Faith In Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown

In the story of "Young Goodman Brown" setting plays an important role. It provides symbolism to certain events and provokes emotions amongst the characters, especially those of Goodman Brown. The story of "Young Goodman Brown" is that of a man on an adventure to feed his curiosity and to visit the dark side of his Puritan town. Once he arrives at the destination of his adventure, he realizes that many of his elders have followed in the paths of evil and that holiness and innocence has been vanquished from his once thought to be holy Puritan town. The central idea of "Young Goodman Brown," is the conflict in Goodman Brown between joining the devil and remaining

He takes one final stand and says he will not go any further. “What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven: is that any reason why I should quit my dear Faith and go after her?” (Hawthorne 7) The devil told him to rest and to take his staff to help him along. He threw Goodman Brown his staff and disappeared. Goodman Brown feels good about him resisting going any further on the errand, but it has clearly taken a toll on him to see this wickedness in the lady who taught him his beliefs. While he is sitting there he hears the voice of the minister saying that he would not miss this meeting tonight and “Moreover, there is a goodly young woman to be taken into communion.” (Hawthorne 8) This really made Goodman Brown question his faith in God. “He looked up to the sky, doubting whether there really was a heaven above him.” (8) He tries to convince himself to stay strong. “With heaven above and Faith below, I will yet stand firm against the devil!” (8) As he looked up to the sky a cloud covered the stars through the opening of the trees. This represents his faith being shrouded and overwhelmed by the darkness in the

Hawthorne's ambiguous ending in "Young Goodman Brown" leaves the reader asking one question. "Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a wild dream of a witch hunting?" Most readers of this allegory try to answer this question, believing that Goodman Brown did in fact take the "dreary road, darkened by all the gloomiest trees of the forest." Hawthorne himself has avoided answering the question, and has instead left it up for the reader to decide Goodman Brown's fate. The reader can never be certain about what actually happened in the forest; the reader can, however, be certain, not only of the nature and stages of Goodman Brown's despair, but also of its probable cause. This can be seen through Faith, Brown's

   The themes in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” are not as obvious as might be expected. This essay intends to present an interpretation of the tale along the lines of theme.

When Brown tells Satan that he wants to return back to his faith because of his guilty conscience, Satan tells him "You will think better of this by-and-by…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" (Hawthorne 263). Then, Brown begins to think that he can leave Faith just for a little while and “after this one night, I'll cling to her skirts and follow her to Heaven” (Hawthorne 262). “With this excellent resolve for the future, Goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose" (Hawthorne 262). In the essay “Young Goodman Brown’: Hawthorne’s Condemnation of Conformity”, Terence J. Matheson describes Brown’s condition perfectly by writing that “Brown thinks he can consciously perform secret acts of evil and return, unscathed, to the fold of true virtue; that… while simultaneously doing evil things, he can still be virtuous and get to Heaven” (293). Thus, Brown struggles with his faith in the Lord because he believes Satan’s lie that he can leave faith and return to it at any time he pleases. Ultimately, Brown loses his faith in God because he decides to believe Satan’s lie that sin is part of his nature, that he will find happiness on the path of sin, and that he can leave his faith and return to it at any

Faith plays a major role in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown”. From the start of his journey to his arrival back home, Faith is always in the back of head, making him question his surroundings and own thoughts. It’s hard to determine when he’s speaking of his lovely wife Faith or his Faith in his God and religion. Through his many

After a night of making deals with the Devil, having all of his fellow countrymen show their Satanic sympathies and himself becoming affiliated with the Fallen Angel, Brown understandably looks to account these incredible events to a dream state. However, Brown acts coldly towards Faith after that particular night, and completely changes his demeaner as he begins to question whether the dream was, in fact, a dream, or reality. What may have been but a dream turns out to haunt Brown for the rest of his life, as he can no longer accept the people in his life for what they appear to be, and can not forget that he saw them all at the witch-meeting. In contrast, is the debatable question of whether or not the dream was only a "wild dream" (Hawthorne, 318). If Young Goodman Brown indeed did dream of the witch-meeting, then he has wasted his life with his unrestrained, unrelenting paranoia. Because of the ambiguity of the situation, where neither the reader, narrator nor protagonist can be sure of the validity of the dream's depictions of the residents of Salem, Hawthorne makes it difficult of analyze Brown's character. It it therefore impossible to come to any absolute conclusions regarding the nature of Young Goodman Brown as one cannot accurately assess what has happened to him, and the consequences of those events.

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

The elements of symbolism, imagery and point of view in the extract reveal the internal tension and turmoil building up in Brown. This encounter serves as a rising action in the plot. Brown started the journey confident of his faith but the encounters along the way caused him to vacillate and he realises, with “heavy sickness of his heart” (Hawthorne 26) that evil is resident in everyman.

“Young Goodman Brown”, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, consist of beliefs that all humanity exists in a state of wickedness, except for the people who are born in a state of grace. The view of the story shows how swiftly Young Goodman Brown goes swiftly down the wrong path, when his faith is lost or is blinded by something, even without his knowledge. Faith is the key to his happiness and without it, he is unable to live his life to the fullest. Faith in a symbolic idea refers to the most pure hearted. Goodman Brown is a holy and a faithful man, until one day everything changes in his life.

In the short story, Young Goodman Brown, Hawthorne portrays a story of a young man losing his faith after a venture in the dark woods. Hawthorne expounds on the diverging realities while also depicting the importance of past memories and the turmoil one can gain from excessive curiosity. Hawthorne also utilised the devices of morbid imagery, cynical tone, and significant symbols to better develop the story.

First, Hawthorne uses Faith to represent young Goodman Brown’s faith in God. When Young Goodman Brown prepares to leave on his journey, Faith tries to warn him not to go on his set course and to stay with her (Hawthorne 261-262). By leaving her, the author symbolizes that Brown is consciously deciding to walk away from God, which ultimately leads him down the wrong path.

This story is about a newly wedded man named Young Goodman Brown facing the temptations of good in evil in a small town of which he calls home. Little does he know that his small town isn't as small as he thought it was. Young Goodman Brown depends on faith and innocence to help him stay strong. Nathaniel Hawthorne implements the importance of symbolism in the story “Young Goodman Brown” to explain the story with deeper meaning.

The theme of this fiction story is to not trust anyone. The narrator, tone, and style adds a lot to the presentation of that theme. This story was very captivating and interesting to read. This was because the use of suspense the author used and when it came about and the mystery involved. This is done through the style of the story. From the very beginning of the story Goodman Brown says goodbye to his wife because he is going on a journey through the night. This is the first thing that brings up questions about what is going on.

Although lying, essentially, to get Carol to leave, Carol believes what John said was true, and she enjoys the attention from someone lacking innocence she once possessed. Finally, near the end of the short story, Young Goodman Brown, Brown and Faith are promised by the devil that from this point on, they will see the world differently; they will see the world for the sin-filled world that it is, “By the sympathy of your human hearts for sin ye shall scent out all the places—whether in church, bedchamber, street, field, or forest—where crime has been committed, and shall exult to behold the whole earth one stain of guilt, one mighty blood spot.” (Hawthorne) Brown's positive outlook on life completely changes following this, he is shown that his outlook on life was naïve, thoughtless, and immature. Once Brown returns to his once seemingly pure village, he only sees the evil in others, and does not stop. Also, Brown actually gives up on resisting the devil's temptations, "On he flew among the black pines, brandishing his staff with frenzied gestures, now giving vent to an inspiration of horrid blasphemy, and now shouting forth such laughter as set all the echoes of the forest laughing like demons around him. The fiend in his own shape is less hideous than when he rages in the breast of man." (Hawthorne) This suggests that the horror that Brown