do them apart, yet she

In “Young Goodman Brown”, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the character Faith as a symbolic view of spirituality, and through this shows that straying from faith can lead to destruction, and even faith can be corrupted. Near the beginning of the story, Goodman Brown is leaving his wife Faith to go into the forest to meet with the devil and says to her, “‘My love and my Faith,’ replied young Goodman Brown. ‘of all nights in the year, this one night I must tarry away from thee...’” (Hawthorne 1). Although Brown is talking to his wife, Faith, and speaking of leaving her, it can also be seen that he is going to stray away from his faith religiously that night.

Goodman brown and his wife Faith, are both important in the story. Goodman browns nature are symbolized by his name (Young Goodman Brown), Goodman he implies an innocent view into the methods the world through his supposed young and innocent eyes. This supposing mean he is a pure and good man but Goodman brown, however, is the complete opposite, it doesn't represent good or purity, instead it represents something filthy or grimy, spoil or bad. Faith symbolizes hope, trust, and salvation. But she is described as “A lone woman who is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she’s afraid of herself sometimes.

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "Young Goodman Brown" is an excellent example of an allegory. Allegories use events, characters or symbolism as a bizarre or abstract representation of ideas in the story, and throughout "Young Goodman Brown", Hawthorne uses a heavy amount of symbolism, as well as his characters and the events of the story line to develop a religious allegory. A large symbolic role is played by protagonist Goodman Brown's wife, Faith. Also, the main event in the short story, Brown's journey into the forest, holds several major symbolic roles such as the traveler's staff, and the thick mass of black clouds. This essay will be exploring how Hawthorne used symbolism to achieve an allegory within his short story.

     Nathaniel Hawthorne utilizes symbolism throughout his short story Young Goodman Brown to impact and clarify the theme of good people sometimes doing bad things. Hawthorne uses a variety of light and dark imagery, names, and people to illustrate irony and different translations. Young Goodman Brown is a story about a man who comes to terms with the reality that people are imperfect and flawed and then dies a bitter death from the enlightenment of his journey through the woods. Images of darkness, symbolic representations of names and people and the journey through the woods all attribute to Hawthorne's theme of good people sometimes doing bad things.

Goodman Brown represents anyone; he is basically any and every man. When the symbolism started at the beginning of the story Brown was first described as young and newly married. His wife Faith, whose name and character bears much significance, represented many different ideas. Goodman Brown can symbolically be viewed as a believer and a follower of God. Brown and “Faith’s” relationship is still being established, he does not completely cling to faith.