Faith Is The Most Significant Symbol Of Brown 's Personal Faith

Hawthorn’s naming of Brown’s wife “Faith” has a duel mean. Brown’s “Faith” represents his spiritual faith along with his loving wife who he characterizes as being “a blessed angel on earth,” (526). When Brown exclaims “My Faith is gone!” (531) not only is Brown referring to the fact that he believes he may have lost his dear wife, but he loses his spiritual faith and the faith in others as more is unfolded on his journey to the communion. When he encounters his wife the next day, unsure as to whether or not the previous nights events occurred he “looked sternly and sadly into her face, and passed on without a greeting,” (534). This experience Brown had transforms him from being a man strong to “a stern, a sad, a darkly meditative, a distrustful, if not a desperate man,” (535).

The man that Goodman Brown encountered on his journey symbolized the devil in the text which strongly influenced him to just about give up his faith in God. The Devil disguised as a “fellow traveler” (266) tried to influence Goodman Brown by

When Brown finally reaches the meeting of the townspeople, his hope rises again because his wife Faith, whom he expects to see is not there. However, she soon unfortunately joins him and the others whom are about to undergo initiation. They are the “only pair, as it seemed who were yet hesitating on the verge of wickedness in the dark world” (Hawthorne). They stare at each other in frightened anticipation, and for the last time Brown calls out for help: “Faith! Faith!...Look up to heaven, and resist the wicked one” (Hawthorne). But “whether Faith obeyed he knew

As Brown starts on his adventure he recalls that his wife, Faith, had dreams of this particular adventure, dreams that warned him not to go; this feeling of uncertainty sparks a feeling of anxiety in Brown as he continues walking through the forest and on with his journey. As he walks on, the scenery around him begins to change, "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." (310). This quote describes the dark and gloomy surroundings that Brown is walking through on his journey, it also creates the mood of fear and hesitance as he continues on his way. Then as Brown is walking along he comes to encounter a man dressed in grave and decent attire. The man states "You are late, Goodman Brown," and Brown replies by saying, "Faith kept me back awhile." (310) In literal terms he is speaking of his wife, but metaphorically he could be speaking of his faith in god and how it almost kept him from embarking on his journey. Hawthorne creates many metaphors in his story of "Young Goodman Brown." Later on in Brown's journey he meets a man with a cane that resembles a snake, the serpent is a symbol of evil, and then when Brown protests against the devil, "With heaven above, and Faith below, I will yet stand firm

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s story “Young Goodman Brown” the allegory Goodman Brown, a man devoted to his faith in our Father the Lord, after making a hard decision that would follow him for the rest of his life ends up trying to make peace with the fact that he cannot take away the decision but can try to not make the matter worse. When Goodman Brown discovers the “depths of darkness” he is in he begins to have a loss of faith. The line for the story “’My Faith gone!’ cried he, after one stupefied moment. ‘There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil! for to thee as this world given.’” represents the fact that it appears that Goodman Brown lost his faith. That line also shows how he wished for the devil’s worship to come and retrieve him.

The main symbol used by Hawthorne throughout the story is Goodman Brown’s wife, Faith. Faith has a more of a significance in the story than just Brown’s wife, she represents actual faith and purity. There is a conflict going on inside of Brown’s mind and it is if he should “keep the faith” or not. In the beginning, Faith urges Brown to stay home and go in the morning, but he disregards her and keeps going. This is a metaphor for Brown leaving his religious faith. Goodman Brown questions if his wife has lost faith in him and he asks her, ‘“dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married?”’ Throughout the story, Faith stays as a symbol of Brown’s faith. The devil and Goodman Brown finally meet and the devil questions Brown about being late. Brown being a little afraid responds with, “Faith kept me back awhile,” Faith physically tried to hold Brown back and figuratively talking about his faith in the religion. His wife could have prevented Brown from talking to the devil, but failed. Meeting with the devil evidently shows that Brown is willing to see the evil side of his religion.

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “Young Goodman Brown,” tells the tale of a man whose Puritan beliefs were shaken to the core because reality turned out to be much different than he was taught in catechism. Goodman Brown showed readers how much he believed in his family’s goodness when he claimed “We have been a race of honest men and good Christians… We are a people of prayer, and good works, to boot, and abide no such wickedness” (Hawthorne 247). Because of this, Brown is surprised when he comes to know that people he thought were holy were in fact advocates for the devil and sinners- especially his wife Faith. People that he held in the highest regard were nothing but the lowest of the low to him now. He becomes surly, loses all faith in humanity, and develops a bitter worldview after this revelation.

“Young Goodman Brown” is set right after the Salem Witch Trials and much of the story is based on the ideology of that era. Faith is clearly meant to represent Goodman Brown’s tether to Puritanism. Hawthorne gives us a flashing sign for this in only the second sentence “And Faith, as the wife was aptly named...” (315). This quote is fairly self-explanatory, but it is a bold message to pay attention to the character Faith and how she related to faith. Another description of the role of Faith, in Mr. Brown’s life, is in the form of the subtle wording he uses when talking to the devil. “ ‘Faith kept me back a while,’replied the young man,” (316) This quote may seem to be referring to Faith the character keeping him back a while, but with deeper inspection one can conclude that it references faith, as in his religion, kept him away from the sinful journey on which he is currently embarking. Another little key in the story is how Mr. Brown addresses his wife. “My love and my Faith,” (315). The faith in question is not the wife’s name, but instead he is calling his wife his faith or the holy that he believes in. The last quote that is needed to secure this symbolism is found as the devil is trying to seduce Goodman Brown to follow him further using the woman that taught him religion as incentive. “What if a wretched old woman does choose to go to the devil

Brown's curiosity and assuredness, in the end, cost him his faith. The main theme is pertaining to man and his faith. Whether it is a belief in fellow people or having hope and trust, it is left to the reader to

Faith is all Goodman Brown has known. He had even married a Faith. The double meaning of Faith within this story shows major Irony for us as the readers. Brown marrying a Faith was almost shown as he made the biggest devotion towards God. The main character has put every ounce of Faith he has into his life that would completely give himself to God forever. This is

Brown believes that his wife should be excluded from the meeting so she will remain pure, yet somehow believes that his presence is mandatory and gives no thought to his own purity. He believes that Faith's immediate acceptance into heaven will pull him along with her, regardless of his sinful actions. Brown's nervousness about his journey shows that he is conscious of the risks, yet he refuses the possibility of remaining home because he believes in his own ability to resist corruption, even if he does not believe in Faith's. Brown's willingness to make an exception for his own actions while refusing the same exception for Faith is one of Hawthorne's first scornful examples of hypocrisy. Similarly, Hawthorne highlights the hypocritical juxtaposition of Brown's actions during and after the ritual. When Brown discovers Faith's pink hair ribbon and realizes the Devil has taken her, he is terrified and continuously searches for her as the Devil speaks. However, upon finding her and waking up from his dream, he treats her differently because of her attendance: "Often, awaking suddenly at midnight, he shrank from the bosom of Faith; and at morning or eventide, when the family knelt down

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown," Hawthorne introduces Goodman Brown, who doubts himself and reiterates his false confidence to himself repeatedly. His struggle between the evil temptations, the devil, and the proper church abiding life, is a struggle he does not think he can handle. This story is about a man who challenges his faith in himself and in the community in which he resides. Goodman Brown must venture on a journey into the local forest, refuse the temptations of the devil, and return to the village before the sunrise.

First, I will elaborate on the lies Faith and Brown had for each other, which builds up deception and their lack of faith in their relationship. When Brown is leaving Faith to meet with the Devil, Faith pleads but finally relents and states, “Then God bless you...and may you find all well when you come back” (Hawthorne, 387). Her gesture is sincere because she wishes him good luck and hopes that no harm comes his way. She even trusts Brown enough to go on a journey he did not further detail. However, Faith is contradicting with both words and appearance. Her strange word choice of

Connolly discusses why he believes that Brown did not lose his faith, he just has a different perspective of it. At the begging of the story Brown believes that he is going to heaven with the help of Faith. In the middle of the story Brown starts to doubt that there a heaven until he looks up to the sky and sees bright stars which symbolize that there is still hope of heaven. By the end he might have not lost his religious faith but he did lose his faith in the good of people. Symbols in the story help the reader get a better understanding of how Brown perspective of faith changes.

At one point in the story, it almost seemed that Brown lost everything he ever cared for. It was just slipping away through his fingers. Brown even lost faith in his own religion and whether “there is no good on earth, and sin is but a name” (Hawthorne 590). One the other hand, one verse that came to my mind from the Bible that really applied is “Faith without works is dead “(James 2:17 KJV). As a reader I do believe that Brown had to have some type of faith in his heart left knowing that he would be connected back to his wife Faith once again. We did learn throughout the short story that, yes, Young Goodman Brown was in a trail of his faith; where his faith would be tested over time. While he was there, people try to convert him into doing