Goodman Brown Allegory

Shirley Jackson and Nathaniel Hawthorne were two American authors who were born over a century apart and shared the same love of literary works but in a sick and twisted kind of way. They were authors who simply wrote with passion about beliefs, sin, and the natural temptations of evil in all humans. The story of “Young Goodman Brown”, takes places at the end of the 17th century, around the time of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, in New England in colonial Massachusetts, Hawthorne’s keen interest which is sin-and-brimstone a Puritans past.

Hawthorne in essence, portrayed Goodman as proof of the nature of evil in man by showing how easily even a young dedicated Puritan can easily be influenced by a complete stranger. This stranger was symbolically the Devil among men in this text. Hawthorne begins introducing the Devil immediately as trying to sway Goodman to follow him on a long journey. By leaving his wife, Faith to begin the journey, Goodman Brown was symbolically leaving his faith in God and entering a forsaken ground by following the Devil. The fact that Goodman Brown left with no regard for his wife Faith’s warning, symbolized the lack of regard for his own faith in God and his fellow human race. This simple disregard that Goodman Brown showed was evidence of the easily persuaded ability of man to choose sin over good.

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

In “Young Goodman Brown,” Hawthorne’s uses imagery to gets the reader attention. In the parable of “Young Goodman Brown,” the reader is set into a twist of good versus evil. Hawthorne depict evil in terms that describe the forest and the old man with the staff. The reader believe Goodman Brown is walking into evil when the woods was mention. Puritans believe woods to be the territory of the devil. In “young Goodman Brown” the forest is a symbol of the devil's home. “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. It was all as lonely as could be; and there is this peculiarity in such a solitude, that the traveler knows not who may be

In the story “young Goodman brown” the woods seem to symbolize the woods having life and being able to interact with brown. “Ha! Ha! Ha! Roared Goodman brown when the wind laughed at him let us hear which will laugh the loudest. Think not to frighten me with your devilry” (Hawthorne 142).This explains that the woods frighten brown supposedly by screaming at him and scared him. This symbolizes the wind which is part or if not also considered the woods to be a person screaming and frightening

Goodman Brown’s journey into the woods introduces us into his own religious hypocrisy. His character is described as young and possibly naïve to the true nature of the world, and Goodman Brown considers himself descended from”… a race of honest men and good Christians” (343). However, for unknown reasons, perhaps just out of curiosity, he decides to venture into the woods on a quest of “evil purpose.” Faith, Goodman Brown’s wife, is an important source of symbolism throughout his journey. She is not only his wife, but she is also symbolic of his spiritual faith. Before setting off into the woods Faith begs him not to go and foreshadows that nothing good will come of his trip. Hawthorne uses this scene to emphasize that questioning and straying from his “Faith” for even a night shows that his spiritual faith is much less established than he displays to his wife or the public. It also symbolizes that Goodman Brown had doubted and compromised his faith before he even began his voyage into the woods.

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

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

Since allegory and symbolism are simply part of the creative writing process, to make the ideas of the story convincing, the author will use many instances of symbolism to make the overarching idea of the story hit home. The uses of symbolism must also be relevant and accommodate to the meaning of the story. Because Hawthorn is trying to convey the “Fall of Man” point of view to the story and feeling he has towards American religion as a whole. In “Young Goodman Brown”, he inserts several uses of symbolism that complement the overarching theme. Such an insertion would be the woods in the story.

“Young Goodman Brown,” written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1835, is a short story about a man named young Goodman Brown who leaves his wife, Faith, to go on an errand into the woods with the devil. Faith begs Goodman Brown to not leave her alone, but he chooses to go anyways. This short story shows many signs of symbolism, such as the forest, the devil, the staff, the pink ribbons, Faith, sin, and guilt. These symbols help in understanding the story of young Goodman Brown and his unconscious struggle with his religion. The trip not only takes Brown onto a journey of sadness, but also into the deepest parts of his soul. Goodman Brown wishes to enter the dark forest of sin, to satisfy his

Even though faith is generally used in a positive connotation, Nathaniel Hawthorne knows that faith can be weaponized and used to prosecute adversaries, as it was in the Salem Witch Trials. He had great family history and personal guilt surrounding the events because his grandfather was the only judge who partook in the trials that did not repent for his perpetrations. He wrote this controversial story to invert the trials and made the narrator convict faith and the community instead. The short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne‎ is an allegory that is anchored by the character Faith, Young Goodman Brown’s wife. Faith is both his innocent and angelic physical wife, and a representation

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

In the short story “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, there is a certain uncertainty, deviousness, and a riddle of wrongdoing living within the citizens of Salem. Young Goodman Brown, a very naive person, is ruined when he realizes the hypocrisy of his religion as he witnesses the truth in the middle of Salem woods. His own people worshipping a being that is not God! Ironically, when Brown confronts his fellow townspeople, he is angered by their responses; they seem to have no recollection of what occurred in the woods. Thus leaving him in a state of insanity, where all Brown senses around him are lies. The natural impulse to keep secrets and lies can harm others. This is embodied in Young Goodman Brown, who goes from a typical puritan to an unkind, judgmental, depressed man.

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.

The primary setting of “Young Goodman Brown” is the forest. The Puritans believed that the woods were evil